Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

60 MILLION ACRES: Western Shoshones sue for federal land

American Indians seek ancestral acreage

WASHINGTON -- A group of Western Shoshone Indians sued the federal government Monday for ownership of 60 million acres of property in four states, claiming it as their ancestral land.

The 22-page lawsuit also seeks royalties from mining activity on the land, much of it in Nevada, and nullification of a 1972 ruling awarding the tribes $26 million in payments in an earlier case.

The complaint deepens divisions between Western Shoshone members who favor receiving individual payments from the earlier judgment and those who fear that taking the money will extinguish their claims to native land.

"We're trying to address the land issue even though Congress is not," said Ian Zabarte, secretary of state for the Western Shoshone National Council, a tribal group that claims up to 15,000 members.

The Western Shoshone National Council, the South Fork Band, the Winnemucca Indian Colony and the Dann Band filed their lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Critics say the plaintiffs are trying to stall judgment fund disbursements they say are supported by a clear majority of tribal members.

"It's sour grapes," said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev. "This is a small vocal minority of members that are simply trying to upset the long-standing settlement claims of Western Shoshone."

Gibbons, who has authored legislation authorizing payments of about $20,000 to 6,500 Western Shoshone members, said issues raised by the lawsuit already have been decided by the courts.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., believes the Western Shoshone should negotiate with Congress rather than sue, spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said.

"Senator Reid feels a more productive way for the tribes is to work with the Nevada delegation to pursue a reasonable transfer of land."

The Justice Department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs declined to comment on the lawsuit. "We'll review their claims and proceed accordingly," Justice Department spokesman Blaine Rethmeier said.

The Western Shoshone ancestral land stretches from the Snake River Valley in Idaho, in the east from Salt Lake Valley in Utah, in the west across most of eastern and central Nevada, and southward into Death Valley and the Mojave Desert.

The complaint charges the United States violated the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley which granted the expanding nation access to Western Shoshone land.

The plaintiffs contend the treaty "expressly recognized permanent ownership" of the land to the tribe yet the government now owns most of it.

The lawsuit alleges the Bureau of Indian Affairs has "made material misrepresentations" and false statements to prevent the tribes from rightfully suing for ownership of their land.

BIA spokeswoman Nedra Darling said the agency had not reviewed the complaint. Western Shoshone Ely tribal Chairwoman Diana Buchner said the lawsuit claims "misrepresent what the Western Shoshone really want."

"The land expansion that they are talking about is the entire state of Nevada and that's not realistic," said Buchner, who is part of a coalition seeking the 1972 payment.

The lawsuit also seeks to overturn a 1972 judgment by the Indian Claims Commission which compensated the Indians for the gradual encroachment by the U.S. government.

The plaintiffs allege the $26 million judgment was "fatally flawed" because there were constitutional problems with the way the commission was established.

If the court endorses the Indian commission's judgment, the tribes contend they should be given 36 million acres of aboriginal land that was not in the 1972 judgment.

In addition, the tribes say the government owes them more than $14 billion in interest for the 24 million acres that were identified by the commission to be Western Shoshone land.

The lawsuit also seeks "fair and reasonable" compensation from the government for use of Western Shoshone land in mining precious minerals. The complaint does not set a price, but estimates more than $26 billion of gold has been extracted from historical land.