The area known currently as the closed San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park belongs to the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians. That is the first thing to understand about Assembly Bill 2770, a bill we authored which is awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature.
It is not a new idea, but rather the fourth attempt by the tribe, spread across nearly two centuries, to secure what was already theirs.
The San Pasqual people have lived in the valley northeast of San Diego for generations, long before any government drew a line around it. In 1835, the Mexican governor of California formally recognized that fact, establishing San Pasqual as a civil pueblo: a self-governing industrious community with unique skills.
When a San Diego landowner named Bonifacio Lopez tried to take the valley in 1845, he dismissed its residents as “lazy and disreputable.” Yet the Mexican government refused his request.
The tribe’s second attempt to secure its land came after the Mexican-American War ended in 1848. The tribe’s leader, Panto Duro, presented American officials with the documents from Mexico confirming the San Pasqual people’s title to the valley, and in 1852 he signed a treaty guaranteeing the land under American authority. Unfortunately, the U.S. Senate rejected that treaty under pressure from Gold Rush settlers.
The third attempt came from the White House. In 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed an executive order creating a reservation in the San Pasqual Valley. White squatters petitioned against it, and Grant rescinded the order a year later.
In 1878, a San Diego rancher won a court order to remove the remaining tribal families, and the county sheriff cleared the valley and burned their homes. When the federal government finally set aside a reservation for San Pasqual in 1910, it was placed miles away, in barren granite hills near Lake Wohlford that federal officials described as looking “very much like rock piles, without visible soil.”
Even the surveyor’s hand-drawn map carried the title “The so-called San Pasqual Reservation (Which is nowhere near San Pasqual).” Officials knew the new site was improperly located but moved forward anyway.
Today, much of the tribe’s original land lies within the battlefield park, currently owned by the state and the city of San Diego. It has been closed to the public since 2020. Trails are not maintained, and the visitor center sits dark since neither the state, nor the city has found the money to keep it open.
This is an affront to the San Pasqual Band, whose members have a record of cultural preservation and environmental stewardship and want it cared for, and welcoming to visitors eager to learn its full history.
“I cannot put into words what this land means to our people, and we are hopeful that Gov. Newsom will sign AB 2770 into law to finally help us begin the healing process from the atrocity of our lands being stolen centuries ago. I want to thank Assemblymembers Alvarez and Patel, and Sen. Jones, for their tireless advocacy in getting AB 2770 to the governor’s desk,” said Stephen W. Cope, chairman of the San Pasqual Band.
The story of the San Pasqual people and their centuries of struggle is why we decided to author AB 2770, which requires the state to transfer 3.68 acres to the San Pasqual Band, as well as encourage the city of San Diego to transfer its adjacent holdings.
Newsom has rightfully acknowledged the need to return Native American ancestral lands, when he declared a policy of working “with California tribes that are interested in acquiring natural lands in excess of State needs.” AB 2770 represents a bipartisan effort to accomplish that.
Sen. Brian Jones, the Senate Republican leader, whose district includes the San Pasqual Valley, put it this way: “This land has been squandered by the state for years. It’s due time we worked out an arrangement like this that will benefit our entire community for years to come.”
Co-author Assemblymember Darshana Patel has said, “This may be a small piece of land, but its return carries tremendous meaning. A tribal cemetery remains there, and the San Pasqual Band intends to preserve its culture and share its history with future generations. Returning this land cannot undo the wrongs of the past, but it is a meaningful step toward recognizing them and supporting the tribe’s longstanding effort to bring this land home.”
Returning the San Pasqual Valley land to its rightful owners corrects a wrong committed nearly two centuries ago. It is a small step measured in acres, but an enormous step measured in corrective justice.
California can and must do better. We urge Gov. Newsom to sign AB 2770 and let the state finally keep a promise that has waited 190 years.
Assemblymember David Alvarez represents District 80. Sen. Brian Jones represents District 40. Assemblymember Darshana Patel represents District 76. The authors thank Robert Phelps and the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians for research and contributions to this column.
