Written by: Jaylin Emond-Hardin | Entertainment Editor
Nov. 20, 2024, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs notified Oregon officials that it would give its final environmental impact statement regarding an off-reservation casino that the Coquille Indian Tribe wishes to build in Medford, Oregon.
The Coquille Indian Tribe is one of nine federally recognized tribes in the state of Oregon. It is located in southern Coos County, with its reservation in Bandon, Barview, Coos Bay and North Bend communities. In May of 1995, the Coquille opened their casino, called The Mill Casino, which sits on the North Bend waterfront and is built into an old plywood mill the tribe purchased in the early ‘90s.
Some of the tribe have protested one main issue, the Coquille’s bid to build their proposed casino roughly 170 miles outside their reservation. More complaints have arisen from how it could take revenue from casinos in southern Oregon and northern California, one of which is just 70 miles north of the proposed Medford site.
Seven Feather Casino and Resort sits just off of the I-5 in Canyonville, Oregon, and is owned and operated by the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, whose members are the loudest opponents of the proposed casino.
“The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians and more than 30 other tribes have been fighting for months to be heard about the devastating impacts mass off-reservation casino approvals will have on Indian Country, only to be dismissed and ignored,” said Cow Creek Chairwoman Carla Keene. “We have requested — even pleaded — to be seen, heard and consulted with on the decisions being made by bureaucrats in D.C. that will devastate our tribal communities.”
While federal law allows for tribes to build casinos on tribal lands acquired before 1988, the law also has allowances for disadvantaged tribes, such as the Coquille Indian Tribe, that have limited federal lands. The law, however, also states that tribes must show modern and ancestral connections to the land they propose to build on.
While it is clear that the Coquille Indian Tribe is disadvantaged, their connection to land in Medford is unclear.
The Coquille Indian Tribe bases its claims on a study — titled “Coquille Trails: Early Historical Roads and Trails of Ancestral Coquille Indian Lands, 1826 – 1875” — that began in 2006, meant to investigate and publish a “cultural geography” of the modern Coquille tribe. The report was completed in 2012, the same year the Coquille proposed their Medford casino.
Scholars and historians who lobby against the Coquille Indian Tribe’s newest claim of presence in the Rogue River watershed point to the languages the tribes of the area spoke — specifically Takelma and Shasta languages — which are not related to the ancestral languages of the Coquille — Athpascan and Kusan. Additionally, scholars have pointed out there is no documentation of Coquille villages or tribal occupation before 1950, when a tribal member attended Southern Oregon University.
One such scholar is Stephen Dow Beckham, a Coos Bay native and American history scholar, well-known for his work with Natives in the Pacific Northwest. His book, “The Indians of Western Oregon: This Land Was Theirs,” shares some of the most detailed history of Western Native tribes, and was written along with help from Coquille, Siuslaw and Lower Umpqua — the latter two a part of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw — tribal council members.
Beckham disputes the Coquille’s claim of ancestral land and notes that the study “includes lands demonstrably not occupied or used by the ancestors of the modern Coquille Tribe. The inflation of the study area to 1.4 million acres … is a significant error (of the study).”
Regardless, the Coquille are waiting on the final approval for the proposed Medford casino following a 30-day public comment period. The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, Karuk Tribe and Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation opted to sue.
The lawsuit, filed Dec. 23, 2024, named the federal Department of the Interior, Biden administration officials and the secretary of the interior, Deb Haaland, as defendants. It claimed that the approval of the proposed casino is unconstitutional because it relies on invalid federal regulations specified by the Council on Environmental Quality, as well as alleging Haaland did not properly consult with tribes who oppose the casino. The lawsuit sought a temporary restraining order against the defendants as well as aiming to stop the Medford casino from moving forward.
“Cow Creek has since attempted multiple times to consult with the Secretary herself and with the Interior as directed by the White House and has gotten nowhere,” said attorney Gabe Galanda. “We’re suing to pause the process to allow that consultation as promised to occur.”
The proposed Medford casino would be Class II with gaming machines but no card tables, and would operate out of an old bowling alley on S. Pacific Highway between the cities of Medford and Phoenix, Oregon. The Cow Creek’s casino in Canyonville is labeled as a Class III casino, with gaming tables such as blackjack, poker and roulette.
In defense of their push for the Medford casino approval, the CEO of the Coquille Tribe’s economic development arm Tribal One, Judy Farm, talked about how the Cow Creek had twelve years to comment that they took full advantage of.
“This is all about competition. So it’s another move by Cow Creek not to have to compete in the market. They’ve had over 12 years to comment and they have taken full advantage of the 12 years of time it’s taken us to permit this project.”
Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, the District Judge denied the motion for the temporary restraining order and injunction and vacated the hearing that was scheduled for Jan. 3, 2025. With the 30-day public comment period over, despite Gov. Tina Kotek requesting an extension from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the project now rests in the hands of the government and a decision on its future seems likely in the coming months.
Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu
