The Bureau of Indian Affairs last week rejected the application by the Coquille Indian Tribe to put land into trust in Medford, Oregon, which is 170 miles distant from its reservation.
The distance of the land that the tribe wants to put into trust from its reservation was cited by John Tahsuda, principal deputy assistant secretary of Indian affairs in the letter that he sent to the tribe May 27.
The tribe proposed to build the Cedars at Bear Creek, a Class II casino and an 111-room hotel on 2.42 acres of Medford commercial property it acquired eight years ago.
The tribe reacted angrily. Brenda Meade, chairman, declared, “Instead of a fair and open process, this agency has turned to the hidden, back-room dealing that is the hallmark of an overly political process, a process that federal law repeatedly has tried to prevent.”
The tribe was shocked by the decision. It had been expecting a public comment period and a consideration of an environmental review, not an outright rejection. Besides the 170 mile distance, Tahsuda also cited “jurisdictional problems.”
The Coquille tribe currently operates the Mill Casino in North Bend, which is closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The proposal has met with much pushback from local government and from the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, which operates the Seven Feathers casino in the area.
