Protecting Puvungna from CSULB: The Ongoing Fight to Save a Sacred Site
13 minute readThe Tongva, Acjachemen, and many other Southern California tribes have long recognized the spiritual, cultural, and historical significance of the sacred site of Puvungna, including the 22–acre Puvungna Village on the campus of Cal State Long Beach (CSULB).
As an ancient village, gathering place, and active intertribal ceremonial site, Puvungna is considered integral to their culture. This consecrated ground is recognized as the place of emergence for the Tongva and Acjachemen, where Creator-God Wyot’s funeral was held, and where the Lawgiver, Chinigchinch, taught the lifeways and ceremonies that continue to be practiced by many Southern California tribes to this day.
According to the California Native American Heritage Commission’s (NAHC) Sacred Lands Inventory, the sacred site of Puvungna occupies hundreds of acres of Long Beach and Seal Beach including the 22-acre meadow at CSULB.
In 1974, the National Register for Historic Places listed the Puvungna Village as extending from Veterans Hospital to the south, a drainage channel (formerly a stream) near Whaley Park to the north, Earl Warren Drive to the east, and Bellflower Boulevard to the west. The State Office of Historic Preservation also records multiple archaeological sites throughout the CSULB campus.
Despite these designations, CSULB refers to it as “undeveloped university property” and does not even reference it on their online map. In 2019, the CSULB administration ordered dump trucks and bulldozers to deposit tons of trash-filled dirt on the meadow, fenced off a staging area for contractor’s office trailers, and announced plans to extend the existing parking lot and build further on this consecrated ground. These actions are seen by local Native communities and their allies as an aggressive continuation of a battle to preserve the land of their ancestors for the generations to come.
“Save It, Don’t Pave It” was the rallying cry of those opposing a strip mall on Puvungna. Photo courtesy of Save Puvungna Coalition.
‘SAVE IT, DON’T PAVE IT!’
CSULB’s transgressions against Puvungna and the subsequent pushback from the community go back many decades. By the 1990s, the borders of Puvungna had been eaten away by a 1.3 acre Miller Japanese Garden, a 4-acre parking lot initially referred to by the university as “temporary” but known as Lot G20 today, a portion of the International Student House, and an expansion of Earl Warren Drive. On a more positive note, a beloved 2-acre organic community garden was created on the first Earth Day in 1970 and was still thriving.
In 1992, CSULB denied the existence of marked archaeological sites on any areas of campus it planned to develop, including the entire 22-acre Puvungna meadow where it proposed the West Village Project which included a strip mall among other development. Learning of this, the gardeners were outraged and began to organize in opposition. They were joined by students, faculty, Native American alumni, community members, and Tongva and Acjachemen tribal leaders. Soon, the Save Puvungna Coalition was born. After CSULB bulldozed the garden, Acjachemen elder Lillian Robles began a 24/7 spiritual vigil on the site, joined by Tongva tribal activist Jimmy Alvitre and others.
Their grassroots efforts brought wider attention and culminated in the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filing a lawsuit defending Native American Religious Freedom. The Center for Constitutional Law filed a second suit on behalf of the NAHC, which had “determined that any digging, excavation, or grading would result in damage to the sacred/religious site. Therefore the Commission recommends complete avoidance of the site as the appropriate and only acceptable mitigation measure.”
After spending over $2.3 million of public funds allocated for education on the lawsuits, the university finally abandoned the project. This was a rare victory for the Tongva and Acjachemen, whose tribal lands mostly lie beneath the urban sprawl of Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Members of the Save Puvungna Coalition circa 1993. Lillian Robles is front row center, in pink. Photo courtesy of Anna Christensen.
Over the past 20-plus years, Puvungna has become an increasingly active site, hosting numerous tribal meetings and ceremonies, including the Peace and Dignity Run, a ceremonial run from Alaska to Ecuador that happens every four years and stops at the site; an annual visit from the Seri people from the coast of Sonora, Mexico; a bi-annual Solstice Ceremony; a Sacred Lands Conference; as well as the Tongva/Acjachemen Ancestor Walk, which is now in its 23rd year.
The highly anticipated Ancestor Walk brings more than 500 people annually to Puvungna (this year being an exception due to COVID-19). Under normal circumstances, it takes place on the first weekend of October. At sunrise, a caravan of vehicles starts 50 miles south at the ancient village Panhe in San Onofre, and then travels to half a dozen other sacred villages along the way, ending with a special Bear Ceremony at Puvungna.
Honoring each of the sites they stop at is part of the fight against the erasure of Native culture. Rebecca Robles, who has inherited responsibility for continuing the Ancestor Walk from her mother, Lillian, says, “Each site is sacred, historic, and culturally important. We make offerings, usually with tobacco, and we pray, we sing. We honor our ancestors, the people who once lived here. We come as a community to remember our history and share it with our youth.”
‘STOP DESECRATING SACRED LAND’
On Sept. 22, 2016, in honor of California Native American Day, CSU Chancellor Timothy White visited CSULB and spoke at a ceremony celebrating the reburial of hundreds of tribal remains at Puvungna. During his speech, he acknowledged that, “Cal State Long Beach is a sacred place for all those who teach, work, learn, and live here. Yet, we know this space was sacred long before we built the first academic building. It is appropriate today that we reconnect this place… this sacred space… to its ancestral history. May we always remember and respect whose land and lives we are blessed to live on and learn from.”
Three years later, on California Native American Day 2019, CSULB dumped mound after mound of dirt filled with trash and debris from a campus construction site onto Puvungna. As reported on social media and by CSULB’s Daily 49er newspaper, dump trucks drove over and destroyed cultural tribal resources on the land, potentially also disturbing those beneath the surface as well. Tribal people and supporters gathered on the site to bear witness to and document the desecration and offer prayers for the ancestors.
Within three weeks, an area the size of a football field was covered with piles of construction soil and debris.
In defense of the university’s actions, CSULB’s Chief Communications Officer Jeff Cook claimed that the dirt was “relocated” as opposed to “dumped” and that the proper channels had been taken. His statement also included phrases like “the university’s 22-acre parcel,” and “external stakeholders,” and “the meaning that some stakeholders have ascribed to this land.”
According to Cook, “This method of managing excavated earth was based on the original counsel of both internal and external Native American advisors to keep the soil from campus here on site.”
In his explanation, Cook avoided acknowledging the status of the Puvungna site on campus as both a sacred and historic site or referring to the Tongva or Acjachemen by name, and failed to address the trash found in the “managed excavated earth.” CSULB Administration had previously claimed that some of the dumping was a “mistake” by a contractor.
Robles takes issue with Cook’s statement. “They are supposed to be consulting with tribes and there wasn’t any consultation,” she said. “The act of dumping tons of dirt on a sacred site, that’s not passive. It speaks loudly. We’re standing for justice for our ancestors, for the people coming behind us. We feel tremendous pressure. Grave injustices have been done to California Indian people … the desecration of sacred sites is a continuation of the genocide of our people.”
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Robles also points out that other consecrated sites like Bethlehem or Mecca would never be treated in such a way, and Puvungna is no less important. “My mother taught me that the land, especially places like Puvungna, are repositories for culture, and that they are absolutely necessary for our continuation. She also said that, as California Indian people, we have a direct link to these sites, but they’re also an important part of all Californians’ history.”
As it became clear that the university’s administration had made plans for additional dumping, expanded parking, and multiple buildings on the site, tribal leaders and community members, including Friends of Puvungna, CCRPA and Sierra Club, collaborated to protect Puvungna. They addressed the CSULB Student Senate and were interviewed by the Daily 49er and other local media. Prayer vigils, walks, and rallies were held at Puvungna and on neighboring streets, information was shared on social media, and a letter writing campaign began.
In October 2019, a lawsuit was filed against CSULB by the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation-Belardes, and the California Cultural Resources Preservation Alliance (CCRPA). Recently, plaintiffs denied a settlement that would include protection for only ten years, and so litigation continues. Joyce Perry, Tribal Cultural Resource director, states, “Our goal here still is to preserve and protect the sacred site of Puvungna, for seven generations, and to have the university understand and accept that status.”
The Native American Heritage Commission and the State Office of Historic Preservation have also become involved in order to protect the site from further desecration and ensure that CSULB follows the law regarding tribal consultation and the protection of Sacred Sites, National Register Sites, archaeological sites, and tribal cultural resources.
In a letter to CSULB on Aug. 10, Julianne Polanco, State Historic Preservation officer, wrote, “It appears what has been deposited on the NHRP contributing site (Puvungna) is not only soil but also contains construction debris such as asphalt, rebar, concrete and more… All of these materials should be completely removed.” She added that, because heavy equipment might disturb or damage buried artifacts, the debris should be removed using hand tools and wheelbarrows.
In December, Friends of Puvungna held a Prayer Rally at Bellflower and Anaheim Road to bring attention to CSULB’s illegal dumping of soil and trash on Puvungna. Photo by Santiago Charboneau
‘DECOLONIZE CONOLEY’
According to the lawsuit, when making plans to dump soil, neither CSULB President Jane Conoley nor members of her administration engaged in consultation with those tribes listed by the California NAHC as having a cultural connection to the land now occupied by CSULB, as is required by law.
Conoley has previously referred to Puvungna as “our undeveloped 22 acres” and has stated her preference for expanding parking over preserving the site in a natural state, even though this would involve destroying tribal cultural resources.
“In terms of additional parking we’re looking over near the Japanese Garden,” Conoley told the Daily 49er in October 2019. “That’s still in the environmental investigation, so it’s not a done deal, but we’d like to add another 500 spots over there.”
In December, a prayer rally was held in her Park Estates neighborhood bordering CSULB where attendees chanted, “Conoley, CSU, sacred land is not for you!” and held signs reading “DECOLONIZE CONOLEY.”
Conoley recently told FORTHE, “While we are, of course, committed to and appreciative of dialogue, there is active litigation concerning this site and it would be inappropriate for me at this time to confer with the tribes outside of that process.”
Carrying a sign reading Protect Puvungna, a smaller group breaks off from the rally in December 2019 for a prayer ceremony. Photo by Santiago Charboneau.
‘GIVE THE LAND BACK’
This year’s California Native American Day marked the one-year anniversary of the CSULB construction crew’s dumping of trash-filled dirt. Friends of Puvungna gathered at sunrise for a prayer walk around the perimeter of Puvungna led by Acjachemen elder Adelia Sandoval. After the walk, the group convened on the corner of Beach Drive and Bellflower Boulevard for a rally calling for visibility and protection of the consecrated grounds.
Growing in size as the day continued, the crowd chanted, held signs up, drew messages in chalk on the sidewalk, and bought Protect Puvungna t-shirts and face masks to support the lawsuit. Multiple demands for CSULB were discussed at the rally and can also be found on the Friends of Puvungna Instagram page: “Prevent the use of cars and heavy machinery moving forward at Puvungna. Clean up construction debris, relocate dumped soils offsite. Hire an Indigenous plant specialist to restore damaged areas. Establish a binding agreement to preserve Puvungna forever (GIVE THE LAND BACK). Comply with existing requirements to consult with all culturally affiliated tribal groups and nations with respect to any decisions about Puvungna.”
Land protectors wearing masks on California Native American Day 2020 at Puvungna. Photo courtesy of Friends of Puvungna.
STATE LIP SERVICE ON TRUTH & HEALING
In the summer of 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom issued a formal apology to California Native American people, acknowledging genocide and reflecting on the history of California to be “fraught with violence, exploitation, dispossession, and the attempted destruction of tribal communities.” He spoke of California tribal peoples “defying the odds” and 0f the resilience it took to hold onto tribal culture and language, declaring that California “hereby commends and honors Native Americans for persisting, carrying on cultural and linguistic traditions, and stewarding and protecting this land we all now share.” He also commissioned a Truth and Healing Council. How the governor’s selected group will determine the “truth” and what constitutes “healing” still remains to be seen as no reports have yet been released at the time of this publication.
On California Native American Day this year, Governor Newsom released a Statement of Administration Policy on Native American Ancestral Lands “to encourage state entities to seek opportunities to support California tribes’ co-management of and access to natural lands that are within a California tribe’s ancestral lands and under the ownership or control of the State of California, and to work cooperatively with California tribes that are interested in acquiring natural lands.”
Newsom is also on the Board of Trustees of the California State University System, and therefore has some responsibility for the preservation of Puvungna at CSULB. Friends of Puvungna asks that readers contact the governor and request that he intervene to ensure that CSULB and the CSU comply with the demands of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the Native American Heritage Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office, and the law.
Email: https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov40mail/
Phone: (916) 445-2841
Tweet: @CAgovernor
Wildflowers bloomed at Puvungna this past Spring, until CSULB mowed the meadow and sprayed a controversial pesticide called Roundup. Photo by Anna Christensen.
erin@forthe.org
