"Here we go again. Another tribal government in California wants to take land into trust, a lot of land. The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, owners of the Cache Creek Casino in Yolo County, has asked the federal government to take 850 additional acres of agricultural land it owns near its casino into trust. Tribal leaders say the land, 15 large parcels in the rural Capay Valley, will be used for homes, a school, a water treatment plant, government buildings, a cultural center and agriculture.

As it invariably does, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has declared that the tribe's land-use plans will have no significant environmental impact. The BIA's assessment means the tribe will not have to prepare an environmental impact study. Yolo County supervisors strongly object, and with good reason.

Once land is taken into trust, the state and local governments lose all control. They no longer have land-use, taxing or regulatory authority. And while the tribal government today says it has no plans for major development or to change the rural character of the area, nothing prevents a future tribal government from changing those plans."

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Editorial: Wintun tribe should work with county (The Sacramento Bee 2/5)

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Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation's land-into-trust plan questioned (2/4)