Mescalero

The Mescalero are an Apache people of the Southern Athabaskan language family who live in south-central New Mexico. Traditionally, their homeland encompassed the Sacramento Mountains and surrounding lands. Today they are governed as the Mescalero Apache Tribe and reside on the Mescalero Indian Reservation, which sits in Otero County and parts of Lincoln County near the villages of Mescalero and Ruidoso.

The tribe is federally recognized and administered by a tribal council and a chairperson. The Mescalero Reservation serves as their political and cultural center, with services including education, health, and cultural programs.

The Mescalero language is part of the Mescalero-Chiricahua branch of Southern Athabaskan. Many members are bilingual, with ongoing language preservation efforts to teach the language in schools and communities.

Economy and land use on the reservation include gaming and hospitality enterprises, most notably the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort and Casino, as well as land and natural resource management, tourism, and cultural tourism.

Historically, the Mescalero faced pressures from European-American settlement and U.S. military campaigns in the 19th century, leading to relocation to the reservation. They remain a distinct Apache group, separate from the Chiricahua Apache, to which chiefs like Geronimo belonged.