Native American rights and environmental responsibilities
by Brian Schmidt

In southern Santa Clara County, two Native American groups, split with internal dissension, are involved in murky relationships with developers that could result in loopholes for development that bypasses local land use protections. Although this is a local problem, it reflects a broader statewide issue.

Key to all of this is that land owned by federally recognized Native American tribes is subject to federal control and is exempt from city and county land use regulations. In California, this is significant, for much of our environmental protection occurs at city and county levels.

Developers are seizing this opportunity to bypass environmental protection. For CGF, managing this situation involves understanding both Native American rights and our environmental responsibilities.

The casino: location, location, location
A federally recognized tribe of Miwoks is proposing to build a casino in rural San Benito County, just across the county line from Santa Clara County. As an environmental organization, Committee for Green Foothills takes no position on the value of casino gambling. We do, however, generally oppose giant facilities that attract large numbers of people and lots of traffic, located on the rural outskirts of a highly populated region.

An analogy could be made to big-box retail development in Gilroy, which is destroying the last agricultural stronghold in Santa Clara County and increasing pressure to widen highways. Even worse, rural casinos tend to attract resort development, with golf courses and expensive second homes that do nothing to reduce housing shortages and housing prices.

The tribe under discussion, the California Valley Miwoks, formerly known as the Sheep Ranch Rancheria of Mi-Wuk, has only five members, one of whom opposes the casino and claims to be the authentic chairman. Their historic connection to the local area is tenuous at best; they last owned land in the Sierras. And their plan is opposed by the local Native American people who actually live in the area, the Amah-Mutsun.

There are clearly many reasons to oppose this particular casino in this particular place. The possibility that the California Valley Miwoks are not actually controlling the whole process is particularly jarring. A recent press conference to announce the casino location was attended by local developers and a Maryland-based lawyer, but no Miwoks. It is not even clear whether any of the tribal members have even so much as visited the area.

Nevertheless, the California Valley Miwoks derive certain rights from their federal recognition. The local community also has rights, as well as a responsibility to protect the environment.

Although this is a local issue, resolving it has statewide implications, and while CGF recognizes the severity of the problem, finding a workable solution will be difficult.

The new "friend" of the Amah-Mutsun - a Sargent Ranch developer
The local Native American group that opposes the casino, the Amah-Mutsun Ohlone tribe, is caught up in a separate controversy involving the 6,500-acre Sargent Ranch, just south of Gilroy. The current owner, Wayne Pierce, has proposed numerous environmentally destructive proposals to develop the land with luxury homes and golf courses, all of them unsuccessful (due in no small part to CGF's vigilance over the years).

Now a deal has come to light involving one of the two factions of the Amah-Mutsun.

The Amah-Mutsun tribe is not currently federally recognized; going through the recognition process can be long and expensive. Wayne Pierce is apparently paying for that process (in addition to looking for ways to use Congress to circumvent that process).

In return for his help, one faction of the tribe has a land deal with Pierce. The agreement apparently involves his selling 3,500 acres to the tribe, which would keep 500 acres and lease back the remaining 3,000 acres to Pierce. If the tribe reaches federal recognition, both the tribe and Pierce could develop the property without being subject to County land use regulations.

To complicate matters, the other tribal faction does not support this deal. At this point, a Congressional end-run recognizing the Amah-Mutsun tribe is unlikely, and the administrative process for granting recognition (through the federal Bureau for Indian Affairs) takes years.

Ironically, that process may have become slower because in other contexts, recognition facilitates casino development. The schism in the tribe and questions about tribal governance may also slow recognition.

While this issue may take time to develop, it will not go away. What is new about the Sargent Ranch deal is that it does not involve a casino. The developer is using the deal to sell land to the tribe and lease it back to skirt local land use protection.

This is a frightening precedent not just for southern Santa Clara County, but elsewhere in California. Environmentalists here and elsewhere will have to determine how to respect Native American rights while protecting the environment for everyone.