Celebrating Indigenous People's Day

The Importance of Cultural Resources

On this auspicious day, I would like to share a video that our company, Crystal Pyramid Productions, was hired to create for contractors who work at Camp Pendleton. That land now utilized and settled by U.S. Marines and their families was formerly occupied by indigenous people - the Juaneños and Luiseños - who existed there for over 10,000 years until the conquering Spaniards enslaved them to till fields and construct missions beginning in 1769.

Camp Pendleton lies between Los Angeles and San Diego, preventing the two burgeoning cities from sprawling into each other. The cultural resources already discovered and identified on Camp Pendleton, as well as those still hidden, are important to preserve so that society can understand the techniques used by these indigenous tribes to simply survive on the land.

The 20-minute Telly-award-winning video features interviews with tribal members Chris Devers and Mel Vernon, and describes why and how to preserve the cultural resources of Camp Pendleton in Southern California.

Patty Mooney is a San Diego video producer. Alongside her husband, Mark Schulze, she has co-helmed San Diego’s longest-serving video production company, Crystal Pyramid Productions (est. 1981), since 1982. She is an avid mountain biker, travel adventurer, story-teller and poet.