As 2010 opened the Estom Yumeka Maidu Tribe of Northern California was waiting to hear word on its application to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to put 40 acres into federal trust for a casino in Yuba County.

The tribe is awaiting the release of a preliminary Environmental Impact Statement for the project, which would include a 170-room hotel, convention center and retail.

The proposal is not popular with the voters of Yuba County, who opposed it in a non-binding referendum several years ago. It is also opposed by the Mooretown Rancheria, operators of a casino in Oroville, which claims that the Estom Yumeka Maidu Tribe is engaged in "reservation shopping" way off of its traditional tribal homeland.

Meanwhile, in the same part of the state the Redding Rancheria, which recently put an expansion of its Win-River Casino on the shelf until better economic times, has decided to  buy 64 acres in Redding. Since the tribe several years ago bought 150 acres next to a hotel that it owns, speculation has run rampant that the tribe wants to eventually increase the size of its casino's footprint. The tribe is also in discussions to buy 82 acres from the city of Redding near Interstate 5.

By Staff