A $600m casino resort in Sonoma County is at the centre of an ongoing dispute between the Koi Nation and the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, the latter of whom claim that the development violates its tribal sovereignty over the historical and cultural assets of the land.
Last month, the outgoing administration of US president Joe Biden approved a land trust application for the Koi Nation’s Shiloh Resort and Casino, which has been met with resistance from the Graton Rancheria and other neighbouring communities since the project was announced in 2021.
The application is a process required for tribal gaming, in which the government converts a parcel of land into sovereign territory. However, opponents of the project claim the Koi Nation have no ancestral ties to the land, and have raised concerns around the efficacy of environmental and archaeological surveys conducted on the site.
The Koi Nation aims to build a 68-acre complex near Windsor, including a 530,000 sq. ft casino floor and 400-room hotel, which would rival the nearby Graton Resort and Casino that is owned by the Graton Rancheria and broke ground in 2023.
A spokesperson for the Graton Rancheria says that the Koi Nation are “a tribe based 50 miles and over two mountain ranges away” in a statement to The Art Newspaper. The former administration’s decision “violates both the law and the [Department of the Interior’s] own established protocol governing the consideration of off-reservation gambling projects”.
In addition, the decision was “shamefully handed down at the 11th hour, just before the previous team at the Interior turned out the lights”, the spokesperson claims, and “pursued a predetermined decision, ignoring pleas for a fair process from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers”.
Violations of preservation act
In a lawsuit filed last November, the Graton Rancheria claimed it became aware of the project in a letter from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which noted that several field surveys including a survey to collect obsidian samples for destructive testing had been conducted without their consultation, thus violating the National Historic Preservation Act.
The tribe adds that further requests for their consultation on the project were not met, and that archaeological surveys conducted did not meet protocol, including some that were done under “deplorable weather conditions” but nonetheless revealed the presence of cultural resources, adding that the Bureau of Indian Affairs efforts were “insufficient, inadequate and not reasonable”.
The tribe claims that the site “holds a significant number of cultural resources, and the presence of human remains, which should be properly evaluated under the National Register criteria”, and that it should be consulted on the future disposition of the collecting or reburial of cultural assets.
“We have already sued the Interior for failing to adequately consult local tribes on the damage the project will do to our treasured historical and cultural assets,” the Graton Rancheria spokesperson adds. “It is clear that the previous team at the department railroaded the tribe and didn’t meaningfully consult us in making its final determination about historic properties at the site.”
The project is expected to break ground in 2026, although the final construction approval is still pending environmental and regulatory reviews by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Graton Rancheria claims that it will carry on the fight to overturn the decision. “The tribe will continue to use every available means to reverse this illegal and unethical land grab, lest it set a precedent undermining tribal sovereignty across the map,” the spokesperson says.
In a statement, Darin Beltran, chair of the Koi Nation Tribal Council, counters that the approval of the project “represents a historic moment” for the Nation, which will afford the tribe an “opportunity to build a sovereign land base that will provide economic development, self-governance and a bright future for current and future generations of our tribal citizens.”