The Amador County, California Board of Supervisors has voted not to give the Jackson Band of Miwuk Indians a letter of support for its efforts to increase ths size of the Jackson Rancheria.
The tribe plans to submit a request to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to put 875 acres that it owns into trust, which would increase the reservation by 50 percent to 2,215 acres.
The County would lose about $95,000 a year in property taxes if the land was put into trust. The tribe says it doesn’t plan to develop the land but wants to be a steward of the land and further control its own destiny. The tribe assured the board that it planned to reimburse the county for lost property tax revenue.
Supervisors were also concerned that neighbors of the tribe would have no input on what happened to the land.