The Habematolel Pomo are indigenous to California's Clear Lake basin, a landscape they have inhabited for thousands of years. Archaeological evidence places Native American occupation of the basin at least 8,000 years into the past. By 1800, the broader Pomo population in California numbered an estimated 10,000 to 18,000 people, belonging to 70 different tribes and speaking seven distinct Pomo languages. The Habematolel were among roughly 350 Northern Pomo, connected to both the Northern and Eastern Pomo language groups. Their traditional territory centered near what settlers would call Upper Lake, close to the historical village of Maiyi. Then came the settlers, the soldiers, and the massacres. In 1850, the U.S. Cavalry slaughtered as many as 200 Pomo at Bloody Island on Clear Lake. In 1856, Lake County Pomo were rounded up by the military and force-marched to the Nome Cult Indian Farm in Round Valley, Mendocino County. Those who survived carried the memory of displacement into every generation that followed.

The California Rancheria Act of 1953 gave the federal government authority to terminate its relationship with dozens of California tribes and distribute rancheria lands to individual members. For the Habematolel Pomo, termination meant the loss of their collective land base and the dissolution of their government. Tribal members dispersed to urban areas. Without federal recognition, the tribe could not access services, negotiate with other governments, or protect what remained of their cultural heritage. The legal fiction was that termination made them equal citizens. The reality was that it stripped them of sovereignty without providing anything in return. In 1983, the Habematolel Pomo won a federal court case challenging the legality of their termination. But legal victory did not automatically restore what had been lost. It took fifteen more years before a new tribal council was elected in 1998, a new constitution ratified, and the slow process of rebuilding tribal governance could begin.

With a new government in place, the Habematolel Pomo immediately set out to restore a portion of their original land base. The process was neither quick nor simple. Federal land-into-trust applications require environmental reviews, title searches, and approval from the Department of the Interior. In 2008, the department placed 11.24 acres of land into trust for the tribe, the first step in reclaiming territory near their ancestral home. That modest footprint became the foundation for everything that followed. The tribe negotiated a gaming compact with California, a process that required state ratification and federal review. On Memorial Day weekend 2012, the Habematolel opened Running Creek Casino in Upper Lake. The casino employs over 140 people, both tribal and non-tribal members, making the tribe one of the most significant employers in a rural county where jobs are scarce. Revenue from the casino funds tribal housing, environmental programs, educational initiatives including computer classes and GED preparation, and scholarships for tribal members pursuing higher education.

What distinguishes the Habematolel Pomo from a simple economic success story is the scope of their community investment. The tribe has donated to the Upper Lake Middle School and Upper Lake High School, funded the Lake County Attendance Challenge, and contributed to public safety through grants to the Lake County Sheriff's Foundation. In 2015, when the devastating Valley Fire forced evacuations across Lake County, Running Creek Casino opened its doors as an emergency shelter. The tribe has made repeated donations to the Northshore Fire Protection District, including an $80,000 contribution in 2023. In that same year, Congressman Mike Thompson named Chairwoman Sherry Treppa as Woman of the Year, recognizing her leadership in advancing programs that serve both the tribal community and surrounding neighborhoods. Treppa, who spearheaded the casino's construction and guided funding negotiations through county, state, and federal channels, had previously testified before Congress in 2016 on tribal sovereignty and federal lending regulations.

The Habematolel Pomo operate their own housing authority, environmental programs, and educational services. In 2012, the tribe entered the online consumer financial services industry, establishing a regulatory ordinance and a separate governmental arm to oversee its e-commerce entities. When the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued the tribe's lending entities in 2017, the tribe fought back on sovereignty grounds. The CFPB dismissed the action in 2018. For a tribe that the federal government once erased with a stroke of legislative language, every assertion of sovereignty carries particular weight. The Habematolel Pomo are exercising the governmental authority that termination tried to eliminate, building an economy on land their ancestors walked, and investing in a community that extends well beyond their own membership. The village of Maiyi is no longer a place on a map. It is a principle of return.