Sonoma County Supervisors have unanimously adopted a resolution opposing the Koi Nation of Northern California’s proposal to place land southeast of Windsor into a trust to build a casino.
The board said it came to the decision based on letters of opposition from five other Sonoma County tribes: The Kashia Band of Pomo Indians, Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians, Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians, Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and Lytton Band of Pomo Indians.
Final say will be from the U.S. Department of the Interior, but the supervisors’ opposition as well as the opposition from the five tribes of the area could affect the government’s approval, the county said.
The tribal councils and the supervisors maintain that the Koi Nation “lacks the necessary significant historical connection to the lands” at 222 East Shiloh Rd., where the Koi applied to have the land declared sovereign tribal land.
According to the county, Koi Nation’s historic and ancestral lands lie in Lake County.
The Koi Nation bought the 68.8-acre parcel near Shiloh Ranch Regional Park in September of last year, announcing its intention to develop a hotel and casino there. If the federal government approves the tribe’s attempt to put the land in trust, the Koi Nation would receive sovereign status on the land.
“While we wholeheartedly support the rights of Native American tribes to establish sovereign lands,” said Supervisor James Gore, “this application by the Koi Nation could set a serious, negative precedent in allowing one tribe to establish trust land in the ancestral lands of another tribe.”