The Chumash Indian tribe is seeking the community’s help developing a 1,400 acre parcel of land purchased last year to reduce overcrowding on its Santa Ynez Valley reservation.
The Chumash purchased Camp Four in 2010 with the intent to build additional housing for the tribal community. The tribe is struggling to support its 140 members and 500 descendants on its 137-acre reservation comprised mostly of wetlands.
According to Chumash Tribal Community Organizer Nick Brokaw, the legal process to bring the purchased land into reservation boundaries requires significant public support.
“Although the Chumash Indians own this new property, it takes a legislative act through Congress to make the new land part of the reservation,” Brokaw said. “The key is local support from the Isla Vista community and UCSB students.”
The tribe previously owned the land encompassing Camp Four until a lawsuit with the Roman Catholic Church in 1800 removed the tribe’s property rights, according to Chumash Tribal Chairman Vincent Armenta.
“The tribe at one time had the rights to this land prior to our existing reservation,” Armenta said in a press release. “A lot of the tribal members’ parents and grandparents were actually part of that, so it is very symbolic to them.”
However, Chumash Government and Legal Specialist Sam Cohen said opponents are stonewalling the annexing process under the auspices that the tribe plans to use the property for a second casino.
According to Cohen, the claims are completely unfounded.
“The tribe has absolutely zero plans to build a casino at Camp 4,” Cohen said in a press release. “More importantly, it is illegal. Federal law makes it almost impossible for a tribe to build a casino on land acquired after 1988.”
The tribe is attempting to inform the campus community to remedy such misconceptions, according to Brokaw.
“I’ve been going around UCSB trying to approach students, going into classes,” Brokaw said. “The grassroots approach is important to make sure that students know what is going on.”
Armenta said over 350 UCSB students signed a petition to support the Chumash’s efforts during the Nov. 4 soccer game against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
“The tribe is incredibly grateful to the UCSB community for their support and encouragement as we seek to build homes for Chumash members and their extended families in order to ensure the long-term survival of the tribe,” Armenta said in a press release.
The Chumash and related native Californian peoples lost their land by force and by conscious and unconscious genocide.Their culture was attacked
and children taken from parents….forbidden to speak their own language…
The lack of morality to deny Chumash survivors a small piece of land
to develope is so stupid as to leave one dumbfounded…..pathetic lack
of knowledge and compassion as well as American ideals…..no surprise
if there are some greedy individuals interested in making money off this land. They are very poor indeed!
If you think the people running the Chumash casino on land they were given by the Catholic Church and a land company many years ago meet the historical diatribe you speak of, then you are incredibly naive’. The real Chumash people were decimated centuries ago mostly by Spanish colonizers. Few of the enrolled members of the Santa Ynez “tribe” have even a fractional connection to any real California Native Americans. The are opportunists who’s federal recognition as “Indians” (even in minute fractions) has entitled them to collect millions in federal welfare and grant monies and hundreds of millions in gambling… Read more »
This story would almost be funny if it wasn’t such a serious threat to the environment and rural character of the Santa Ynez Valley. Taking land into trust removes it from the local and state jurisdiction and all the laws that protect workers and customers in any business there including the health, safety and environment of the community. Even though Indian trust land and any businesses or homes located there can place tremendous demands on all public services and infrastructure it cannot be taxed for the cost which then must be made up by other non-Indian taxpayers. The occupy demonstrators… Read more »
Hi Jim, I think it’s wonderful that the people of Santa Ynez care so deeply for the environment. And worker protections. Your concern for the lost tax revenue is less touching. If the residents truly have their own luxury mansions off the reservation, it’s hard to imagine they spend much time on this tiny plot of land, so I don’t see where the “tremendous demands” on your outside support would come from. Out of curiosity, how many dollars do the good people of Santa Ynez spend on protecting tribal residents, and how much do the chumash pay for them? It’s… Read more »
This is absolutely ridiculous… Does no one see the underlying issue here? The Chumash is out to regain all of their once “lost land” and will do anything they can to achieve that. They are well aware of the feelings of the valley residents and those trying to protect this area…. SO, instead they decide to target the students of UCSB who will never be affected by the decision, won’t stick around after they graduate and will sign a petition of any kind just to take a stand.