The following content is sponsored by Protect Tribal Homelands.
In a stunning display of bureaucratic overreach and disregard for tribal sovereignty, the Biden administration, in its waning days, handed over ancestral lands of the Patwin people, near Vallejo, California, to the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians, an unrelated Pomo tribe with no historical ties to the area. This was not a move to uplift Native communities; it was a brazen act of deception and “reservation shopping” designed to enrich non-tribal speculators at the expense of the Patwin tribes and the integrity of the system.
As the true stewards of the land, for thousands of years the local Patwin tribes have lived, worshipped, and worked to protect cultural and ecological resources in Vallejo and the surrounding areas of Solano County for thousands of years.
The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation, both Patwin tribes, are the recognized descendants of those who lived on this soil for countless generations. They hold a first-of-its-kind cultural easement of 15 acres in Glen Cove in partnership with the City of Vallejo, allowing the tribes to preserve and protect their cultural resources where their people once gathered. The Patwin tribes partner with local agencies on conservation efforts and are pillars of their communities, sharing resources with tribal and non-tribal neighbors alike.
Their legacy is one of responsible stewardship, a stark contrast to the predatory “reservation shopping” of the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians. The Patwin people exemplify responsible stewardship and community partnership. Their enduring legacy deserves respect and recognition. Unfortunately, recent actions by the Biden administration have disregarded this invaluable heritage by approving Scotts Valley’s illegal land grab and gaming project.
The Scotts Valley Band hails from Clear Lake, nearly a hundred miles away from Vallejo. In Clear Lake, they have a headquarters, own property, and run businesses (which received federal support). Under oath, Scotts Valley has admitted that Clear Lake is their homeland and none of their historic villages are anywhere near Vallejo. Despite this, they exploited a loophole in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, meant to help landless tribes regain historical lands, to snatch territory far from their origins for the sole purpose of building a casino.
Scotts Valley’s land grab was previously rejected by the Department of the Interior (DOI) under the first Trump administration in 2019.
Interestingly, Scotts Valley’s land grab was also rejected by previous Democrat administrations in 2012 and 2016. Such bipartisan consensus is truly rare in this day and age.
Ignoring this consensus, in its final days in office the Biden administration approved the project. In doing so, it reversed the Trump administration’s well-reasoned 2019 decision. It also ignored the evidence submitted by city and country governments, as well as local tribes. In fact, the Biden administration decision expressly states, on its face, that submissions by concerned tribes were not considered.
It is important to note the Biden administration’s brazen exclusion of tribal voices from its decision-making. The administration claimed to have adopted a policy of “protecting tribes in their homelands.” But it gave away the homelands of federally-recognized Patwin tribes without giving their evidence so much as a look, much less any “protection” worthy of the term. Requests for a fair and transparent process were ignored, as were thousands of pages of historical documentation submitted by tribal stakeholders. This is just one example of the duplicity which undermined many Biden-era pronouncements.
With the end of the Biden administration, there is a renewed sense of hope for genuine transparency in federal policy toward tribal governments and their homeland. President Donald Trump and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum possess strength and clarity to reverse the harmful actions of the previous administration. In fact, the Trump administration has already issued a notice of its intent to reconsider the wrongful decision made by Biden’s team, expressing concern that significant evidence submitted by interested parties – including local Patwin tribes – was not considered when approving Scotts Valley’s land grab. This decisive action signals a return to respecting the rule of law and the rights of the true protectors of the land.
While Scotts Valley is predictably fighting this move in court, the commitment of President Trump and Secretary Burgum to a fair and transparent process offers a welcome path forward. Under their leadership, we will restore faith in the system, honor the heritage of the Patwin people, and begin repairing some of the damage caused by the Biden administration’s eleventh-hour decisions.
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