Looking After the Land

Asaying often attached to how Indigenous peoples view the earth is that we did not inherit it from our ancestors; we borrow it from our grandchildren. Similarly, many Native traditions take to heart the so-called seventh generation principle — consider how your actions will affect people seven generations in the future.

Pithy lines are easy. Action is more difficult when mixed with current-day realities and tied up with governmental and political processes.

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe, aided by revenue from gaming and enterprise operations, understands the need for thoughtful stewardship of resources that account for present and future realities.

“We definitely do it all,” says Caj Matheson, the tribe’s director of natural resources. “Whether it’s sitting in a

2019

Laura Penney becomes the Coeur d’Alene Casino’s first female CEO, one of only a handful of female casino CEOs in the nation. Major renovations include stateof-the-art systems for air filtration, sound and lighting in the event center and casino floor.

2020

boardroom or getting our hands dirty [by working on habitat restoration], we’re doing it all.”

Matheson is well versed in walking the fine line between environmental stewardship on the ground and having to navigate complex bureaucracy. The goal: being good stewards of the present reservation and larger aboriginal territory.

As an example of their hard-fought work, Matheson points to Lake Coeur d’Alene, which the tribe had to literally argue for in front of the U.S. Supreme Court to have in its current reservation. The court ruled in 2001 that the tribe had a legal claim to the southern one-third portion of the lake, which the state of Idaho disputed. The original reservation set aside by President Ulysses S. Grant gave the entire lake to the Coeur d’Alene reservation.

2022

Like everyone, the Coeur d’Alene Casino was challenged by COVID-19. It was among the first casino resorts to temporarily close, but after careful planning and quickly applying precautions and protocols over six weeks of closed doors, it was the first casino in America to come back, providing other casinos with a blueprint on how to reopen with safety standards in place.

Coeur d’Alene Casino becomes the first and only casino in the Inland Northwest to offer a video gaming machine testing room, the Discovery Den, where guests try out leading manufacturers’ new machines prior to nationwide launches.

“We say [the lake] has nursed and mothered us, and now it is our turn to care for it. And what we try to do is hold on to that,” Matheson says.

Beyond the lake and the current-day reservation, the tribe promotes habitat restoration for ecologically and culturally important lands and habitat for beaver, trout and salmon. Last year, the tribe stepped in to purchase and preserve 48 acres inside the city of Spokane along Hangman Creek, in the Latah Valley neighborhood.

Matheson says the tribe got involved “at the 11th hour” to save the property, and that the council “didn’t hesitate” to step in and keep it in its natural, undeveloped state.

Preserving the land benefits not only members of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and their future descendants, but all the people who call the Inland Northwest home — and will for generations to come. 

2023

With roughly 800 jobs created and contributions to state and regional educational and charitable efforts surpassing $34 million, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe celebrates its Casino’s 30th birthday — and the entire Inland Northwest is invited to join the party!