The Department of the Interior Ignored Legal Requirements and Broke Its Own Promises to Tribes
In January 2025, the federal government purported to “restore” Patwin ancestral lands to the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians, an unrelated Pomo tribe from another part of California with no ancestral connection to the area, facilitating the construction of a casino in Vallejo, CA that would benefit wealthy out-of-state investors and harm the local community.
No Historical Ties: Scotts Valley Abused The System
The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians engaged in what is commonly referred to as “reservation shopping,” seeking a more lucrative location outside its ancestral territory. To take advantage of an exception in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act that was meant to allow landless tribes to recover portions of their former reservations, Scotts Valley falsely claimed a historical connection to Vallejo.
Scotts Valley is not a landless tribe. The Band owns property, maintains a government headquarters, and owns an energy company in its Clear Lake homeland, where most of its members live. Rather than seeking to restore the area of its former reservation, northwest of Clear Lake, Scotts Valley instead pursued development on Patwin ancestral lands in the Bay Area, nearly 100 miles away.
Scotts Valley has admitted, under penalty of perjury, that its homelands are in Clear Lake, while Vallejo is Patwin territory.
Biden’s Department of the Interior colluded with Scotts Valley to fast-track their request for a “restored lands” decision, excluding affected tribes, local governments, and the public at large from the process.
The Northeast Bay Area Is The Ancestral Land Of The Patwin People
Despite the loss of their lands to settlers, the Patwin connection to Vallejo and Solano County has been continuous and unwavering. Patwin tribes (including the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation) hold a cultural easement from the City of Vallejo, allowing the tribes to preserve and protect their cultural resources along the shoreline of San Pablo Bay. They partner with local agencies on conservation efforts and have become a pillar of the community funding programs for families in crisis.
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.
Glen Cove Waterfront Park
By partnering with the Solano Resource Conservation District to rehabilitate the Glen Cove Waterfront Park, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation is restoring native plant species and landscapes within the Patwin people’s ancestral territory along the shoreline of San Pablo Bay.
The Patwin people exemplify responsible stewardship and community partnership. Their enduring legacy deserves respect and recognition.
Vallejo is Patwin Territory
Each year, in recognition of Native American Heritage Month, Patwin tribes receive multiple proclamations from city and county governments declaring the land in Vallejo and Solano County to be Patwin ancestral territory. While the Patwin people have lived on this land for thousands of years, this effort began two decades ago to raise awareness of the first people to call this land home while educating the public about the unique challenges Native people have faced historically and in the present.
Local Engagement and Impacts
Despite significant pushback from Vallejo residents, Mayor Andrea Sorce, select City Councilmembers, and local tribes, the City Council voted in April 2026 to enter into the MOU with Scotts Valley after a single meeting despite clear and repeated calls from community members and tribal governments for meaningful public engagement.
More than 1,000 pages of materials were included in the agenda at the last moment and continued to be updated until minutes before the meeting began, leaving the public with no time to meaningfully review or respond, raising serious concerns about process, transparency, and public trust. Equally concerning, numerous inaccurate representations that the project can move forward even without the City created a false sense of urgency.
In reality, the City permits at issue (also withheld from the public materials) require City approval. Scotts Valley was not pushing for this agreement because it wants to pay the City, it was doing so because it needs the City. Unfortunately, the City handed away its rights without getting much in return.
A History of Rejection
The Department of the Interior has determined on three separate occasions, including during both democratic and republican administrations, that Scotts Valley lacks the significant historical connection to the Bay Area needed to acquire land eligible for gaming. Scotts Valley’s campaign to build a casino ignores previous decisions and has fabricated new facts to justify trampling on the rights of the area’s Patwin descendants. Trump’s Department of the Interior has the opportunity to reverse the prior administration’s decision.
1991
Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians is restored to federal recognition.
2005
After waiting for 14 years, Scotts Valley submits a Fee-to-Trust (FTT) application for land in Richmond, CA rather than its ancestral Pomo homelands in Clear Lake.
2012
2015
2016
2017
2019
2020
2022
2023
2024
Further requests for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to set a fair, transparent, and fact-based process allowing for meaningful participation by affected tribes and other stakeholder; Bureau of Indian Affairs refuses to respond.
Without notice to local Patwin tribes, other tribal and governmental stakeholders, or the public at large, Bureau of Indian Affairs orders Pacific Regional Office to process Scotts Valley’s request.
2025
On January 10, in the final days of the Biden Administration, the Department of the Interior issues a decision approving the Scotts Valley casino proposal. Wizipan Garriott, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and officiant of this decision resigns his post on January 11 and Gaming Director Paula Hart resigns on January 31.
On March 27, the Trump Administration issued a notice temporarily rescinding the January 10 decision for reconsideration, expressing concern that the Department did not consider additional evidence submitted after the 2022 Remand. The Department invited Scotts Valley and other interested parties to submit evidence and/or legal analysis addressing whether the proposed site qualifies as restored lands.
On April 1, Scotts Valley filed a lawsuit in the District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to prevent the Department from reconsidering the decision.
On October 30, the District Court for the District of Columbia rejected Scotts Valley’s lawsuit and upheld the reconsideration of the proposed Vallejo casino project.
On November 20, the District Court directed DOI to move forward with a concrete schedule for completing prompt reconsideration of the Vallejo casino project.
On December 3, DOI stated it will complete its reconsideration of the Vallejo casino project “as quickly as possible,” citing possible “legal error” and “questions” on gaming eligibility.
2026
On April 14, the City of Vallejo approved a controversial “Memorandum of Understanding” with Scotts Valley to provide city services to a planned “preview” casino on the Pomo tribe’s 160-acre federal trust land after a single meeting despite calls from community members and tribal governments for meaningful public engagement.
On May 8, Lytton Rancheria, a Sonoma County tribe based in Windsor, sued the City of Vallejo in response to the approval of the “Memorandum of Understanding” with Scotts Valley.
On May 26, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation sued the City of Vallejo in response to the approval of the “Memorandum of Understanding” with Scotts Valley.
