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43-410: It is adjacent to the village site of Puvunga . In the trenching for the garden, evidence of the ancient Tongva village was uncovered in the early 1970s. The garden is closed on Saturdays (when it is often rented out for weddings and receptions) and Mondays. This Los Angeles County, California –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to

86-504: A burial at site LAn-235 on the western edge of campus. Funding for the 1973 excavation was provided by the City of Long Beach, Long Beach Historical Society, Rancho Los Alamitos Associates, and private donors. Tongva remnants unearthed included arrowheads and pottery sherds in a style called Cerritos Brown ware. These remains were placed in CSULB's archaeology lab. Archaeologists in 1974 wrote that

129-512: A comprehensive restoration framework for the Los Cerritos Wetlands. The LCWA initiated the preparation of its EIR to determine the nature and extent of the proposed program’s impact upon the environment. An EIR also identifies ways to reduce environmental effects and analyzes reasonable alternatives to avoid or minimize significant environmental effects. The proposed program would restore wetland, transitional, and upland habitats throughout

172-473: A dozen archaeological sites, spread over an area of about 500 acres (2.0 km ) on and near the campus, have been identified as Puvungna village sites. A shopping center and apartments at 7th Street and Pacific Coast Highway , Long Beach Veterans Administration Hospital , Rancho Los Alamitos and the college now stand atop the historic settlement "near the present-day mouth of the San Gabriel River and

215-814: A garden in the United States is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Puvunga Puvunga (alternatively spelled Puvungna or Povuu'nga ) is an ancient village and sacred site of the Tongva nation, the Indigenous people of the Los Angeles Basin , and the Acjachemen , the Indigenous people of Orange County . The site is now located within the California State University, Long Beach campus and surrounding areas. The Tongva know Puvunga as

258-560: A settlement was reached prohibiting the development of the land and allowing tribal nations to use Puvungna for their traditional activities. Under the terms of the settlement, removing the construction debris is not the University's responsibility. Los Cerritos Wetlands Los Cerritos Wetlands is located in both Los Angeles County and Orange County in the cities of Long Beach, California , and Seal Beach, California . The San Gabriel River , historically and currently flows through

301-414: A very high rate of death. Children often died very young at the missions. One missionary at Mission San Gabriel reported that three out of every four children born died before age two. In 1844, Hugo Reid referred to the village as Pubugna and stated it could still be identified as existing at Rancho Los Alamitos , which was a subdivision of Rancho de los Nietos. John Peabody Harrington identified

344-592: Is located near the Japanese Garden along the banks of a now channelized creek , about three miles (5 km) from the Pacific Ocean . The natural area is located near a parking lot at the edge of campus. There was a natural spring located a short distance from the Rancho Alamitos building that flowed until 1956 referred to as Puvunga Spring. Another similar (but larger) Tongva site is Kuruvungna Springs on

387-527: Is why a coalition of public and private entities are working together to protect, purchase, and restore the remaining roughly 500 acres. The cities of Long Beach and Seal Beach , the California Coastal Conservancy , the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy several local businesses, grassroots and community groups, and citizens are working to protect, purchase and restore the remaining acreage of

430-542: The Distichilis spicata , Baccharis salicifolia , Frankenia salina , Jaumea carnosa , and Batis Maritima . A number of special status species protected under other acts also inhabit the wetlands , like the C entromadia parryi ssp. australis , as well as many common plants and animals typical of a California coastal salt marsh habitat. Most of the remaining open space, once a thriving wetlands consisting of tidal salt marshes, lagoons, bays and alkali meadows where

473-487: The "place of emergence" and it is where they believe "their world and their lives began". Puvunga is an important ceremonial site and is the terminus of an annual pilgrimage for the Tongva, Acjachemen, and Chumash . Before the arrival of European settlers, Puvunga extended far beyond the contemporary site that remains today. Its presence was first uncovered in 1952, and then in 1974, at the designated location, when trenching

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516-537: The Belding's Savannah sparrow , California least tern , California brown pelican , wandering skipper, and the tiger beetle. The Salicornia pacifica is where the endangered Savannah Sparrow nests, making it an essential plant species. In 2010, a survey done by the state of California found that there were hatchlings in Monanthochloe littorali at the Los Cerritos Wetlands. To name some other dominant plants there are

559-611: The Cerritos Channel". Despite its known cultural importance, in 1992, the university attempted to challenge Puvunga's designation as a historic site to construct a strip mall over the remaining grounds of Puvunga as well as over a nearby organic community garden that had been established on the first Earth Day . When gardeners organized to prevent a parking lot development intended for the strip mall site, campus officials ignored them. They moved forward with development, claiming that "no cultural resources" were on site. In response,

602-583: The City Council of Long Beach purchased a 320-acre tract of land (130 ha) inside their municipal boundaries. The land contained a large portion of the historical village of Puvunga, and was used to build the campus of California State University of Long Beach . On Christmas Eve of 1952, a burial site in Puvunga was discovered about a mile north of the California State University, Long Beach campus (then referred to as Long Beach State College) when workers of

645-545: The L. S. Whaley Company uncovered two dozen ancestral remains and funerary objects during the construction of a housing development. In 1952, an article for the Long Beach Press-Telegram wrote that the "ruins might be part of Pubunga, an ancient 'holy city.'" In 1955, it was noted by Helen Smith Giffen that there were "shell debris littering the fields below the Los Alamitos ranch house [which] bear witness to

688-598: The Los Cerritos Wetlands Complex. Los Cerritos Wetlands is very close to the Pacific Ocean with waters at high tides bringing shallow ocean water over portions of the marshland. Some portions of Los Cerritos Wetlands are fed by winter rainfall creating ephemeral pools . Once a vast marsh covering approximately 2,400 acres (971 ha), Los Cerritos Wetland are now smaller but still maintain ecological function and ecosystem processes. They were historically

731-663: The Los Cerritos Wetlands. 172 acres (0.70 km ) of land has been acquired by the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority ; a total of 255.67 acres (1.0347 km ) within the wetland boundaries are now public lands. The official community-based restoration “kick off” began September 19, 2009, with the Los Cerritos Wetlands Stewardship Program’s Zedler Marsh Cleanup Day event. Regular habitat restoration days have since been held. A final conceptual restoration plan for

774-485: The National Register: the adjacent LAn-234 and LAn-306, located just east of campus on the grounds of the historic Rancho Los Alamitos . In 1979, a reburial of an individual disinterred in 1972 occurred. After this reburial, campus workers erected a small engraved wooden sign at the site, which read "Gabrieleno Indians once inhabited this site, Puvunga, the birthplace of Chungicnish, law-giver and god." More than

817-534: The San Gabriel River flows into the Pacific Ocean, is currently privately owned and used for oil operations. With climate change and its impacts becoming more prevalent, the phenology at Los Cerritos Wetlands has started to become disrupted. Rising sea levels related to climate change threatens to drown the marsh and wetland forever. This will be exacerbated if levees are removed to allow additional seawater to enter this ecosystem. Increased salt water can change

860-468: The Tongva "abruptly abandoned the site in the early 1800s, only a year or so before the first white family took possession of the land". That same year, LAn-235 was placed on the National Register of Historic Places to represent Puvungna "as a means of perpetuating the memory of these native peoples and their religion, and as an aid to the program of public education". Two other sites were included in

903-587: The Tongva and others organized to stop the development and save the site from destruction. They initiated protests and filed a lawsuit that temporarily stalled any construction. The university's sudden hostile attitude toward the preservation of the site has been credited to a change in the university's leadership and the recent decline in California state support for public education, which had pushed universities to find economic revenue sources "to replace state support for higher education that [had] drastically eroded in

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946-442: The University. He pledged to abandon all plans of commercial development on the land and to preserve it, maintaining the open space, as long as he was President. He kept his promise until he left office in 2006. A burial site in the greater Puvunga area was disturbed in the construction of the neighborhood of Hellman Ranch in the adjacent city of Seal Beach . The site is sometimes archaeologically referred to as Puvungna East or as

989-449: The arrival of Spanish missionaries and soldiers. With the establishment of Mission San Gabriel in 1771, many people from surrounding villages were brought to the mission for conversion and for their labor. They worked on the grounds of the mission in conditions that were recognized as slavery by third-party observers at the time. Between 1785 and 1805, mission records noted numerous baptisms of villagers from Puvunga, indicating that

1032-605: The creator, has been killed, and tells the assembly what they must do to feed themselves." Rare bird species have been identified on the site by the Audubon Society . Puvunga once stood on a rounded knoll or small hill above the expansive wetlands (now known as the Los Cerritos Wetlands ) of the San Gabriel River . The Pacific Ocean came up to the bluff of the village, though it has since been pushed several miles west by settlers and commercial development. Puvunga

1075-565: The dumping. This resulted in a legal challenge by the tribe which halted the dumping in October 2019. The legal proceedings were stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Chairman of the tribe Matias Belardes commented on how the dumping reflected a shift in attitude from the university since the 1992 lawsuit: We’ve had a decent relationship since then [the 1992 strip mall incident] .... [We] find it disrespectful and disheartening. Ever since that lawsuit, it

1118-405: The dynamic of the wetlands. Overall, every aspect of the marsh can reflect the effects of climate change. More than 90% of California wetlands have been destroyed due to urbanization, agriculture, and manipulation of local watersheds. Any remaining wetland is considered to be threatened because of all these factors. There is a lack of viable wetlands that can support native and migrating fauna. This

1161-579: The endpoint of an annual pilgrimage that begins at the village site of Panhe , now located in San Onofre . The Tongva and Acjachemen remember the village as home to Wiyot, one of the First Beings who was their sacred leader. It is "the place of emergence" or where "their world and their lives began". In Tongva traditional narratives , it is also, a few centuries later, the birthplace of Chingishnish , "the prophet or deity who appears at Puvunga after Wiyot,

1204-502: The entire Los Cerritos Wetlands complex was completed August 2015. In September 2023, Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority revealed its plans to restore 54 acres of the south side of the wetlands. This will be the first phase of their goal to restore and provide public access to 103.5 acres in total out of the available 503 acres. LCWA received a $ 31.8 million grant from the California State Coastal Conservancy to fund

1247-460: The fact that this was once the site of an Indian rancheria [Puvunga]." She noted that there was still a "wonderful spring" which flowed at the location. On the first official Earth Day celebration, organic gardens were established on the 22 acres (8.9 ha) of Puvunga that were still undeveloped and available to the public. The garden site was used to grow various foods for personal consumption. In 1972, campus workmen uncovered portions of

1290-455: The grounds of University High School in Los Angeles . Puvunga can mean "the place of the gathering" or "in the ball", depending on the source. The site has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974 for its historical and cultural significance. It remains a ceremonial site for the Acjachemen , Tongva , and Chumash for intertribal gatherings. Puvunga also serves

1333-472: The last two decades". As a result, direct action was initiated to prevent the site's development, including protest tent campsites and prayer vigils. In response, the university built a fence around the area and ordered, under threat of arrest, that protestors leave the site. This prompted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to get involved and file a preliminary injunction against

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1376-516: The presence of shell middens in the Rancho Los Alamitos area. At the time, Harrington consulted three Indigenous informants, Jose de Los Santos Juncos, José de Grácia Cruz , and a "very old informant" Guorojos. All three identified the site in Los Alamitos as the village, which they referred to as "Puvu'na" or "Puvu". Harrington's report of these events was published in 1933. In June 1950,

1419-489: The property. In response, six departments at CSULB are developing film and educational resources to teach the campus community about the significance of the site in an attempt to prevent future damage. In August 2020, the California Office of Historical Preservation criticized the university for damaging the site. The following January, the university's president issued a message claiming that rumors of development on

1462-519: The restoration. Flood management, removing invasive species, reconnecting the wetlands to the tidal flow, planting native vegetation, and providing public access with new paths will be the main focus. The starting date for this project is estimated to be around Fall 2025. The Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority (LCWA) has certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Los Cerritos Wetlands to continue efforts to provide

1505-545: The site of Puvungna were untrue, but a report released three months later showed that the university did have plans of building another parking lot on the site. The same month, a number of organizations and tribal nations sent governor Gavin Newson a letter requesting that he restore Puvungna. In August 2021, the Native American Heritage Commission started a formal investigation on the topic. One month later,

1548-606: The university. Raleigh Levine of the ACLU stated, "This case is about the First Amendment rights of the Native Americans to whom Puvungna is sacred. They have the right to freely exercise their beliefs without the state stepping in to pave over their place of worship and put a mini-mall on it." A short film of the event titled Sacred Lands, White Man's Laws was made available in 1994. In 1995, Robert Maxson became President of

1591-502: The very close settlement of Motuucheyngna (at modern-day Seal Beach ), now sometimes referred to in archaeological terms as Puvungna East; Guashna (now at Playa Vista ) located about twenty miles up the coast; and the village of Lupukngna , located down the coastline at the mouth of the Santa Ana River . Like many other Tongva villages in the greater Los Angeles Basin area, village life at Puvunga deteriorated immensely with

1634-521: The village of Motuucheyngna, because of its proximity to Puvugna and in acknowledgment of the large area the village once comprised. About 35 bodies were disturbed in the development of Hellman Ranch, along with numerous artifacts of the Tongva. In 2019, CSULB received backlash after dumping dirt and trash on the site. Local self-identified Indigenous groups, such as the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians ( Acjachemen Nation), were not consulted in regard to

1677-567: The village was likely depleted shortly after. In 1822, Geronimo Boscana referred to the village as Pubuna and located it within the Spanish land grant Rancho de los Nietos established in 1784, which was eight leagues northwest of Mission San Juan Capistrano . Many villagers likely died at the mission and many did not survive the mission period . At Mission San Gabriel, there were a total of 7,854 baptisms (2,459 children) and 5,656 deaths (2,916 children) until secularization in 1834, indicating

1720-441: The wetlands of Puvunga . Los Cerritos Wetlands consists of two functioning marshes (Steamshovel Slough and Zedler Marsh), plus a number of seasonal brackish ponds, all with an abundance of wildlife. The Zedler Marsh portion of the wetlands have multiple plant communities: adjacent uplands, coastal sage scrub , alkaline grasslands , willow/mulefat thicket, and salt marsh . They are home to several endangered species, including

1763-464: Was a large village that extended far beyond the remaining area associated with the village. It was a regional trading and ceremonial center for the Tongva and Acjachemen . Villagers used te'aats to travel on culturally-important journeys out to villages on Pimu ( Santa Catalina Island ) and other islands off the coast, now referred to as the Channel Islands . Nearby coastal villages included:

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1806-523: Was done for the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden . The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 1992, the university challenged its historic designation and threatened to forcefully build a strip mall on the site, which was blocked by direct action and intervention by the ACLU . In 2019, dirt and trash were dumped on the site by the university. The site

1849-427: Was thought that there would be a better understanding of what that site means to us. Somewhere along the way, there’s been a disconnect. Now we’re back to square one after all these positive things from the original lawsuit all those years ago. We thought we were past it already. It shouldn’t have come to this. The university should know the site's significance, what it means to the tribes, and what you can and can’t do on

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