Sheriff asks Trump for tribal recognition

Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese made a direct appeal last week to President Donald Trump for federal recognition of the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation.

Then, he took a page out of the president’s playbook.

During a live video address from his office, Briese took a black marker and wrote the initials of the tribe — SSMN — on a map of Yosemite National Park.

The move may have been in jest, and a challenge in good humor, but the message was not lost.

“Be the first President of the United States of America to finally recognize the Indigenous people of Yosemite, the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation,” Briese said.

SSMN is one of seven tribes historically associated with Yosemite National Park. And yet, despite that history, or perhaps because of it, federal recognition has proven frustratingly elusive.

Briese said the lack of federal recognition has real consequences.

Last year, in two incidents, members of the tribe were detained and questioned while actively harvesting and engaging in ceremonial practices inside Yosemite.

Briese said the tribal members, which included an elder, were detained for “longer than necessary,” because rangers hadn’t been educated about how the tribe is allowed to harvest material, like red bud reeds for basket making.

“Once you establish quickly they’re allowed to do this, they should be left alone,” he said.

Briese said tribal members also heard of conversations in Washington, D.C. that suggest because SSMN didn’t have federal recognition, “they would no longer have a seat at the table.”

“And basically, we’re in fear of being kicked out of our homeland,” Briese sad.

Last year, Briese reached out to YNP Superintendent Ray McPadden and brokered a “gentleman’s agreement” to allow the tribe to continue its harvesting and ceremonies, consistent with what they’ve been allowed to do for more than 100 years.

But without federal recognition clarifying their rights, Briese worries about next time and the possibility of civil unrest from a younger generation growing impatient.

“Don’t let your anger and frustration make you do something silly, that you get 15 seconds on Channel 30, but you just destroyed 45 years of hard work,” Briese warned.

For Briese, the issue is personal. He is a card-carrying member of SSMN.

During an interview with the Mariposa Gazette last week he sat with a large binder of the history of the tribe that included his own family lineage. On his mother’s side, he is a direct descendant of the legendary Chief Tenaya.

“I think it’s probably one of the most documented groups” in America, he said.

Also known as the American Indian Council of Mariposa County, SSMN has been seeking federal recognition since 1982.

The political momentum around federal recognition for the tribe seems to have picked up in the last year.

In September 2025, Republican Congressman Tom McClintock wrote a lacerating letter to the Department of Interior, asking for “a fair and expedited” review of federal recognition for the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation (SSMN).

In 2018, a panel recommended against federal recognition, which is based on seven criteria.

A lawyer for the Department of Interior became entangled in the process.

Last year, the Department of Interior said it will review federal recognition for the tribe based on some updated criteria.

Briese believes too much time has been wasted already. He’s hoping President Trump will take notice.

“At some point people are going to get tired of it, and maybe do something different,” he said.

“But as long as I’m here, I want to make sure that we do everything we can to keep peace.”