"2,755 tribal members, most of whom live in the town of Dulce." Tribal government The Jicarilla Apache are a federally recognized tribal entity who in 1937 organized a formal government and adopted a constitution. Traditional tribal leaders were elected as their first tribal council members. In 2000 the tribe officially changed their name to the Jicarilla Apache Nation. Veronica E. Velarde Tiller, author of Culture and Customs of the Apache Indians writes: "All the powers of the tribal governments reflected the traditional values of the Apache people. The protection, preservation, and conservation of the bounty of 'Mother Earth', and all its inhabitants is sacred value shared by all Indian people, and the Apaches were most eager to have this concept incorporated into their tribal constitution." An important value of sharing was integrated into the constitution, whereby the Apache Indians declare that the resources of the reservation are "held for the benefit of the entire tribe". Further, all land on the reservation is held by the Jicarilla Apache Reservation, one of only two reservations in the United States where land is not owned by individuals but by the tribal nation as a whole. Tribal members are individuals that are at least 3/8 Jicarilla Apache. The government is made up of the following branches: executive, with a president and vice-president serving four-year terms legislative, with eight members serving staggering four-year terms judicial, tribal court and appellate court judges assigned by the president. Its capital is Dulce, which comprises over 95 percent of the reservation's population, near the extreme north end. Most tribal offices are located in Dulce. Reservation The Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation, at , is located within two northern New Mexico counties: Rio Arriba County Sandoval County. from the Colorado border south to Cuba, New Mexico. The reservation sits along U.S. Route 64 and N.M. 537. The reservation has a land area of 1,364.046 sq mi (3,532.864 km²) and had a population of 2,755 as of the 2000 census. The southern half of the reservation is open plains and the northern portion resides in the treed Rocky Mountains. Mammals and birds migratory paths cross the reservation seasonally, including mountain lion, black bear, elk, Canada geese and turkey. Rainbow, brown and cutthroat trout are stocked in seven lakes on the reservation, but annual conditions such as low precipitation result in high pH-levels. From 1995 to 2000 the lake levels were severely low