The groups have filed their opposition to the latest federal order in their fight against expansion of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians' reservation.

Preservation of Los Olivos (POLO) and Preservation of Santa Ynez (POSY) have announced they are asking for a denial of a "remand" motion related to a 2008 decision against the U.S. Department of the Interior regarding the Chumash application to annex a 6.9-acre property they own across Highway 246 from the tribe's Santa Ynez casino.

Last month, the Department of the Interior sent the POLO appeal back, or remanded it, to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) regional director to address a 2009 Supreme Court ruling related to this case.

In their latest filing to the Interior Board of Indian Appeals (IBIA), POLO and POSY ask for a denial of the motion to remand to the BIA and for the IBIA to determine the appeal on the current record.

However, if the board does remand the appeal, it should with a specific direction and for a limited time, according to the filing.

The remand "serves no legitimate purpose and will unreasonably delay the outcome," POLO/POSY's April 6 filing said.

A conclusion on the motion to remand needs to be made in a timely fashion and with consideration of the Supreme Court decisions cited in the POLO appeal, POLO president Kathy Cleary said.

"We believe [a decision] should be made right now," she said.

Tribal spokeswoman Frances Snyder had no comment.

In February, the groups filed a 56-page document arguing their standing to seek an appeal of the Interior Department's fee-to-trust ruling and challenged the constitutional authority of the Secretary of the Interior - using recent Supreme Court rulings - to remove any land from state jurisdiction through the fee-to-trust process.

The groups also contend that the Chumash Indian tribe is not legally a tribal government and thus unable to take land into trust.

The appeal filing is significant in that it is one of the first times - if not the first time - that a citizens group has been able to argue the merits of its case to the IBIA, Cleary has said. An initial decision in the case said the groups had no standing to get involved.

The fee-to-trust process removes land from local jurisdiction and makes it part of an Indian reservation, under tribal authority. The sovereign tribal land then becomes exempt from local and state taxes and local planning and zoning laws

The brief includes documentation that the groups believe prove the Chumash were not under federal jurisdiction in 1934, and therefore based on a recent Supreme Court decision do not qualify to take any land into trust.

By contrast, the Chumash tribe proclaims "Federally Recognized Tribe since 1901" on its logo and flag.

In February 2009, the Supreme Court limited the federal government's power to take land into trust for the benefit of Indian tribes. The justices, in a 6-3 vote, concluded that the authority applies only to tribes that were under federal jurisdiction in 1934.