Thursday, July 08, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

WESTERN SHOSHONE: Law frees funds for Indian lands

Some vow to reject share of 1979 settlement for $145 million

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WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Wednesday enacted a law clearing the way for Western Shoshone Indians to receive thousands of dollars apiece in compensation for tribal land taken away since the 1800s.

Some Western Shoshone immediately vowed not to accept any money, saying the government swindled the tribe out of 60 million acres across four states that no compensation can heal.

"I'm not going to sell my dignity, my spirituality, my culture. No way," said Carrie Dann, a rancher from Crescent Valley.

She is a leader among self-described "traditional" tribal members who opposed a financial settlement.

A bill Bush signed into law unlocks $145 million in settlement funds that have been accumulating interest in a federal trust fund since 1979.

Individual payments would depend on how many Indians qualify for the settlement, with estimates ranging from $15,000 to $30,000 per person.

Most Western Shoshone are expected to accept the payments, according to some tribal leaders.

"This is what our people want, what they have been striving for a long time," said Ely Shoshone chairwoman Diana Buchner. "It's going to be closure for a lot of people."

Nedra Darling, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, could not say how long it will take tribal members to collect their checks following a lengthy process to form official tribal rolls and determine eligibility.

"It's not going to happen overnight," Darling said. "It's going to take a while."

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., sponsored the settlement bill. They issued statements saying its enactment brings to an end years of delay in distributing settlement funds.

But opponents contend Western Shoshone were shortchanged billions of dollars, both in land prices and mineral rights.

Congress allocated $26.1 million to the Western Shoshone in 1979 at the direction of the Indian Claims Commission, which had concluded the tribes should be compensated for land and resources lost because of "gradual encroachment." The tribes were given an 1872 price for their land and minerals, about 15 cents an acre.

Dann said tribal factions will continue to pursue title to more than 60 million acres of traditional Western Shoshone land in Nevada, California, Utah and Idaho. A lawsuit is ongoing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

Western Shoshone National Council chief Raymond Yowell and Yomba Shoshone chairman Jerril Johns said they also will refuse to take settlement funds.

Yowell said the new law is illegitimate because Congress relied on a straw poll of Western Shoshone that has yet to be certified by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

"What this bill does is give them an out," Yowell said of the U.S. government. "Now they can say that they paid the Shoshone for their land. I can not be a part of it."

New Mexico attorney Tom Leubben, who represents the Yomba tribe, questioned whether Congress had superseded its authority in dividing Western Shoshone funds among individual Indians.

"I think there's a legal issue which is whether Congress has the constitutional right to individualize Western Shoshone assets without Western Shoshone tribal concurrence and liquidate the Shoshone land base and distribute its assets," Leubben said.

Yomba chairman Johns could not say whether his tribe would pursue legal recourse.

"That's up to the council," he said.

Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said the fund would be divided among Western Shoshone who qualify and choose to accept the payment.

Now that Bush has signed the bill, 10 days after the Senate approved the measure, Interior Secretary Gale Norton is charged with establishing a roll of eligible Western Shoshone.

Individual Indians who are at least one quarter Western Shoshone, a U.S. citizen and living as of Wednesday are eligible for a part of the $145 million pot. Any Indians who have received another tribal settlement would not qualify.

Darling said as many as 10,000 Western Shoshone could qualify for the settlement.

By law, the agency will consult with Western Shoshone in developing regulations governing the distribution. The regulations also will be submitted for public comment, she said.

Reid and Gibbons have maintained the settlement will not prevent tribes from pursuing separate land claims, a point some Western Shoshone have disputed.

Reid said in a statement he is working with tribes in Nevada to "support housing, agricultural, and economic development initiatives."