What actually constitutes a tribe’s traditional tribal lands? That is one of the questions involved in a dispute among Native American tribes near the California-Oregon border as tribal casino operators raise concerns about another tribe considering building a gaming facility they see as too close to their own properties.

Oregon’s Coquille tribe is attempting to build a bingo hall 150 miles from its tribal lands, drawing criticism from other tribal groups. The tribe is located in the area of North Bend, Oregon, on the west coast, but is seeking to build in Medford in the southwest area of the state close to the border with California. Other tribes have complained about the efforts and potential lost revenue to their own gaming properties.

“We would be affected the most with the casino that’s going in there,” Karuk Tribal Chairman Russell “Buster” Attebery told the Los Angeles Times. The Karuk operate the Rain Rock Casino about 50 miles from where the Coquille plan on building.

Land Dispute

The dispute has brought about tribal groups in a dispute with another tribe about territory used for gaming. The Karuk took on $70 million in debt for construction of Rain Rock and plan to use revenue from the property for things like healthcare and education once that is paid down.

Tribal leaders now worry the property is in danger of seeing declining revenue because of such a close competitor. Other tribal groups have expressed similar concerns. They argue that the Coquille are building outside their ancestral lands and the process for allowing federal approval of such a move is wrong.

The Coquille don’t see it that way. The tribe saw one million acres of its lands taken more than 150 years ago, but a 1989 compact allowed the tribe to get 1,000 acres put into a trust for a reservation. The agreement also set aside land spread over five counties as a “service area” to provide services for members.

The Medford area is part of that service area and Coquille leadership argue the tribe recognizes an ancestral connection to the area. Tribe members also live in Medford and the Coquille see the gaming facility as a way to serve its people there.

The Coquille tribe already owns The Mill Casino on the tribe’s traditional lands in Coos Bay. Leaders believe they are within their rights to add the Medford property as the federal government’s approval of the area as a service area recognizes their link to the area. They believe a delay has been caused by other tribal groups.

“The Coquille Tribe has been waiting over a decade to complete an extensive review process that is required before Tribes can have lands taken into trust,” the tribe noted in November. “As of this date, a decision to publish the final Environmental Impact Study (EIS) has not been made by the federal government. Hoping to capitalize on that lack of action, a growing collaboration of special interests have decided that opposing a small tribe’s ambitions to achieve self-sufficiency will somehow advance their political or economic self-interest.”

Coquille chair Brenda Meade also recently told the Times: “It’s about taking care of our people. It’s about us expressing our sovereignty and exercising our sovereignty to make decisions for what’s best for our people.”

Opposing Views

The issue has heated up in recent months with other opponents now including California’s Elk Valley Rancheria in Crescent City and the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation in Smith River. Oregon’s Klamath Tribes in Klamath County and Cow Creek in Roseburg are also against the Coquille expansion plans.

Some opponents have even argued that the Coquille have falsified their ancestral connection to the Medford area. City officials, however, are supportive of the plan and believe the new bingo hall and any additional venues could deliver an economic boost.

The Trump administration denied the original effort, making note of opposition from state, federal, and local tribal leaders. That changed under the Biden administration, and the government is now considering the issue. Opposing tribes are arguing the Coquille have no legitimate claim to the land and that the effort should be curtailed for the good of the tribal gaming industry.

“When you come to tribes that want to reservation jump, if you will, to other areas that are in this case, 150 to 160 miles away from their casino, and their lands, their homelands, the precedent it will set could be very devastating to the very premise that the tribes, because they’re sovereign nations, were able to develop an economy that included in Nevada-style gaming on their homelands,” Attebery told the Times-Standard newspaper. “This would open the doors to not only other tribes being able to jump to other areas, but other corporations being able to do that and it could be devastating. It would saturate that economy.”