An Environmental Assessment (EA) has been prepared to support an application from the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians (hereafter, “Tribe”) for land to be placed into federal trust (Proposed Action). The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is the federal agency that is charged with reviewing and approving tribal applications to take land into federal trust status, and serves as Lead Agency for the EA. The land proposed for trust acquisition, known as the Camp 4 site, consists of approximately 1,433 acres in Santa Barbara County, California, near the town of Santa Ynez.
As a result of the Proposed Action, the Tribe would be able to provide new tribal housing, tribal government buildings, and supporting infrastructure. Additional land uses proposed by the Tribe include agriculture (vineyards), open space/recreational, resource management zone-riparian corridor, and resource management zone-oak woodland. Alternative site configurations and a “No Project” alternative were also evaluated in the EA.