Kumeyaay Tribes Protest Naval Base Coronado Training Center

CORONADO, CA — Members of Kumeyaay Indian tribes protested just outside Naval Base Coronado's proposed Coastal Campus on Wednesday, along Highway 75, expressing their opposition to the U.S. Navy's plans to build the Silver Strand Training Complex for Navy SEAL training.

Naval Base Coronado said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that at the request of Kumeyaay tribal leaders, a meeting has been scheduled for Friday morning. The meeting was scheduled prior to the protest taking place, base officials said.

In letters to the Navy, the Manzanita Band and the Viejas Tribal Government requested the Navy reduce the size of the training site to preserve an area they say is a 7,000-year-old burial site for their ancestors.

A councilwoman for the La Posta Band of Mission Indians, one of Kumeyaay's 12 tribes, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that in 2002, 7,000-year-old human remains of a boy were found in the area south of Silver Strand State Beach. She also told the newspaper that when tribal members visited the military site in January, they found ancestral artifacts.

Naval Base Coronado says that throughout the design and construction of the project, the Navy "has remained committed to upholding environmental conservation and mitigation requirements" that were established as part of an environmental impact report for the project.

The Navy says it provided an additional 100-foot buffer around "all eligible archaeological sites and environmentally sensitive areas," and that independent third-party monitoring of the design and construction takes place to ensure the Navy's compliance.

The Navy also said it requested the names of qualified Native American monitors from the Kumeyaay to work beside the cultural resource monitors during ground-disturbing construction activities near the registered archaeological site. The Kumeyaay declined, according to the Navy's statement.

"Following nine months of extensive leadership meetings, subject matter expert information exchange and on-site visits with technical experts designed to enhance the Kumeyaay’s confidence in the Navy’s environmental planning for the Coastal Campus, the Navy finds itself in the unfortunate position where the Tribes will not accept the technical analysis, regulatory compliance posture or the offer to work in cooperation using their own identified Native American monitors," base officials said.

Naval Base Coronado has information about the Coastal Campus development project posted on a webpage.