7/3/13
Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast), chair of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, today thanked Gov. Jerry Brown for quickly signing AB 277, a tribal gaming compact that ensures a casino won’t be built on environmentally sensitive lands next to Humboldt Bay. Under the legislation, the 650-member Wiyot Tribe, which has 88 acres of tribal land abutting the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge, will share in the gaming revenues from a casino that will be built by the North Fork Rancheria Band of Mono Indians in Madera County.
“I want to thank the governor for recognizing that this compact is good for California’s coastline, good for the Wiyot people and good for the Humboldt community,” Chesbro said. “The Wiyot People have lived in the Humboldt Bay region for thousands of years. They have survived disease, slavery, massacres, death marches and expulsion from their ancestral lands. The Tribe has been very patient, negotiating for years with different governors over a gaming compact. Under this agreement the Tribe gives up its right to build a casino on its land, in exchange for sharing in the revenue of a casino that will be built on land in Madera County that is not as environmentally sensitive.”
“We are very excited that Governor Brown has signed AB 277,” said Ted Hernandez, Wiyot Tribal Chairman. “Now the Wiyot Tribe as a whole can move forward in being able to sustain ourselves.”
Humboldt Baykeeper also supported AB 277 through the legislative process.
“The Wiyot People always have placed a high value on protecting not only their lands but the natural environment of the entire Humboldt Bay region,” Chesbro added. “The Tribe already operates a comprehensive environmental program on limited resources. Revenue from the gaming compact will make this program stronger, in addition to helping lift tribal members out of poverty, funding health clinics, spurring economic development and preserving ancestral lands.”
