The reservation has a land area of 583.749 square miles (1,511.90 km2) and a 2020 Census population of 14,260.[1] It is made up of seven districts[2] along the Gila River and its largest communities are Sacaton, Komatke, Santan, and Blackwater. Tribal administrative offices and departments are located in Sacaton. The Community operates its own telecom company, electric utility, industrial park and healthcare clinic, and publishes a monthly newspaper. It has one of the highest rates of Type 2 diabetes in the world, around 50% of the population.[3] The community voluntarily contributes to Type 2 diabetes research, having participated in many studies of the disease.[4]
Under their constitution, tribal members elect a governor and lieutenant governor at-large. They also elect 16 council members, from single-member districts or sub-districts with roughly equal populations.
The community owns and operates Gila River Memorial Airport, a small, private-use airport, located 4 miles southwest of the central business district of Chandler. It was used for cropdusting and air charter operations, with no scheduled commercial services. The airport is no longer used and is in a state of total abandonment.
The community also operates Gila River Transit, a public transit system serving all seven districts.
I-10 was built through the southeast to north-central portion of Gila River lands, bringing significant highway traffic through the area.
The Constitution and Bylaws of the Gila River Indian Community of Arizona was ratified by the tribe January 22, 1960, and approved by the US Secretary of the Interior on March 17, 1960. It is available online.[13]
The current Gila River legal code was enacted in 2009. Amendments enacted 15 May 2013, are available online.[14]
Gila River does not recognize marriages performed elsewhere in the state of Arizona. On 15 July 2015, in response to the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States, the Community Council passed a motion by a vote of 14 to 2 that the gendered language of the Gila River marriage code meant that same-sex marriage was not recognized:
1) The Community Council exercises its sovereignty and recognizes that the intent of GRIC code, Title 9, Section 9.103 is that a marriage is between and man and a woman; 2) the Community will maintain the status quo – that same sex marriage is not traditionally recognized in the Community – pending full consideration by the Standing Committees, Community Council and Community members and of any legislative changes; 3) the Community Court shall not issue any marriage licenses to couples of the same sex and no appointed or elected official of the Community shall officiate at any same sex marriage which takes place on the Gila River Indian Reservation; 4) the Office of General Counsel is directed to draft and present amendments to the GRIC Code within 30 days which more clearly recognizes and codifies the Community's historical tradition, both Akimel Oʼodham and Pee Posh, of not permitting or recognizing same-sex or common law marriages since time immemorial.[15]
Jay Morago (1917–2008), served as the first Governor of the Gila River Indian Community from 1954 until 1960 and helped to draft the reservation's 1960 constitution.[17][18]
Mary Thomas (1944–2014), was the first woman elected as Governor of the Gila River Indian Community, serving from 1994 until 2000.[8]
Natalie Diaz (1978–), Pulitzer-prize winning poet, educator, and activist
