A Southern California tribe whose ancestors were gathered into a Spanish mission has cleared the first stage of the federal acknowledgment process. How it got there, and what Interior has not yet decided, should matter to every unrecognized tribe in this state, the Muwekma Ohlone included.
On June 15, Office of Federal Acknowledgment (OFA) Director Nikki Bass signed a positive Phase I Proposed Finding for the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians (Petition #403), headquartered in San Fernando. The finding concludes that the band meets the four criteria reviewed in Phase I: a governing document, descent from a historical tribe, a membership not made up mainly of members of other tribes, and no congressional termination. The petition now moves to Phase II, where OFA will decide whether the band meets the harder criteria. Those are outside identification as an Indian entity, a continuing community, and political authority over its members.
“This is a historic moment not only for our Tribe, but for the entire region we have called home since time immemorial,” Rudy Ortega Jr., the band’s president, said in a statement. The tribe’s release notes that “a final determination has not yet been made.”
Thirty-one years in the queue
The finding’s own history of the case shows how long the process grinds. A group calling itself the Fernandeño/Tataviam Tribe sent Interior a letter of intent in April 1995 and became Petitioner #158. OFA declared the petition ready for active consideration in March 2015. Months later Interior rewrote its acknowledgment rules, and the band chose to proceed under the new version.
That did not end well the first time. According to the finding, OFA issued a negative Phase I proposed finding on May 27, 2020, and the band withdrew its petition in September 2021. It filed a new documented petition on July 5, 2023, which became #403. OFA began active consideration on July 29, 2025. Its January 2026 technical assistance letter “noted no deficiencies under the Phase I criteria.”
In other words, the same tribe, with the same ancestors and the same history, was rejected and then approved at the same stage of the same process within six years. Unrecognized tribes have said for decades that federal acknowledgment depends as much on paperwork and timing as on the truth of who a people are. This case supports them.
The question that matters most to Muwekma
The most important passage for Bay Area readers concerns “unambiguous previous Federal acknowledgment,” or UPFA. A tribe that proves the United States once recognized it gets an easier path. It only has to show continuity from the date of that last recognition, not from first contact.
The Fernandeño Tataviam petition argues that federal officials acknowledged the band from 1885 to 1904. The evidence cited includes Interior-appointed attorneys representing “the San Fernando Indians” in land cases, and resources supplied by Indian agents. OFA asked for clarification. The band chose to proceed without submitting more, and OFA concluded that, “absent clarification,” the evidence does not yet amount to “substantial evidence of unambiguous Federal acknowledgment.” The finding says the band “has not established unambiguous previous Federal acknowledgment under § 83.12 at this time.” The question will be evaluated again in Phase II.
Muwekma knows this ground well. In its 2002 final determination, the BIA accepted that the Muwekma Ohlone had “unambiguous previous Federal acknowledgement until 1927” as the Verona Band of Alameda County. Interior evaluated the Tribe under the relaxed rules for once-recognized tribes, then denied it anyway, finding that the Tribe failed three criteria, including outside identification as an Indian entity after 1927. The D.C. Circuit upheld that denial in 2013, writing that “a once-recognized tribe can fade away.”
So winning the UPFA argument is not enough. Muwekma won it and still lost. What Phase II of the Fernandeño Tataviam case will show is how today’s OFA treats the years after the federal government stopped paying attention to a mission tribe. For California Indians, those are the years when the record goes quiet. The silence comes from Washington, not from the people.
What comes next
Under the regulations, public comments on the Phase I finding will not be taken until OFA issues its Phase II proposed finding, positive or negative. OFA has not published a date for that decision.
The finding also shows who is watching. During the earlier comment period, OFA received submissions from, among others, the mayor of Agoura Hills, the chairwoman of the San Fernando Band of Mission Indians, and a California joint powers authority of cities.
The Fernandeño Tataviam case is one of several moving at OFA this year. In August, Interior opened a public comment period on the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band of the Mission San Juan Bautista’s petition, which runs through Dec. 21. In January, OFA issued a positive Phase I finding for the Schaghticoke Indian Tribe of Connecticut.
The Muwekma Times congratulates the Fernandeño Tataviam people on a hard-won step. We will be reading Phase II closely, because the standard Interior applies to them will tell every California mission tribe, ours included, where the goalposts stand.
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