Friends of Puvungna (www.friendsofpuvungna.org) request a one year delay of implementation of the CSULB's Implementation of “Treatment Plan for Soils Placement on Campus” (2021). Friends of Puvungna are actively seeking grants to fund removal of the deposited soils from the site of Puvungna. Completion of the current plan to compact and feather out piled soils would make it much more difficult to remove the soil and cause more damage to the covered midden and to the established eco system during spring fluorescence.

Puvungna is a sacred site of creation, emergence, and gathering. It is the home of Wiyot and the birthplace of Chinigchinich, lawgiver and god. Puvungna flourished as a ceremonial center for thousands of years. Tongva, Acjachemen, and other Southern California tribes and the Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC)  recognize this place as a sacred site representing shared history and culture.

The area of Puvungna extended across southeast Long Beach into Seal Beach including the Campus of California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). In 1974,  22 acres of the CSULB campus encompassing undeveloped parts of sites CA-LAN-234/235 were listed on the California State and National Registers of Historical Places (NRHP). Listing on the NRHP entitles important historic or prehistoric places to protections from arbitrary destruction.  

In September 2019 CSULB dumped 6,400 cubic yards of debris and soil from a campus construction project onto the Puvungna meadow without conducting required prior consultation with affiliated tribal governments or obtaining authorization  from the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). In previous years  the university had dumped similar amounts in the northeastern corner of the listed site without being caught in the act but this time they were observed and finally stopped. This current remedial plan was negotiated with SHIPO but no supplemental EIR has been completed as stated.  Removal of the soil, not stabilized berms is the desired remedy. We are working on it but we need time!