From Transcripts.
March 28, 2006
California Senate Committee on Governmental Organization
Hearing on Big Lagoon Rancheria Gaming Compact
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"MR. BOLDREY: I’m Lance Boldrey. I am an attorney for BarWest, and I’m more than happy to take questions in a moment about our involvement in the project. But one of the things we did when we initially were approached by the City of Barstow to look at this possibility of locating a gaming facility there was engage a historical firm to review the pre-gaming scholarship and look at the actual, true ancestral ties to that area. The organization that performed that work is Historical Research Associates [HRA]. They’re a firm out of Missoula, Montana, that specializes in Indian historical work. They’ve done significant work with the State of California as well. We’re more than happy to provide you with the scholarship that they’ve developed on this point."
From the HRA website:
"HRA (Historical Research Associates) provides consulting services to public and private clients in the areas of Cultural Resource Management, Litigation Support, and Natural Resource History."
While it might be a part of some of their projects, there is little to indicate that HRA “specializes in Indian historical work” as Boldrey -- a Lansing, Michigan based attorney representing Detroit casino syndicators -- would have people believe.
The HRA website (under “sample project” located in the navigation links) features ten case studies as representative of their expertise, none of those suggests a specialization on Indian land claims or ancestral/historical territories.
It does not appear that any of HRA’s cultural resources or cultural landscape work in California indicates a “specialization” in Indian land claims, ancestral claims or historical territories. The experience of Montana-based HRA in California relative to Indian affairs has primarily focused on providing litigation support for various water related lawsuits; HRA has little relative experience in Southern California and no obvious experience in the Mohave Desert (there are scores of other consultants with significant experience in the region but Boldrey’s clients chose HRA to produce their study).
Among HRA’s extensive list of projects it’s unclear if any of their clients are Indian Tribes specifically or if their clients were adversarial interests; and there is no significant reference to work with or on behalf of the Bureau of Indian Affairs or with California’s Native American Heritage Commission. On a web page of links provided by HRA as resources related to their work, BIA is not included nor is NAHC.
Contrary to Boldrey’s representations before the Senate Governmental Organization Committee last year, an external monument at the Mohave River Valley Museum in Barstow, CA indicates the presence of Ute, Mohave, Chemehuevi and Paiute Indians in the area long before European explorers and settlers were present.
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