SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - Sycuan tribal leaders have successfully added a 1,400-acre parcel of land to triple the size of its reservation.
It's the largest land transfer agreement in Sycuan history, perhaps the biggest ever of its kind in the U.S.
The process of purchasing the land and incorporating it into existing reservations is called Fee-to-Trust, and it can be a long and arduous process. Leaders say the land is rich with tribal history.
"They walked these lands. Our people used to be here 12,000 years ago, and the artifacts and the agricultural part of this is really a tremendous thing for us," Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation Chairman Daniel Tucker said.
About 85 percent of the land will remain an open space, and includes a preservation agreement with the U.S. and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
