KVIG Informative

The Moapa Band of Paiutes spent years fighting the coal plant next door to their reservation. Now they’re building something different on the same land: a cannabis dispensary and one of the largest tribal solar projects in the country.

The Moapa Band of Paiutes announced a new partnership with Mint Cannabis this summer to redevelop the Moapa Paiute Travel Plaza along the Moapa River, adding a dispensary, a remodeled convenience store and a new restaurant to the existing travel stop that serves visitors heading to Valley of Fire State Park and other Southern Nevada destinations.

Mint Cannabis Chief Operating Officer Raul Molina said the partnership is intended to create a destination that supports economic growth, tourism and long-term opportunity for the tribal community, not simply add a retail storefront.

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The dispensary partnership builds on a broader shift in the tribe’s economy. The Moapa Band of Paiutes established the Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project, a 250-megawatt solar array spread across 2,000 acres of the tribe’s ancestral land, capable of providing electricity to an estimated 111,000 homes.

The reservation, established by executive order in 1874, spans roughly 70 square miles along the Moapa River about 30 to 40 miles northeast of Las Vegas and has an enrolled tribal population of around 300 people.

Las Vegas Paiute Tribe Chairman Benny Tso, whose tribe operates its own cannabis dispensary, minimart and golf resort in Southern Nevada, described the region’s tribes’ approach to economic development as guided by a responsibility to plan seven generations ahead rather than for immediate gain alone.

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The tribe plans to host a free two-day community festival over Independence Day weekend at the Travel Plaza, featuring live entertainment, fireworks and food trucks, with Mint Cannabis contributing a dollar-for-dollar donation tied to the celebration.

A reservation built along a river the tribe’s name translates to “the water people” is now generating both cannabis tax revenue and enough solar power for 111,000 homes it doesn’t live in. The tribe that fought a coal plant for decades is now in the business of powering the region that once tried to power itself at their expense.