A legal battle between Napa and Sonoma counties and a local Indian tribe over its bid for federal recognition, and the counties’ fear it could lead to an Indian casino, grabbed headlines in 2011.
The Mishewal Wappo tribe of Alexander Valley scored a major victory in that battle in October, when a federal judge denied the counties’ attempt to dismiss the tribe’s lawsuit against the U.S. government, which seeks federal recognition for it.
The counties are attempting to push back. They’re asking U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila to allow them to appeal his ruling before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
If the counties’ appeal succeeds, it may mean the tribe’s lawsuit could be tossed out, they argued in a motion filed Dec. 15. Davila is scheduled to hear that motion Feb. 3.
Wappo Tribal Chairman Scott Gabaldon said tribal officials are continuing settlement talks with the U.S. government, and the potential appeal has not affected those talks.
As for the possibility of an Indian casino finding root in the North Bay, Gabaldon has repeatedly said that the tribe has not made a decision on it — although he’s called it an “option.” The tribe’s focus is regaining recognition, Gabaldon said.
If granted recognition, the tribe would be exempt from local zoning laws, meaning it would not be subject to land use restrictions in the county’s Agricultural Preserve.
The tribe lost its federal recognition more than 50 years ago when Congress passed the California Rancheria Act,  intended to privatize the state’s Indian communities. The tribe’s lawsuit alleges that the U.S. government stripped it of recognition illegally.
The tribe sued in 2009; the counties joined as intervenor defendants in 2010. They argue that the tribe waited too long to file its lawsuit and bears little resemblance to the historical Wappo group.
Davila rejected both arguments, but the counties want the appeals court to weigh in on whether the tribe waited too long to sue.
This year saw two local members of Congress enter the fray. In April, U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, and Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, wrote the U.S. Department of Interior, the defendant in the tribe’s lawsuit, expressing concern about the tribe’s request and backing the counties’ efforts to get it tossed.
The lawmakers wrote that federally recognizing the tribe within the Napa Valley could damage its world-class wine industry.
Gabaldon called their letter “100 percent political” and the asserted threat to the wine industry blown out of proportion.
“I don’t understand how my little tribe is going to bring down the wine industry,” Gabaldon said in May.
The cities of Napa, St. Helena and American Canyon briefly joined the lawsuit, but were pushed out earlier this year when a judge ruled they didn’t have a legal interest in the case.
The tribe and the U.S. government also tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to push out Napa and Sonoma counties. In October, Davila denied the counties’ attempt to dismiss the lawsuit, but he stopped short of reviewing whether the counties had adequate standing to remain involved in the case, allowing them to ask to appeal his ruling.
After more than a year of disputes, 2012 seems primed for more legal clashes in this case.

Read more: http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/county-fights-tribe-s-desire-for-federal-recognition/article_87e24d82-2f6d-11e1-b942-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1hfShwZ6j