Welcome to Buena Vista Rancheria
Band of Me-Wuk Indians
Rhonda L. Morningstar Pope is the Chairwoman of Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians. She is serving her 3rd term as Chairwoman. She is currently attending Sacramento City College pursing degrees in both Business and Native American Studies. She regularly attends conferences and consultations designed to promote responsible tribal governance and leadership. During her leadership of the Tribe, she has established a strong tribal government and infrastructure for ongoing Tribal programs. She established a Tribal office in Sacramento and on the reservation for ongoing Tribal and environmental affairs. Some of the programs established under her leadership include Tribal Member Services, which provides education, social services, and child care services for Tribal members. She has established an Environmental Department, hiring a director to handle environmental, cultural, and NAGPRA related issues. She formed the Jesse Flyingcloud Pope Foundation in 2007 in honor of her father. Resources from the Foundation are used to support charitable programs designed to assist local community members and offer educational opportunities, specifically promoting and enhancing Tribal traditions, cultural awareness and community support.
Rhonda Morningstar Pope, Chairwoman
Arnold Samuel is General Counsel to the Buena Vista Rancheria, and has served in that capacity since 2006. As General Counsel, Arnold oversees the Tribe’s legal department, providing legal support to the Tribal Council, Tribal departments and key management employees. Prior to assuming the General Counsel position, Arnold represented the Tribe as outside counsel for his firm, Albietz & Samuel. Arnold has been representing California and Nevada Native tribes in many capacities since 2000. Before his indoctrination in Indian Country, Arnold was a Deputy City Attorney for the City of Sacramento and an associate for a small litigation firm in Los Angeles.
Arnold was born and raised in Southern California. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (Finance) from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo before earning his Juris Doctor from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. Arnold was drawn to the legal profession by the broad diversity of career paths available to law graduates and his genuine interest in doing work that helps others. His work with Buena Vista exposes Arnold to business, government, politics and just about every aspect of law.
Arnold is a proud father of a young daughter. When he is not hard at work for the Tribe or taking care of his child, Arnold enjoys watching and playing just about any sport, working out at the gym, and playing poker. One of his future ambitions is to become an expert home chef.
Arnold Samuel, General Counsel
Denean Swenson who studied at California State University, Sacramento and has a wealth of experience in Office Administration, Accounting and Customer Service. Denean is currently responsible for the Tribe’s Office Manager and Tribal Administrator Duties, including the Tribe’s accounting functions. One of Denean’s accomplishments outside of the Office was to implement and manage a summer swim lesson program in her town that she researched and presented to the Town Council for funding. The program has been in place and successful for the last 4 years, serving the youth of Denean’s community.
Denean Swenson, Tribal Administrator
Mr. Michael DeSpain is currently serving as the Tribes Natural Resource Director. Mr. DeSpain has Over 30 year’s professional experience in all aspects of Natural Resources, Environmental, Housing, Emergency Management, and Historic Preservation.
Mr. DeSpain has been responsible for writing and implementing emergency management, preservation planning, and environmental policy and law, plans and procedures for the Tribe. He has also been responsible for the application and successful management of several grants for tribal emergency management, housing, environmental management and transportation and has written, awarded and administrated numerous U.S. EPA, P.L. 638 Contracts with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Reclamation, HUD, Natural Resource Conservation Service, and Indian Health Service and has been a grant proposal reviewer for the FEMA Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program in 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016.
In his current capacity, Mr. DeSpain is responsible for training and supervising Mooretown Rancheria’s Fire department as the Fire Battalion Chief, he is a certified instructor for NIMS, CERT, Cultural Resource management, Wildland Fire and Aviation and an adjunct instructor for FEMA. He also serves as a Tribal Representative for the California Office of Emergency Services First Responders Network, the National Partnership for Environmental Technology Education, the Advanced Technology Education and Energy Center, Advisory Board for Environmental Academia Steering Committee, is a Fellow Board member for Pacific Rim Colleges Emergency Response Workgroup, Region 9 Tribal Operations Emergency work group lead, an Emergency Manager for Global Vision Consortium, Contractor to the State of California for Tribal Clinics Emergency Management, and serves as the Executive Director for the California Indian Forest and Fire Management Council.
Mr. De Spain’s past position’s include Tribal Administrator, THPO, NAGPRA Director, Environmental Director, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as a Natural Resource Tech, and a lengthy Military Career in combat arms.
Mike DeSpain, Natural Resources Director
Robert Columbro, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer
Robert has been working with Tribes since 2006 in the field of Environmental Resources, Natural Resources, Cultural Resources and Emergency Management, including emergency management, preparedness and response. He has served on the Regional Tribal Operations Committee representing Tribal Interests, and the Resource Advisory Committee for El Dorado National Forest. Robert brings a great deal of knowledge in dealing with local governance, while upholding Tribal Sovereignty, through protection of Cultural Resources.
Omar Tinoco, Environmental Technician
Jessica Ayala, Administrative Assistant
Accounting Clerk