The Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California is a

federally recognized tribe A federally recognized tribe is a Native American tribe recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as holding a government-to-government relationship with the US federal government. In the United States, the Native American tribe ...

Miwok The Miwok (also spelled Miwuk, Mi-Wuk, or Me-Wuk) are members of four linguistically related Native Americans in the United States, Native American groups indigenous to what is now Northern California, who traditionally spoke one of the Miwok lan ...

Amador County, California Amador County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,474. The county seat is Jackson. Amador County, located within California's Gold Country, is known as "Th ...

. The Buena Vista Miwok are

Sierra Miwok The Plains and Sierra Miwok were once the largest group of Indigenous peoples of California, California Indian Miwok people, Indigenous to California. Their homeland included regions of the Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, and the Sierra N ...

, an

indigenous people of California Indigenous peoples of California, commonly known as Indigenous Californians or Native Californians, are a diverse group of nations and peoples that are indigenous to the geographic area within the current boundaries of California before and afte ...

."California Indians and Their Reservations: Miwok."
''San Diego State University Library and Information Access.'' 2011 . Retrieved 28 May 2012.

Government

The tribe conducts business from

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

. The tribe is led by an elected council. The current tribal chairperson is Rhonda Morningstar Pope."Tribal Government."
''Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians.'' Retrieved 29 May 2012. Tribal enrollment is based in lineal descent from original tribal members; that is, the tribe has no minimum

blood quantum Blood quantum laws or Indian blood laws are laws that define Native Americans in the United States status by fractions of Native American ancestry. These laws were enacted by the Federal government of the United States, federal government and S ...

requirements. In 2013, the federal acknowledgment of "Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians," was being challenged by a lawsuit that was awaiting scheduling in the

Ninth Circuit Court The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

of appeals in San Francisco in ''"Friends of Amador County, et al. versus Ken Salazar, et al."''

Reservation

The Buena Vista Rancheria is parcel of land, located just outside the census-designated place of Buena Vista. The land once belonged to the Oliver family and was purchased by the federal government to establish an

Indian rancheria Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

in 1927."History."
''Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians.'' Retrieved 29 May 2012.

Casino

Harrah's Northern California is a

tribal casino Native American gaming comprises casinos, Bingo (American version), bingo halls, Slot machine, slots halls and other gambling operations on Indian reservations or other tribal lands in the United States. Because these areas have tribal sovereig ...

owned by the tribe and located on its reservation.

Caesars Entertainment Caesars Entertainment, Inc., formerly Eldorado Resorts, Inc., is an American hotel and casino entertainment company founded and based in Reno, Nevada, that operates more than 50 properties. Eldorado Resorts acquired Caesars Entertainment Corpora ...

manages the casino and licenses the Harrah's name to the tribe. The casino has of gaming space with 20 table games and about 1,000

slot machines A slot machine, fruit machine (British English), poker machine or pokie (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. A slot machine's standard layout features a screen disp ...

. The tribe won its legal fight against Amador County to allow the development of the casino in 2016. In 2018, the tribe sold $205 million of high-interest

junk bonds In finance, a high-yield bond (non-investment-grade bond, speculative-grade bond, or junk bond) is a bond that is rated below investment grade by credit rating agencies. These bonds have a higher risk of default or other adverse credit even ...

to finance the project, and struck its development agreement with Caesars. The casino opened on 29 April 2019.

History

The rancheria was unilaterally terminated by Congress, along with 42 other rancherias, under the

California Rancheria Act The California Rancheria Termination Acts refer to three acts of Congress and an amendment passed in the 1950s and 1960s as part of the US Indian termination policy. The three Acts, passed in 1956, 1957, and 1958 targeted 41 rancherías for termi ...

of 1958. The tribe has been federally recognized since 1985. In 1970, President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

declared the Rancheria Act a failure. The Buena Vista Rancheria tribe joined 16 other native California tribes in a class action lawsuit, ''

Tillie Hardwick Tillie Hardwick (née Myers; 1 August 1924 – 15 July 1999) was a Pomo Indian woman who was instrumental in reversing the California Indian Rancheria termination policy of the U.S. government. Early life Tillie Myers was born 1 August 1924 to ...

v. United States'' to restore their sovereignty, and in 1987, the tribes won their lawsuit. On 22 December 1983 the Buena Vista Rancheria tribe ratified its constitution.

Notes

References

* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

External links

Official Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California Miwok tribes Native American tribes in California Federally recognized tribes in the United States Populated places in Amador County, California American Indian reservations in California Amador County, California Plains and Sierra Miwok