The rules changes proposed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for making it easier for the federal government to recognize Indian tribes has some of the wineries in Northern California worried about casinos with multistory hotels springing up in their midst like unwanted toadstools.
Rex Stults, a government relations director for Napa Valley Vintners told the Wine Searcher, “This is all about a casino. Napa’s the bulls eye,” says Rex Stults, government relations director for Napa Valley Vintners. “A recognized Indian tribe is a sovereign country. It’s like inviting a foreign nation into the county. Fifty years of observing the agricultural preserve would go right out the window.”
The wine growers of Napa are concerned about the Mishewal Wappo Tribe of Alexander Valley, a tribe of 340 members, which had its federal recognition taken away from it more than 60 years ago and has sued the federal government to get restore it. So far without success. Although the tribe was pleased when two neighboring counties were removed from the lawsuit as interested parties.
So far the judge has not made a decision, although Stults says his side has been encouraged by some questions that he has asked.
Napa County recently petitioned Congress to hold hearings on the issue.
According to Diane Dillon, a member of the Napa County Board of Supervisors, “What do we want to see in California? Do you think we need 25 more casinos in California. I don’t. Do we think Native Americans need federal assistance? Absolutely. But because the recognition process is so expensive, most of the groups have backers, and most of the backers are gambling groups. Gaming companies solicit Indian tribes to go through this process and underwrite them.” Napa has particularly strict development regulations, which a tribe, as a sovereign entity, does not have to obey.
Gaining recognition would just be the first step for the Wappo to build a casino. Next they would have to put land into trust. They would also need to negotiate a tribal gaming compact with the government and get permission to offer games by the National Indian Gaming Commission.
The BIA rules will completely change the playing field in the Golden State, according to Cheryl Schmit, director of Stand Up for California, a casino watchdog group. “These rules are basically a gaming incentive. You’ll have gaming investors hooking up with these tribes and helping them finance their recognition.” She added, “It is astonishing that the federal government would attempt to ram through these rules while providing no impact assessment of the social and economic costs on communities across our state.”
The National Congress of American Indians, disagrees. It recently adopted a resolution calling the new rules “a matter of long-overdue justice and fairness.”
Obviously, California isn’t the only state that would be affected if the BIA’s new rules were adopted, but it does have far more Indian tribes than any other state, and potentially many more casinos could be added to the state mix.
Patty Ferguson-Bohnee, who is a professor of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, recently told the Seattle Times, “This opens the door of opportunity.”
In Washington state several tribes that the federal government previously declared extinct, such as the Chinook, claim that they are anything but.
Rob Jacobs of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina gripes that he can’t legally wear eagle feathers because his tribe is not federally recognized. Under the new rules he might be able to wear them with pride.
The BIA has set a September 30 deadline for the public to make comments on the proposed rules.
