Department of Interior upholds Sovereignty for the California Valley Miwok Tribe

Department of Interior upholds Sovereignty for the California Valley Miwok Tribe Press Release: 10601 N. Escondido Pl. Stockton, California) On December 22, 2010, Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk reestablished the government-to-government relationship between the California Valley Miwok Tribe, a federally-recognized tribe, and the United States government. The Assistant Secretary’s decision also recognized the Tribe as an organized entity and reaffirmed the authority of the Tribe’s governing body pursuant to its previously established resolution form of government. The Tribe commends the Assistant Secretary for upholding tribal sovereignty with this decision and for recognizing the inherent right of each federally-recognized Indian tribe to determine its own membership and form of government. Acting as an organized entity and pursuant to its resolution form of government (Resolution #GC-98-01), on January 7, 2011, the Tribe held a Special General Council meeting in which it elected Silvia Burley as its Chairperson. The Bureau of Indian Affairs recently certified the election results and acknowledged the current members of the Tribal Council as being Chairperson Silvia Burley and Secretary/Treasurer Rashel Reznor. The Tribe is now focused on bringing up to date all tribally based programs and instituting guidelines on enrollment and the establishment of objective membership criteria for which to enroll future perspective tribal members. The Tribe is actively working on developing its enrollment criteria and hopes to have applications for enrollment available in the near future. Once it is finalized, the enrollment application will be available upon written request. The Tribe encourages all interested individuals who believe that they are of Miwok heritage and have an affiliation to the California Valley Miwok Tribe to apply to the Tribe and work within this enrollment process when it is completed. Please contact the Tribal Office for more information: 1(209) 931-4567 MEDIA CONTACT: Robert Rosette 1(480) 242-9810