<!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ --></p> <p>By James Ramos, especially for CalMatters</p> <p>This comment was originally posted by <a href=""https://calmatters.org/"">CalMatters</a>. <a href=""https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/"">Sign up</a> for their newsletters.</p> <p>Guest Comment written by</p> <p><strong><em>Re: </em></strong><a href=""https://calmatters.org/commentary/2026/04/california-lawmakers-tribe-state-park/""><strong><em>California lawmakers must weigh the long-term consequences before granting the tribe a state park</em></strong></a></p> <p>Dan Walters warns that returning Tolowa Dunes State Park to the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation sets a dangerous precedent. The bill says otherwise.</p> <p>I postponed <a href=""https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2356"">Assembly Bill 2356</a> to unite the local tribes and the community, but I will not leave. Yan’-daa-k’vt is the place of origin of the Tolowa people. In 1853, settlers burned down their village, killing about 600 people. The federal government reserved this land for the Tolowa in 1862, then confiscated it six years later.</p> <p>Walters asks how the state can turn away another tribe. The Legislature declared AB 2356 a special statute with findings specific to the Tolowa and their documented dispossession. Each future proposal requires its own bill, its own findings, its own votes.</p> <p>He calls the restrictions “virtually impossible to enforce.” They are certain grant conditions codified in state law. The bill preserves public access to trails, roads and beaches, preserves fishing in California Fish and Wildlife, and prohibits commercial development. Enforceable obligations, not proposals.</p> <p>As for gaming, federal law requires the land to be in a federal trust before there can be gaming. This requires the tribe and the state to work together. California opposed the trust applications and those applications were stayed. Owning land is no game.</p> <p>This is precisely legislation for a specific injustice. It’s overdue.</p> <p>This article was <a href=""https://calmatters.org/commentary/reader-reactions/2026/04/state-park-tribe-gift-california/"">originally published on CalMatters</a> and is republished under <a href=""https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/"">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives</a> license.</p> <p> Copy the HTML
