Hidden Valley Ranch housing development in Poway being built on ancient burial site, tribe says

Tribal leaders have found human remains and evidence of a burial site – first in October and twice this month – at the construction site of a housing development first approved in Poway over 20 years ago. 

The San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians is calling on the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop work on a portion of a 420-acre site on the east side of Old Coach Road immediately. 

In October, Johnny Bear Contreras, the chair of the cultural committee for the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, got a call from fellow cultural monitors telling him to come take a look at the Hidden Valley Ranch project. 

When he arrived at the site of what’s slated to be 41 single-family homes, he found just what the tribe had expected: human remains. 

On two separate occasions in March, the tribe found more remains, including a jawbone with teeth underneath ancient grinding stones. That made for evidence of three tribal ancestors: an infant, an adolescent and an adult. 

Along with the other artifacts, the findings indicated that the land was a burial site. 

Since October, the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians has called on the city of Poway and the Army Corps of Engineers to issue a full stop work order to halt construction on the site. So far, the project is still in the grading period before construction.

“Our ultimate goal is to pay respect to the remains that have been found, and to put a respectful plan together for the remains that will be found,” Contreras said in an interview. “And this is what we’ve been trying to do since the first remain was found.”

A Poway spokesperson declined to comment.

Tribe never consulted 

The Poway City Council first approved the 41-home Hidden Valley Ranch project in 2003, then again in 2014 with some changes to the design. In between those approvals in 2004, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new law that requires local governments to consult with tribes to help protect tribal cultural places through local land use planning. 

Michele Fahley, a lawyer who represents the tribe, said she can find no record of consultation, and has asked the city for proof. 

Had the city consulted with the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians and other Kumeyaay Nations, tribal leaders could have told them of the site’s significance.

“The tribes knew what this place was,” Fahley told inewsource. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District said it has been meeting with the consulting tribes since October.

The engineers have issued multiple site-specific stop-work requests to the developer, three of which are active, said Public Affairs Chief Dena M. O’Dell. She said that the engineers lack the federal control to stop work across the entire project site. 

“We recognize the importance of these cultural resources and continue to work with the State Historic Preservation officer, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the consulting tribes to comply with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act,” O’Dell said. 

The developer, Shea Homes, could not be reached for comment last week. 

Site’s cultural significance 

For the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, a partial stop is not enough. Fahley said the tribe wants a full stop work order in order to protect the land and its resources. 

She said cremation was traditionally used for burials as well as other ceremonies like anniversaries and the burning of clothes. 

“These ceremonies happen over and over again, and they happen where the Creator said they have to happen,” Fahley said. “So when you think about that, this is a cemetery that’s been used for cremation practices, probably for thousands of years.”

Now, the tribe could lose access to the site and never be able to visit it or their ancestors again.  

In addition to the burial site, the tribe is also concerned about environmental resources at the site, including hundreds of centuries-old oak trees, which are important culturally to the Kumeyaay.

“Our ancestors are buried throughout the county, throughout California, throughout this nation,” Contreras said. “We know very specifically, traditionally, we still practice our culture day in and day out. We still understand what takes place now, of course, and we understand what took place then. So we’re the experts out in the field.”