Restoring tribal land is a huge milestone for Pueblo of Isleta—ensuring homelands for future gens.SJ https://t.co/n2xDKEDPiP

— Sally Jewell (@SecretaryJewell) January 15, 2016

Typing the address for the Isleta Pueblo courthouse into Google maps will deposit the curious driver in front of a modest adobe home with an old swing set rusting away in the front yard. The home is somewhere deep in the interior of twisting dusty roads that comprise this pueblo village 20 miles south of Albuquerque.

Clearly, this was not the location for the historic, dignitary-laden signing ceremony marking the culmination of Isleta Pueblo’s land into trust efforts, the largest parcel of tribal land placed into federal trust in a single application.

Several phone calls to Department of Interior personnel on the ground, however, led the press to the correct location, where the ceremony took place Friday January 15 in a small building in a corner of the very heart of the Pueblo, the plaza.

“Secretary [Sally] Jewell’s team asked for an authentic Pueblo setting for the signing ceremony. You don’t get much more Pueblo than this,” laughed Isleta Pueblo Governor E. Paul Torres as he apologized for the small size of the room.

“We didn’t expect such a huge crowd, although this is, indeed, a huge event for our people,” said Torres.