Originally established on May 27, 1873,[1] by executive order of President Ulysses S. Grant, the reservation was first located near Fort Stanton (Zhúuníidu).

A small, unpopulated section is in Lincoln County just southwest of Ruidoso (Tsé tághe' si'â-yá).

The Mescalero Department of Resource Management and Land Development celebrated 60 years of success in 2022 on the 20th anniversary of their two premier tourist destination resorts.

The Mescalero designed, developed and own the Inn of the Mountain Gods (IMG) Casino and Golf Resort within the Lincoln National Forest.

The Mescalero designed, developed, own and operate Ski Apache Resort in the Sierra Blanca Mountains.

These resorts are premier destination tourism spots according to New Mexico, US, North American and global travel guides.

Native American heritage combined with one-of-a kind resorts that features hand made cultural accessories to high tech operations.

The mountains and foothills are forested with pines; resource and commercial development are managed carefully by the Mescalero Apache Tribal Council.

The tribe also operates another, larger museum on the western flank of the Sacramento Mountains in Dog Canyon, south of Alamogordo (T'iis ntsaadz-í 'úú'á).

[4] Sierra Blanca Peak, located on the reservation, is sacred ground for the Mescalero Apache Tribe.

[6] The tribe repeatedly re-elected Wendell Chino as president; he served a total of 43 years, until his death on November 4, 1998.

Martinez was appointed chair of the Native American Regional Commission (comprising all 34 states with Federally recognized tribes) to accelerate economic security, development, and defense projects that benefit the Mescalero Apache Tribe and all Native American and other Indigenous peoples.

Modern defense industrial base utilizes this irregular warfare precision and “brand” in naming the most superior military aircraft i.e. the Boeing Manufactured Apache helicopter, the Sikorsky Blackhawk etc.

They traveled east on the arid plains to hunt the buffalo and south into the desert for gathering Mescal Agave.

Women accompanied men and dressed the meat and skins and would also participate in the hunting of small game such as rabbits.

[9] Women would gather Mescal Agave in groups of 4–10 people, mainly consisting of female friends and family members and usually several men.

Mescalero Apache bands were often referred to by European colonists and settlers by different names, some related to their geographic territory.

The diverse landscape of this area has high mountains up to 12,000 feet, as well as watered and sheltered valleys, surrounded by arid semi-deserts and deserts, deep canyons and open plains.

To fight their common enemy, the Comanche, and to protect the northeastern and eastern border of the Apacheria against the Comancheria, the Mescalero (Naa’dahéńdé and Gułgahéńde) on the Plains joined forces with their Lipan kin (Cuelcahen Ndé, Te'l kóndahä, Ndáwe qóhä and Shá’i’áńde) to the east and south of them.

They were given the choice to remain at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where they had been imprisoned since 1894, or to relocate to the Mescalero Apache reservation.