No Historical Connection: Interior Finds Scotts Valley’s Vallejo Site Ineligible for Gaming
On July 31, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Interior completed a 16-month review and reached the same conclusion it had reached before: the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians, a tribe from the Clear Lake region nearly 100 miles away, did not demonstrate the historical connection required to conduct gaming in the Bay Area.
A Homeland at Clear Lake. A Casino Proposal 100 Miles Away.
For centuries, their Patwin people have used, occupied, and maintained a cultural connection to the region of the San Francisco Bay Area now known as Solano County – so named for Patwin Chief Francisco Solano. This dispute arises from efforts by the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians, an unrelated Pomo tribe from a different part of California, to develop a large casino and Pomo government headquarters on 160 acres of land in the Solano County city of Vallejo, squarely within the Patwin ancestral heartland.
Scotts Valley has admitted, under penalty of perjury, that its homelands are in Clear Lake. It has also admitted that the proposed site of its Vallejo gaming project lies within Patwin ancestral lands.
In 1851 Scotts Valley’s ancestors signed a treaty with the United States at Clear Lake. Had the 1851 treaty been ratified by the United States Senate, it would have created a reservation for Scotts Valley’s ancestors at Clear Lake. Despite the Senate’s failure to ratify the treaty, the United States did, in fact, create a reservation for Scotts Valley at Clear Lake. When Scotts Valley members later voted to terminate their Clear Lake reservation (and their sovereignty), they received property at Clear Lake in return. And when Scotts Valley was later restored to federal recognition, the Band made its tribal headquarters at Clear Lake.
Today, Scotts Valley owns multiple properties at and around Clear Lake, including a parcel the Band describes as its “tribal lands.” Scotts Valley hosts tribal events and ceremonies at its Clear Lake tribal lands. The Band also owns multiple businesses headquartered at Clear Lake. Scotts Valley has sought and obtained state and federal funding for those businesses to support activities in and around Clear Lake.
However, in defiance of nearly a decade of local, national, and federal opposition, Biden’s Department of the Interior approved Scotts Valley’s Vallejo land grab in January 2025. The current administration acknowledged the error and eventually rescinded Scotts Valley’s gaming eligibility after a thorough 16-month review of the full evidentiary record.
No Historical Connection: The July 31 Decision
The Finding
The Effect
Why the Reconsideration Happened
What's Pending
The Northeast Bay Area Is The Ancestral Land Of The Patwin People
For thousands of years, the Patwin people lived, worshipped, and worked to maintain an ecological balance in Vallejo and the surrounding areas of Solano County. Well-established and widely accepted historical evidence confirms that both the City of Vallejo and the larger Solano County contain numerous Patwin villages, burials, and sacred sites. The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, a Patwin tribe, is recognized as the most likely descendant of Native American remains found throughout Solano County—named after the esteemed Patwin leader, Chief Solano (Sem-Yeto). And the United States has repeatedly recognized Solano County as Patwin ancestral territory, in a variety of regulatory contexts.
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.
Glen Cove Waterfront Park
The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation negotiated an unprecedented cultural easement with the City of Vallejo and the Greater Vallejo Recreation District to enable the tribes to protect sacred waterfronts where their people once gathered.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Did the Department of the Interior’s July 31 decision shutter Scotts Valley’s $700 million casino?
A: No. Scotts Valley has not started construction on its proposed $700 million casino project when the Department issued its July 31 decision. Instead, it had claimed to be operating a small, invitation-only “preview casino” in repurposed modular buildings. The “preview casino” began operations just seven days earlier. It was not open to the general public. The approximately 5,400-square-foot facility appears to have offered fewer than 20 gaming machines, none of them “Class III” (or Las Vegas-style). The July 31 decision does confirm the $700 million casino cannot be legally developed.
Q: Did the July 31 decision represent an unprecedented reversal of the federal government’s position?
A: Just the opposite, in fact. The Department had previously found on multiple occasions that Scotts Valley lacks the historical connection required for gaming at proposed sites in the Bay Area. The January 2025 decision departed from those earlier findings – and only by excluding relevant evidence. It was the outlier. The Department later acknowledged the improper exclusion of evidence from the January 2025 decision; that was the reason for the reconsideration process. Following that 16-month review, the Department returned to a conclusion consistent with its earlier findings: Scotts Valley lacks the significant historical connection to Vallejo required under federal law.
Q: Is this decision a significant economic blow to Scotts Valley due to the closure of the temporary casino?
A: The temporary trailer casino on the site had been operating for just seven days when the Department issued its decision. It was not open to the general public and was separate from Scotts Valley’s proposed $700 million casino resort, which had not begun construction. It’s not clear whether the temporary casino was even generating any revenue. Scotts Valley also opened the temporary facility knowing that its gaming eligibility remained under federal consideration and a decision would be coming within the week. It knowingly took the risk. In October 2025, the court cautioned Scotts Valley against placing “undue reliance” on the temporary reinstatement of its gaming eligibility while that review continued and the Department reiterated that warning in December 2025.
Q: Was the July 31 decision a surprise to Scotts Valley?
A: No, the Department of the Interior provided ample communication with Scotts Valley and other interested parties throughout the reconsideration process. The initial reconsideration letter, issued March 2025, warned Scotts Valley to not rely on the Gaming Eligibility Determination. The DC District Court reinforced this in October 2025, stating that “Scotts Valley would be ill-served by placing undue reliance on” the temporary reinstation of its Gaming Eligibility. Just one month later, the Department of the Interior once again said, “[Scotts Valley] would be ill-served by placing undue influence” on the Court’s temporary reinstatement of the gaming eligibility. Despite these numerous warnings, the Band went ahead and opened its temporary casino just seven days before the announced deadline for the reconsidered decision.
Q: Are other California tribes opposing Scotts Valley’s casino project to protect their own gaming interests?
A: Scotts Valley is a Pomo tribe from the Clear Lake region of California. Vallejo is located in the Bay Area, within Patwin ancestral territory. Federal law requires a significant historical connection for land to qualify for gaming under the restored lands exception — a connection the Department determined Scotts Valley did not demonstrate.
This is also not Scotts Valley’s first attempt to establish a gaming operation closer to the Bay Area. In 2012, the Department denied its application for a site near Richmond after finding that Scotts Valley had not demonstrated the required significant historical connection. Yocha Dehe and other concerned tribes have stated they would not oppose Scotts Valley gaming on its Clear Lake ancestral lands. Opposition to the Vallejo project includes both gaming and non-gaming Tribal Nations. Their concern is rooted in a broader principle: Tribal homelands and historical connections matter.
Q: Was Scotts Valley a landless tribe until the parcel of land in Vallejo was placed into trust?
A: No, Scotts Valley was not a landless tribe. The Pomo tribe hails from Clear Lake, California where the Band owns property (including property it refers to as its “tribal lands”), maintains a government headquarters, and owns an energy company. Rather than seeking to restore its property in Clear Lake, Scotts Valley instead pursued the casino development on Patwin ancestral lands in Vallejo, nearly 100 miles away.
A History of Deception & Rejection
Since 2005, Scotts Valley has claimed a historical connection to various parts of the Bay Area in order to build a casino outside its ancestral homelands. Four times, under administrations of both parties, the Department of the Interior has found that connection insufficient. Over the past two decades of attempts, the Band has created new versions of its own history depending on where it found a potential gaming site.
In submissions to DOI and in federal court filings, Scotts Valley has admitted that Vallejo is not part of its Clear Lake homeland but instead lies within the ancestral lands of the Patwin people. It has acknowledged that “[e]thnographers have long been in agreement that the area in and around what is now the City of Vallejo and adjacent portions of southern Napa and Solano counties were part of the territory of the Patwin people.” Yet it continues to argue that it has properly demonstrated a historical connection to the location sufficient to satisfy the federal legal requirements for gaming.
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 application for land in Richmond, CA rather than its ancestral Pomo homelands in Clear Lake.
2012
The Department of the Interior denies Scotts Valley’s Fee-to-Trust application for the Richmond site, citing a lack of historical connection to the area.
2015
Scotts Valley signs an agreement with a developer targeting gaming land in Napa, Solano, or Sonoma Counties.
2016
Scotts Valley requests a “Restored Lands” determination for a site in Vallejo, CA.
2017
2019
2020
Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation petitions to intervene in the litigation; the Department of the Interior claims intervention is unnecessary because the litigation will not result in any harm to Yocha Dehe in part because the Patwin tribes will be allowed full participation in any future proceedings.
2022
United States District Court for the District of Columbia rules that the case should be returned to the Department of the Interior for further consideration; the Department of Justice describes the ruling as “clear error” yet fails to pursue an appeal.
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 the Department to move forward with a concrete schedule for completing prompt reconsideration of the Vallejo casino project.
On December 3, the Department 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 Band’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.
On July 31, the Department of the Interior, after thoroughly reviewing relevant evidence, determined once again that the site of the proposed Scotts Valley casino in Vallejo is not eligible for gaming.
