Dispute Stalls Land Deal for Impoverished Tribe

The impoverished Torres-Martinez Native American tribe thought it had finally reached the dawn of a brighter future--the chance to unshackle itself from the putrid Salton Sea and expand its reservation into richer lands.

Half of the tribe’s reservation is under saltwater, and a novel settlement now before Congress promises to give the tribe new land, farther north into the affluent niches of the Coachella Valley--places like Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage, La Quinta and Palm Desert.

Tribal leaders talk of using $14 million they will get under the settlement to improve health care and build a tribal school. An even bigger payoff, however, may come with the help of investor Lee Iacocca--through the purchase of prime real estate to build a casino.

But in a political turn of events that threatens to scuttle the settlement, at least for now, the Torres-Martinez Indians have encountered opposition from a most unlikely source: another tribe.

The Cabazon Indians of nearby Indio have pressured Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to reconsider her bill with just days remaining before Congress adjourns for election campaigning. The Cabazon Indians say they were not consulted in the land negotiations and that the legislation threatens their economic successes.

In the simplest of terms, the Cabazon Indians don’t want the Torres-Martinez tribe to build a casino where it will compete with theirs.

The tribe’s opposition has prompted Feinstein--who was expected to push her bill immediately after it won House approval Sept. 10--to delay it.

“This is the first time in my memory where I’ve seen one tribe opposing another tribe’s land settlement,” said a congressional staffer who spoke on condition that he not be identified. “Usually, it’s the Indian tribes against the rest of the world.”

At stake for the Torres-Martinez tribe is the prospect of economic vitality in a sun-baked desert valley framed by extremes in wealth and poverty.

The tribe, based in the most desolate corner of the valley and lacking any reservation source of employment or industry, is one of the poorest in the country. About 200 tribal members live on the reservation, many in aging mobile homes.

Other Desert Cahuilla Indian tribes, serendipitously situated in better valley locations, have successfully developed casinos and other commercial enterprises.

The issue before Congress is how to provide redress for the Torres-Martinez tribe, named for a local canyon and creek when it was given 25,000 acres of reservation land in 1909. But four years earlier, a Colorado River canal burst and flooded a desert sump. The water was expected to evaporate, but never did. Half the reservation is now beneath what became the Salton Sea.

For decades, the tribe accepted its fate and eked out a humble existence on the barren land. The Native Americans raised squash and corn, hunted rabbits, burned mesquite to capture wood rats for food, and harvested cactus, mesquite pods and yucca roots.

For a time, the tribe mined salt that was shipped to Los Angeles, and in the mid-1960s sold land leases for lemon groves that were later abandoned.

In the 1980s, the federal government, on behalf of the tribe, sued the two local water districts to win back land for the tribe, because irrigation water used by the region’s farmers continued to drain into the Salton Sea. The tribe itself finally initiated its own litigation as well, and named the federal government as a defendant.

A judge ordered all the sides to reach a settlement, and one was almost struck.

The Bush administration was on the verge of awarding the tribe 11,800 replacement acres--to be culled from Bureau of Land Management land within a 40-mile radius of the reservation. But that deal wasn’t finalized before the 1992 election, and the land settlement talks started over with the Clinton administration.

Under Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, a different and more novel settlement was broached that, after pitched negotiations, ultimately won House approval Sept. 10 in a bill sponsored by Rep. Sonny Bono (R-Palm Springs).

The companion Senate bill, being carried by Feinstein, endorses the settlement, which awards the tribe $10 million from the federal government and $4 million from two local irrigation districts. The tribe could then buy up to 11,800 acres of land, which the Interior Department would hold in trust as reservation land.

Most of that new land would be purchased in an area immediately northwest of the existing reservation. But the tribe argued it should be able to buy land anywhere in Riverside County. Federal negotiators balked.

As a bargaining chip, the tribe said it would not allow Caltrans to realign the dangerous, two-lane California 86 that crosses the reservation unless the tribe could buy property in the more affluent areas of the valley.

So in the most controversial compromise of the settlement, the Interior Department allowed the tribe to buy 640 acres of land in another acquisition area. The section includes Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells and La Quinta--the cream of the valley’s economic marketplace--as well as the working-class cities of Indio and Coachella.

“We’re just trying to give them parity with the other tribes in the valley,” Bono said. “Every other tribe has a casino, and Torres-Martinez has the right to have a casino and make a few bucks. They haven’t had the right land for that, and now they can have their day in the park.”

But hackles were raised with the thought that the tribe could purchase land in some of Southern California’s most posh communities--and use it for purposes unacceptable to local residents.

To mitigate that concern, the tribe agreed to a rare condition: It would relinquish some of its long-treasured Native American sovereignty by allowing the host city to veto the purchase of land within its municipal boundaries if it did not like how the land was going to be used.

“We caught flak from other tribal leaders for agreeing to that,” said Mary Bellardo, Torres-Martinez tribal chairwoman. “They said we shouldn’t give up our sovereignty. Well, it was worth it to us to do that. We think it’s fair that the cities have some say-so in what goes on in their towns.”

The tribe also agreed to another condition: Although Native Americans typically can build as many casinos on their reservations as they want, Torres-Martinez agreed to build only one.

To that end, the tribe opened talks with Full House Resorts Inc., a San Diego-based, publicly held company that has entered into a joint-venture partnership with GTECH Corp. to develop new casinos. GTECH is the world’s leading supplier to the online lottery industry and operates California’s computerized lottery.

Among Full House’s largest investors are three Indian Wells residents: former Chrysler Corp. Chairman Lee Iacocca, former Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. owner Allen Paulson and real estate and resort developer William McComas.

Full House signed a management agreement with Torres-Martinez to operate a casino--and possibly pursue other economic development projects with the tribe.

Full House attorney Mary Brennan emphasized that the company would not build a full-fledged, Nevada-type casino unless and until such casinos are legal in California. About 40 statewide tribes are operating casinos without Gov. Pete Wilson’s approval, which is required by federal law. But federal prosecutors--who have jurisdiction over reservations--have not moved to close the casinos, pending resolution of years-long litigation.

The prospect of a Torres-Martinez casino--especially one that might be developed alongside Interstate 10 and could snag gamblers heading into the desert from Los Angeles, has the Cabazon tribe sweating.

With no outside investors, the 70-member Cabazon tribe built the nation’s first Indian card room in 1980, expanded it into California’s first high-stakes bingo hall in 1983, then won state approval to operate off-track satellite wagering in 1990.

In 1993, the tribe began offering video slot machines, and today the Fantasy Springs casino is reputedly one of the biggest moneymakers among Indian casinos in California.

“Today we have a $22-million asset in Indio which, 16 years ago, was a joke as a location,” said Mark Nichols, Cabazon’s chief executive officer. “We’ve worked our butts off. Yeah, we care [where a competing Torres-Martinez casino might be located]. We’d be stupid not to.”

But of greater concern, Nichols said, was allowing the Torres-Martinez to buy 640 acres in prime real estate country. Native Americans cannot claim reservation land outside their historic settlements, and these 640 acres, Nichols argued, are outside that parameter.

But the Interior Department agreed with Torres-Martinez that their people did seasonally roam in that area and, therefore, are entitled to claim it as reservation land.

Bono said he has no sympathy for the Cabazon’s position. “This is free enterprise,” he said. “Welcome to the NFL.”

Feinstein’s spokeswoman, Susan Kennedy, said the senator wants assurances from each of the affected cities that they do not object to the settlement. But the Senate is scheduled to adjourn Friday for fall campaigning--and if Feinstein doesn’t move the bill to a vote before then, the legislation probably would have to be reintroduced in both the House and Senate next term.

Although the settlement has been endorsed by the other tribes in the Coachella Valley--except the Cabazon--it has received mixed blessings from the affected cities. Most have told the Department of Interior they don’t object to the settlement, because the tribe has promised not to buy land in their cities without their approval.

But most of the cities did not take formal positions--and that is what Feinstein now wants.

City officials are not eager to intervene in the fight between the two tribes.

“We know that Torres-Martinez has had a bad program with what happened with the Salton Sea, and they deserve something,” said Palm Desert Mayor Walt Snider. “But we don’t want to get involved in a serious dispute between the two tribes.”

Bellardo, the tribal chairwoman, says she is “flabbergasted” that the Cabazon tribe is fighting the settlement. “The other tribes out here understand that we’ve been down, flat-out, for the longest time and they’re happy that we are finally coming up with a way to help ourselves,” she said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Dispute in the Desert

Under a measure in Congress, the Torres-Martinez Indian Tribe would be able to buy land northwest of their reservation, which was partially flooded by the Salton Sea. The Cabazon tribe opposes the land settlement because the Torres-Martinez Indians are considering developing a casino, which would compete with Cabazon’s existing gambling facility.

In this area, Torres-Martinez tribe could buy 640 acres.

In this area, tribe could buy up to 11,800 acres.

Existing Torres-Martinez Reservation (half-submerged)

Note: Reservation was laid out in checkerboard fashion to preserve railroad property.