About
Who We Are,
In Our Own Words.
Preamble to the Constitutionn
The document we govern by
Everything the Tribe does — every program, enterprise, and acre of returned land — answers to the purposes set out in the Preamble to our Constitution. It is reproduced here in full.
We, the members of the Potter Valley Tribe, pursuant to our inherent sovereignty as a nation, do hereby adopt and establish this Constitution for the purposes of providing for the health, safety, and welfare of our people, to promote our economy, to preserve, protect, and pass on our culture to future generations, to maintain community harmony, to achieve fairness and justice, to honor our traditions, our ancestors, and our elders, to assert and exercise our sovereignty, to affirm and build natural resources of our aboriginal land or any other acquired territory, to carry on enterprises for the benefit of our community, and to establish duties and rights of the citizens of the Potter Valley Tribe living on or off-reservation.
Read as ten purposes on the home page, or see how each one is carried out on the Projects page.
Our core values
Three things we hold to
These values decide who sits at the table, how meetings end, and what we teach the children who come to camp each summer.
Family and respect each other
We are a small nation. Every decision reaches someone’s household by the end of the week.
Elders and community members
Our elders carry the language, the songs, and the memory of this territory. We plan around their needs first.
Tradition for kindness and giving
Giving is not charity here. It is the oldest form of governance we have, and we practice it as one.
The value names are the Tribe’s own words, as adopted by the membership.
Under review
A record of survival
The historical population of the Potter Valley Tribe
Our own membership rolls, alongside federal counts, tell the plainest version of our history — from an estimated fifteen hundred people before 1850, through the rancheria terminations of the twentieth century, to the small sovereign nation that governs here today.
- Before 1850
- 1,500
- People, by the earliest estimate
- By 1908
- 72
- Recorded by the Office of Indian Affairs
- 2019 — enrolled
- Under Review
- Enrolled members on the tribal roll
- 2019 — served
- 29
- Total population served by our programs
| Year | Members | Population served | Membership, to scale | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-1850 | 1,500Members | 1,500Served | Guerrero, in ASI (2004) | |
| 1855 | 400Members | 400Served | — | |
| 1908 | 72Members | —Served | Office of Indian Affairs | |
| 1913 | 31Members | —Served | Membership Roll | |
| 1916 | 53Members | —Served | US Census | |
| 1993 | 29Members | —Served | Tribal Membership Rolls | |
| 1999 | 31Members | 199Served | Tribal Membership Rolls | |
| 2000 | 42Members | 100Served | HUD Housing Needs Inventory | |
| 2006 | 15Members | 34Served | Tribal Membership Rolls | |
| 2019 | Under ReviewMembers | 39Served | Tribal Membership Rolls |
Bars drawn to a single linear scale · pre-1850 = 100%
Sources: Guerrero in ASI (2004) · Office of Indian Affairs · US Census · HUD Housing Needs Inventory · Tribal Membership Rolls
We publish this record because sovereignty is what allowed a nation of six enrolled members to reacquire 879 acres of its river, open its doors, and serve the wider community it has always belonged to.
Under review — content pending approval by the Tribal Council.
For researchers and members
References and research resources
The history above draws on tribal records and published studies. Researchers, students, and members tracing family history can start with the works and offices below.
References
- Bell, Neil (1988). A Brief History of the Redwood Valley Rancheria. Tribal Records, Redwood Valley Rancheria/Reservation, Redwood Valley, CA.
- ASI (2004). A Short History of Potter Valley. A report by Archaeological Services, Inc., Kelseyville, CA.
Resources
Anthropological Studies Center
Sonoma State University · 1801 East Cotati Avenue, Bldg 29, Rohnert Park, CA 94928
- Phone / fax
- (707) 664-2381 · Fax (707) 664-4155
- asc@sonoma.edu
Northwest Information Center
Historical Resources Information System, Sonoma State University · 1303 Maurice Avenue, Rohnert Park, CA
- Phone
- (707) 664-0880