Residents in the Highway 62 communities are becoming increasingly concerned that the Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians, which already operates two casinos and one of the largest truck stops/gas stations in California, has aggressive designs to construct two more casinos and two further mega-size truck stops in Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree.
Indeed, in recent weeks, the intensification in concern over the tribe’s disclosed plans and what some people, at least, say are the tribe’s future plans which have not been fully articulated in any known public forum has resulted in widespread rumors that the projects have already been approved in concept by both Yucca Valley town and San Bernardino County planning officials with an eye toward preordained approvals.
While such reports may be overblown, the Sentinel has been able to ferret out that the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, under the name Echo Trails, LLC, has purchased six parcels comprising seven acres on the west end of Yucca Valley. That property has now been placed in trust for the tribe as sovereign tribal land.
Under the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934, recognized American Indian tribes are able to achieve control and autonomy – sovereignty – over their historic reservations, as well as land beyond their historic reservations if 1) the tribe acquires title to that land and 2) if it can be demonstrated that the tribe’s ancestors used that land for hunting, gathering or other purposes intrinsic to their survival. Indian tribes can acquire lands outside of existing Indian reservations and convert it into reservation land if certain conditions apply.
The combination of tribal sovereignty in the United States, by which indigenous tribes have or have been given the inherent authority to govern themselves within the borders of their reservations by the United States government along with state and federal laws which grant American Indians the ability to establish gaming operations has facilitated the proliferation of tribal-owned casinos and gaming establishments. A common strategy by tribes to generate wealth for their members is to obtain property within what the tribe asserts is its aboriginal homeland and then apply to the Department of the Interior/Bureau of Indian Affairs to hold that land in trust for the tribe while a verification process takes place and the newly acquired land is declared to be part of the tribe’s reservation. At that point, a casino or gambling house can be established on the land.
In addition to having placed the seven acres in Yucca Valley into trust with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians, under the name KRL Ventures LLC, has further purchased or has otherwise tied up another nine parcels equaling approximately 25 acres. The 25 acres are not yet sovereign, though the tribe is petitioning the federal government to place that land into trust in order for it to be declared off-site reservation sovereign. Thus, it appears the total acreage located within Joshua Tree woodlands in Yucca Valley which the tribe is intent on developing will be right around 32 acres.
The record indicates that the tribe twice stated, officially, to the Bureau of Indian Affairs that it was not going to develop the initial 7 acres of land in Yucca Valley, and that the land would remain undeveloped. It has been alleged by some Yucca Valley residents, and recent action seems to indeed indicate, that the tribe was prevaricating when making those representations and that those falsehoods were perpetrated to enable the tribe to bypass all wildlife conservancy scrutiny and government environmental inquiry as well as to prevent the Serrano San Manuel tribe from having the opportunity to assess the land with the California Native American Heritage Commission.
The Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians operates the Turtle Rock Casino in Twentynine Palms and the Spotlight 29 Casino in Coachella.
The tribe developed and opened a cannabis dispensary called Red Falcon Dispensary at 73829 Baseline Road in Twentynine Plams on its reservation near Tortoise Rock Casino. After the federal government approved the tribe’s application for an off-site reservation, the tribe established a dispensary in Yucca Valley, also known as Red Falcon, located at the southeast corner of Highway 62 and Camino Del Cielo.
In grading and constructing the Yucca Valley cannabis dispensary, according to available documentation, the tribe killed numerous Joshua Trees. Furthermore, according to environmentalists, the dispensary project disrupted the migrating path and hibernating quarters for several indigenous animals.
The tribe has a development proposal for a portion of the 32 acres that is to consist of a “visitor center and gas station project.” That development is to entail two 40,000-gallon below-ground fuel storage tanks and another 12,000-gallon tank. The project is to be located 500 feet from Country Club Estates, where over one hundred senior citizens currently reside, one mile from Yucca Valley Elementary School and two miles from federally preserved land close to Big Morongo Valley Preserve.
The tribe in 2024 opened a 59-pump truck stop in Coachella catering to 18-wheelers, and a huge convenient store. That project entails one of the largest underground gasoline storage sources in California. It appears that something coming very close to the Coachella truck stop is being contemplated in Yucca Valley.
Moreover, Yucca Valley residents with a persistent memory of the tribe’s 2011 attempt to develop a casino in Joshua Tree maintain that a part of the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians’ current agenda is to apply to establish a casino on a portion of the 32 acres once the tribe is granted an entitlement to proceed with the truck stop.
A contingent of Yucca Valley townspeople allege that the tribe has been secretive and misleading with regard to the truck stop and casino projects and that Yucca Valley Town Manager Curtis Yaimow has been overly accommodating of the tribe, while limiting public awareness of what is about to take place.
In recent months and weeks, however, there has materialized acute public awareness of the tribe’s land purchases and its proposed development, such that a battle royal over it, it seems, is about to ensue.
A rallying point for those opposed to the casino and truck stop projects is that the Yucca Valley Town Council, town staff and the tribe have known for years what the tribe is now trying to hatch and that those entities had abundant time to let the people of the Morongo Basin know about the land purchases and the plans for the property, but did not.
In addition, according to residents of the Highway 62 communities, the tribe has tied up more than 90 acres in Joshua Tree and has approached the Joshua Tree Water District about conveying water to a proposed visitor center and gas station project there. Those citizens have expressed their belief that the project, in the words of one, “will kill hundreds of Joshua Trees, destroy delicate ecosystems, cause every form of pollution, bring crime to the Morongo Basin, destroy the once-pristine Country Club Neighborhood where the Yucca Inn was for decades and prevent emergency vehicles from entering and exiting Yucca Valley.”
The Sentinel this week approached William Small, a West Hollywood-based attorney who specializes in real estate and land use issues who is representing the Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians with regard to their various development proposals.
The Sentinel inquired of Small whether the reports with regard to the development agenda of the tribe are accurate. Specifically, the Sentinel asked Small if the tribe intends to construct a truck stop and/or a casino within the 32 acres it has acquired in Yucca Valley, and it the tribe is purposed to construct a truck stop and/or a casino within the 90-acre footprint it has obtained in Joshua Tree.
The Sentinel asked about the secretiveness with which the Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians acted, by using the cut-outs Echo Trails, LLC and KRL Ventures LLC, in acquiring approximately 32 acres on the west end of Yucca Valley.
The Sentinel asked Small about the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians representation to the Bureau of Indian Affairs that it was not going to develop the initial seven acres it acquired on the west side of Yucca Valley and that the land would remain undeveloped. The Sentinel inquired about whether the tribe intends to stand by that representation or whether its goals for the property have changed.
The Sentinel asked Small if the Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians’ representations to the Bureau of Indian Affairs that it was not going to develop the initial seven acres of land it acquired on the west side of Yucca Valley was a ploy to to bypass all wildlife conservancy scrutiny, government environmental inquiry and prevent the Serrano San Manuel tribe from having the opportunity to assess the land with the California Native American Heritage Commission.
The Sentinel sought from Small a cogent defense of the tribe vis-à-vis charges that in the past it has failed to safeguard the fauna and flora that live on property it has acquired, including the threatened Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia) and endangered desert tortoises. The Sentinel further asked him to address the concerns of environmentalists and desert residents in general that the tribe has not in the past been and will not in the future be diligent in ensuring that its future development projects will not harm the environment in the Morongo Valley.
Small did not respond by press time