A federal judge on November 13 ordered that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) put land into trust for the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of northern California.
The ranchera was one of several tribes that the courts determined were illegally terminated during the 1960s. A U.S. District Court in 1983 ordered the restoration of 17 California rancherias. It took decades for that ruling to work its way to helping the Buena Vista tribe.
The Buena Vista Rancheria had gone to court to ask that the BIA be forced to act on that 1983 ruling and restore its land. In his November 13 ruling Judge Edward M. Chen ruled that the tribe qualified for a mandatory trust acquisition, and that the BIA must take land into trust for the tribe.
The tribe issued a statement: “We are proud and this victory we dedicate to Louie and Annie Oliver who were the Indians whose rights were stripped away in 1958. Tribal Sovereignty strengthened today.”
This latest ruling adds on to a legal battle the tribe won in 2016 against Amador County, which had opposed its Harrah’s Northern California casino. This allowed the tribe to move forward with a development agreement with Caesars, Harrah’s parent company, to develop the casino.
