Who We Are

The Point Molate team is a team effort among the Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians (Tribe), Upstream Point Molate LLC (Upstream), and numerous community groups and individuals in collaboration with the City of Richmond. Through the Point Molate project, Upstream and the Tribe have teamed up to implement a "super-green" development, integrating advanced environmental technologies and operational programs.

About Guidiville
The Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians is a federally recognized California Tribe that is completing a 150-year quest for return of a land base to support tribal government functions. These functions include providing health care, education, eldercare, economic development, and other services for the Guidiville people. The Guidiville people lost their land through an unfulfilled treaty with the United States in 1851. After decades of privation, disease, and death, the greatly reduced Tribe was restored to federal recognition in 1991, following a wrongful termination lawsuit against and settlement with the US government in federal court.
The Tribe is governed by a Tribal Council led by Chairperson, Merlene Sanchez. Its economic development corporation, Black Oak Development, is led by CEO Michael Derry, who also leads the Tribe’s environmental sustainability program. Michael has worked on a range of tribal economic development and environmental projects around California including one of the largest solar photovoltaic projects in Southern California, the first tire recycling facility on tribal land, a 48-megawatt biomass power plant, and a tribal eco-industrial park.

About Upstream
Upstream is a Northern California-based community investment and development organization with extensive experience in complex infill and Brownfield real estate redevelopment projects. Upstream principals have worked on diverse public and private projects, from downtown redevelopment to the largest habitat restoration projects in the region. Upstream specializes in public-private collaborations.

Significant projects by Upstream principals include:

• Reclamation and cleanup of the Point Isabel "dog-park" in Richmond, California
• Reclamation of a major asbestos mill in California and stabilization with native plants
• Finance and construction of one of the largest wetland restoration projects (1,800 acres) in the San Francisco Bay Area
• Cleanup and redevelopment of Brownfield properties throughout the East Bay and Silicon Valley
• Reclamation and redevelopment of a quarry property in the North Bay
• Upfront planning and design to integrate new office buildings adjacent to historic buildings in San Francisco

Upstream principals are involved in wind power and biofuel projects, and are currently leading a project team that developed a new technique for increasing the amount of recycled tire rubber used in advanced road pavements.

For more than two decades, Upstream principals have participated in civic and governmental activities around the Bay Area, including appointments to state and regional governmental positions. At a national level, one of Upstream’s principals, former US Senator from Maine, William Cohen, served as US Secretary of Defense under President Bill Clinton. Upstream has sponsored and assisted numerous community programs in Richmond and the greater Bay Area, including educational programs for inner-city youth and a minority scholarship endowment at the UC Berkeley, College of Engineering.