'The consensus among ethnohistorians is that the Koi Nation’s ancestral roots are in the Lower Lake area of Lake County,' says Greg Sarris, chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. They refer to this as 'reservation shopping,' and they contend that if the Koi Nation wants a casino, they should build it in Lake County, where their people once lived. The tribe said in their announcement that the tribe had 'struggle harder than almost any other tribe in California to re-establish our sovereignty,' and the casino plan south of Windsor would be an important first step.īut the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, the tribe behind Graton Resort & Casino in Rohnert Park, don't think it's right that the Koi Nation should be allowed to establish a land base in a county where they did not historically live. SFist reported last week on the proposed $600 million Shiloh Casino and Resort outside Santa Rosa, which would represent the first establishment of a sovereign land base for the Koi Nation tribe of the Pomo people in the county. Things are getting a little tense between neighboring Native American tribes in Sonoma County, where the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria are none too pleased about another tribe moving in on their turf.
