But she says in order for the Cowlitz to establish this area as reservation land, they had to show some historical claim on the property. Staudenmaier, an attorney, is not involved in the dispute between the Cowlitz and the Grand Ronde tribes. Tribal law expert Heidi McNeil Staudenmaier puts it this way: 'In the case of a successful casino, location, location, location is everything.'
'If they were doing this up along the Cowlitz River, we would be completely supportive of that.' And that's the difference here,' says Rob Greene, the attorney for the Grand Ronde.
'You can't take history and transport it to someplace else and then call it your own.
