Cuyapaipe Reservation
Introduction
The Cuyapaipe Reservation was established on February 10, 1891, following the executive order of January 12, 1891. The Cuyapaipe Reservation is located 10 miles north of Interstate 8, and 68 miles east of San Diego in Pine Valley and the Laguna Mountains in the southeastern part of San Diego county.
The pines and evergreens of the south slopes of Mt. Laguna spread their cover onto the remote lands of the Cuyapaipe, otherwise known as the Ewiiaapaayp. As with much other reservation land, this place was at one time considered nearly valueless, but the real value, solitude and fastness, has been preserved for nearly a century.
Its 4,100 acres, as is true of several nearby reservations, is not “developed.” Access is disapproved on paths that are known only to the two or three residents and a few locals of Mt. Laguna. The land is as it was from the beginning - it is beautiful.
The Ewiiaapaap Band’s resources are limited to water. The largest obstacles to economic development at the Cuyapaipe Indian Reservation are the geographic remoteness of the reservation, the lack of adequate access roads with a single access road that is unpaved, narrow, and steeply graded, and the complete lack of utilities (no electricity, gas, telephone, or waste water systems).
In 1986 the Ewiiaapaap Band accepted 8.6 acres into trust as the “Little Cuyapaipe” trust land that is located north of Interstate 8 off the West Willows Road exit. They have since leased the land to the Southern Indian Health Council for $1 rent for 25 years to host the SIHC Clinic. In 1998 an additional 1.42 acres were added to the trust land and the SIHC lease. The SICH is a state-charted non-profit corporation that is consortium of the Kumeyaay tribes of Barona, and Viejas, Campo Ewiiaapaap, Jamul, La Posta, and Manzanita, providing health services to tribal members and to the general public.
In 2000 the Ewiiaapaap Band and the SIHC entered into agreements for the Ewiiaapaap Band to build a new, expanded and improved $5 million facility on 2.6 acres of the “Little Cuyapaipe” trust land, while also building a $1.5 million SIHC Clinic on the Campo Reservation. After relocating the existing SIHC clinic operations, they will build a tribal gaming facility on the remaining 6 acres of “Little Cuyapaipe” trust land. A percentage of their tribal gaming enterprise’s revenues will be donated to the SICH that is projected to exceed $100 million over the first 15 years of the agreement.