January 8th, 1998

Urgent action needed now!
Rumors of BLM confiscation of Western Shoshone livestock
Next week
Please call or fax the BLM immediately!!

Next week, the BLM may attempt to confiscate livestock tended by Mary and Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone elders in Crescent Valley, Nevada. Typically, both a Notice of Tresspass and a subsequent Notice of Impoundment are issued prior to livestock confiscations. Neither have been issued, yet the BLM may be trying to find a loophole and procede with the roundup with little public notification.

We need phone calls and faxes to the Bureau of Land Management IMMEDIATELY! They need to know that other indigenous peoples, U.S. citizens and the international community will not accept this kind of treatment towards the Western Shoshone. Please inform them of your willingness to stand up for the rights of the Western Shoshone and to hold the U.S government accountable on an international level.

The United States government has once again resumed it efforts to destroy Western Shoshone sovereignty by moving to impound livestock belonging to Western Shoshone citizens from the Wells, South Fork, Odgers Ranch and Dann Ranch communities. On October 1st 1997, Elko BLM District Manager Helen Hankins gave notice of their intent to confiscate "unauthorized livestock grazing upon public land" for areas used by Western Shoshone from Wells, South Fork and Odgers Ranch. While Western Shoshone livestock had been brought off the range by this date, the notice is legally binding for 12 months. This creates the possibility of confiscation when the cattle are returned to the range in the spring.

On November 10th, new Nevada State BLM director Robert Abbey and other BLM officials visited the Western Shoshone Dann Ranch. Mary and Carrie Dann were informed they were in trespass for allowing their horses and cows to graze on land claimed by the U.S. government. Director Abbey explained, "it is our intent to enforce these regulations…it is my goal to have a final resolution." The Danns politely informed the BLM that they would happily comply with the BLM’s rules when provided with documentation of how the U.S. acquired Western Shoshone land. Until then, they would continue to use their ancestral land. "There will be a resistance," explained Carrie Dann in response to the BLM’s threats.

For decades Western Shoshone citizens have defied U.S. efforts to force them to pay money for the use of their traditional lands. In recent years the BLM has attempted to force compliance through various methods including outright confiscation of livestock (Dann Ranch, 1992) as well as presenting individual Western Shoshone enormous fines. The latter strategy has proved fruitful, forcing Western Shoshone from Yomba and Duckwater to sign agreements with the BLM or be bankrupted and forced into debt by BLM penalties

We Need to Let the Officials In Washington D.C. Know that U.S. Citizens and the International Community Will Not Accept this Kind of Treatment Towards The Western Shoshone. Please inform them of your willingness to stand up for the rights of the Western Shoshone and to hold the U.S government accountable on an international level.

This most recent escalation by the BLM represents a continuing attack on the human rights of the Western Shoshone people. At a time when the largest amounts of gold in U.S. history are being removed from Western Shoshone lands without a cent in royalties going to the Western Shoshone or the U.S. public, we find it ironic that the U.S. government is expending time and money to force Western Shoshone to pay for the use of these same lands. These lands, defined in the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, have never been ceded or transferred to the U.S. The continuing refusal of the U.S. to consider Western Shoshone land rights is indefensible.

Please write or call Secretary of theInterior Bruce Babbitt and send copies of letters to the following officials. The WSDP would also appreciate copies of your letters as well as any responses. People willing to assist the Western Shoshone in non-violently resisting round-ups should contact the Western Shoshone Defense Project.

Please contact: Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt U.S. Department of Interior 18 and C St. NW Washington D.C. 20240 ph: 202-208-7251 Please send copies to: National BLM Director Patrick Shea 1849 C St. NW Washington DC 20240 ph: 202-208-5717 fax: 202-208-4152 Nevada State BLM Director Robert Abbey 850 Harvard Way Reno, Nevada 89502-2055 ph:702-785-6500 U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno Dept. of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Rm 4400 Washington, D.C. 20530-0001 ph: 202-514-2001 fax: 202-514-4371

Please send copies to: U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright 2201C St., NW Washington, D.C. 20520 ph: 202-647-5291 fax: 202-647-6434 President William J. Clinton The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington D.C. 20500 ph: 202-456-1111 fax: 202-456-2461 email: president@whitehouse.gov Western Shoshone Defense Project PO Box 211308 Crescent Valley, NV 89821 ph: 702-468-0230

Februaryr 19th, 1998

On February 19th, 1998 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) served notice to the Western Shoshone National Council, the Western Shoshone Dann family and the Western Shoshone Defense Project of their "unauthorized use" and "trespass" on lands disputed by the Western Shoshone and the BLM. Please contact the officials below immediately and let the Western Shoshone Defense Project know if you can be on "Standby Alert" in case civil disobedience is necessary.

In October, 1997 the BLM ordered the Western Shoshone who graze cattle in the South Fork, Odgers Ranch, and Wells area to remove all livestock not authorized by the BLM. Yesterday, the Crescent Valley Western Shoshone were served notice to do the same within 5 days-"failure to comply with this unauthorized use notice and order to remove may result in impoundment of the unauthorized livestock."

On February 19th, the BLM also issued a notice of trespass against the "unauthorized" occupation of a spiritual and cultural encampment established in 1991 by the Western Shoshone National Council and the Western Shoshone Defense Project on disputed lands in Crescent Valley. Ceremonies and gatherings are held at this encampment throughout the year.

The Western Shoshone National Council's response to the BLM is to pose the same question they have asked for years: How did the US acquire title by legal means to Western Shoshone lands? The BLM and the US government claims jurisdiction over Western Shoshone territory, yet they have never provided any documentation on how the land was acquired. The Western Shoshone, however, point to the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, the 1787 Northwest Ordinance, the Territorial Act of Nevada, the 1847 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and international human rights laws that all uphold Western Shoshone rights and responsibilities to their lands.

The Traditional Western Shoshone Cattle Grazers state that they will not pay the BLM for grazing animals on Western Shoshone territory until the United States presents documentation on how the US acquired Western Shoshone lands.

BLM harassment against the Western Shoshone has persisted for decades. To this day, the Western Shoshone have remained open to participating in honest, meaningful dialogue with the proper representatives of the United States government-this has been to no avail. The Western Shoshone have a pending international human rights complaint against the United States, as well as an Intervention in the 9th Circuit Court (US v Nye County) and an Injunction against the BLM in US District Court. Until these cases are resolved, the BLM should end their threats, harassment and intimidation tactics.

Please Contact: Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt ph: 202-208-7351 fax:202-208-6956
BLM Director Patrick Shea ph:202-208-3801 fax:202-208-5242
Nevada State BLM Director Robert Abbey ph:702-785-6500 fax:702-785-6601
Elko BLM District Manager Helen Hankins ph: 702-753-0200 fax:702-753-0255
Your State's Congressional Representatives

MARCH 6th,1998

On March 6, 1998, the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights "reiterated its request to the United States Government to stay its action [impeding Western Shoshone land use] pending an investigation by the Commission of the alleged facts." In February of 1998, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued Notices which threaten to impound the nationalized cattle that the Western Shoshone grandmothers Carrie and Mary Dann graze on disputed land. A second set of Notices threaten the forcible removal of Western Shoshone property from the contested lands in Crescent Valley. As a member of the OAS, the U.S. is legally bound to uphold the Organization's Human Rights principles.

This is the second such request the OAS has filed with the United States. The first was in 1993, the year the Dann sisters first filed a complaint against the U.S. for denying them their collective rights as Western Shoshone people to their land and to their culture - which is inseparable from the land. The case also asserts that the U.S. has violated their rights to due process, to equal protection under the law, and to own property. These charges stem from a Western Shoshone land rights struggle which has lasted for decades.

Western Shoshone people continue to use and occupy their ancestral homelands as they have since time immemorial: they hunt, graze livestock, hold ceremonies, raise families, and gather traditional food and medicines. They act as caretakers for Newe Sogobia - protecting the land for the future generations, and passing on the history tied to it. Today, the United States is actively taking away the abilities of the Western Shoshone to continue this way of life. It denies them use of their lands, while at the same time it permits the degradation of these lands by multi-national mining corporations, the military, and the nuclear industry. The OAS case addresses these current assaults on Western Shoshone people's culture and livelihoods.

As Carrie Dann states: "The indigenous peoples are the only peoples whose land gets taken without our permission by the U.S. government, which claims to be a democracy. They are committing a spiritual genocide of our people. Our rights are given to us by the Creator, but the U.S. treats us as less than human by taking them away." The case is the first filed before the Commission on behalf of Native Americans in the U.S.

The Indian Law Resource Center, which is presenting the case before the Commission, wrote Elko BLM District Manager Helen Hankins, asking for an immediate response as to "whether the Bureau of Land Management intends to respect the request of the Commission to stay its action or plans to enforce the order." This afternoon, Ms. Hankins stated that the U.S. will not comply with the OAS' request.

Please contact Jennifer Allen, Marianna Aue or Chrisopher Sewall at the WSDP for more information about the case, for documentation of the above material, or for co-ordinating interviews or visits. Please also visit our web-site, at www.alphacdc.com/wsdp, for more information.

The Indian Law Resource Center is also available to comment on the case: 505-784-3016 (lead counsel James Anaya) or 406-449-2006 (main office)

APRIL 6th,1998

On April 6, the Western Shoshone National Council and the Western Shoshone Dann Family received an Order to Remove and Demand of Payment for livestock grazing on Western Shoshone ancestral territory that is claimed by the U.S. as "public" land. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is escalating this decades-old conflict over indigenous land despite a direct request to stay proceeding by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and pending domestic litigation concerning Western Shoshone land rights -and despite vocal protest from local Western Shoshone communities and their supporters.

The fines demanded by the BLM total more than a half million dollars - approximately $494,000.00 to the WSNC, and $70,000 to Dann Family members. Notices sent last October levied millions against members of the Traditional Western Shoshone Cattlegrazers-a group of Western Shoshone who also refuse to pay the U.S. for use of their homelands. Many Western Shoshone see the fines as efforts by the BLM to force them to give up their continued ties to the land. "Fines are the newest way that the BLM is using to bring an end to Traditional Western Shoshone peoples, and our spiritual and cultural ways," says Carrie Dann, a Western Shoshone grandmother who has been fighting for Western Shoshone land rights for decades. "We are tied to this land, and we are not leaving."

This is the first time the BLM has sent Notices to the Western Shoshone National Council as a responsible party-in effect, recognizing the Council's jurisdiction in the dispute. On March 26, 1992, the Western Shoshone National Council "nationalized" the majority of livestock tended by the Dann sisters.

"As a demonstration of its sovereignty, the Western Shoshone National Council has nationalized the livestock belonging to Mary and Carrie Dann. From henceforth, these livestock will be under the total ownership and management of the Western Shoshone National Council... Any attempt by the United States to interfere with the livelihood of the Western Shoshone and the peaceful conduct of their lives will be considered an illegal act under international law." WSNC Notice of Livestock Nationalization.

The BLM has used previous court decisions to justify their actions against the Danns; however, no mention was made of the WSNC in these decisions and no court has ever ruled against the WSNC.

Fines issued to mining corporations for environmental damage are paltry compared to those issued to these small, family-based Western Shoshone ranches. Several mining companies within Mary and Carrie Dann's traditional lands in the Crescent Valley area have been issued meager fines by state agencies; the BLM however, rarely, if ever, issues fines to mining corporations. In 1992 the Buckhorn Mine was fined only $2,000 for fuel spills while groundwater polluted with cyanide and acid mine drainage incurred no penalties. Nor was Oro Nevada Mining Company charged for a sump polluted by hydraulic oil, despite failing to report it. Cortez Gold has repeatedly violated their water pollution control permit, but was fined only $4,000 - a fee waived when the company agreed to build a cattle-guard and maintain a fence.

Mary and Carrie Dann are charging the U.S. with contemporary human rights violations in front of the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In both 1993 and this March, the Commission apparently considered the Dann's charges sufficiently compelling to request that the U.S. stay its actions against the Danns until it could investigate the case. But the U.S. has so far refused to respect the Commission's request. Jim Anaya, lead counsel for the case states: "The refusal of the U.S. to honor a reasonable request by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights calls into question this government's professed commitment to human rights generally and to indigenous peoples in particular. And it is an insult to the OAS and its members."

Furthermore, the Western Shoshone National Council has cases pending in two domestic courts - the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. "The Supreme Court never considered facts in making a ruling, simply relied on what was "found" by the Indian Land Claims Commission - and never legally documented. The land title itself has never been litigated, until now," says Western Shoshone National Council Chief Raymond Yowell.

This matter is of importance to the entire Shoshone Nation because it concerns their ancestral homelands. This was made clear to the BLM at a meeting on February 23 by representatives from the Yomba and Wells Councils as well as by 15 other concerned local Western Shoshone. The South Fork and Timbisha Shoshone Councils sent letters condemning the BLM's previous issue of unlawful Notices against Western Shoshone citizens using their ancestral lands. In April, the Yomba Shoshone Tribal Council and the Winnemucca Tribal Council of the Western Bands of the Western Shoshone Nation passed resolutions condemning the BLM's actions and demanding U.S. compliance with the OAS's request.

Despite these proceedings and the concern of other Western Shoshone citizens and Tribal Governments, the BLM claims to "not believe this is a human rights or land ownership issue."

In fact, the BLM has not responded to documents supporting Western Shoshone land rights, which were presented to the BLM after Notices of Trespass and Unauthorized Use were issued February 19th. "We stand on the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley which has been verified as being in 'full force and effect' in two United States Courts. Each party in the treaty recognized the other as a Nation, making all future contacts on an international level. Treaties are the Supreme Law of the land, and cannot be unilaterally overruled by the Supreme Court. Clearly, U.S. conduct with us has not been on an international level. The Western Shoshone remain open to discussion at the proper level as part of the resolution to the ongoing conflict," states Chief Yowell.

The Western Shoshone have made several attempts to negotiate the conflict with the Department of the Interior and the BLM. In 1995, the Western Shoshone National Council and the Dann sisters proposed that the Bureau of Land Management and the Western Shoshone co-manage the lands in Crescent Valley as a means to resolve this dispute. The BLM rejected the offer and continues to insist that the Western Shoshone must be in full compliance with BLM regulations. This rejection points to what the Western Shoshone have known all along: over-grazing of the land is not the issue; the BLM is only interested in asserting complete control over Western Shoshone aboriginal lands.

JUNE 9th,1998

On May 27, 1998, the Western Shoshone Defense Project received a Trespass Decision from the BLM: the Danns received a second Trespass Decision on June 9. These are the latest in a series of threats against Western Shoshone who continue to use their homelands, and are the last bureaucratic step before the BLM can destroy the area set up around a spiritually and culturally important hot spring used daily by the Dann family. When this same spring was endangered by mining exploration last year, four tribal councils passed resolution against the activity, reinforcing the significance of the spring across Newe Sogobia. Among the "unauthorized items" the BLM plans to remove is a fence set up to protect the spring and the surrounding area. The land around the spring has benefited from land restoration projects to reduce erosion and encourage native plant growth. 

The Trespass Decisions further threaten the Dann's way of life by condemning property on the areas of the Dann ranch itself which are on disputed lands. Likewise in danger is the encampment which was authorized and established by the Western Shoshone National Council. It, too, is recognized across Western Shoshone country as a area of spiritual and cultural significance: it is a ceremonial area with a prayer pole and sweat lodges, and is the site of the annual Western Shoshone Spring Gathering. 

The WSDP and the Danns would be held liable for the costs of removing the "unauthorized" property, for "fair marked value rent of the public lands," for reclamation costs, and for administrative costs. This would be in addition to the millions of dollars in fines already issued to traditional Western Shoshone cattle grazers in past months. 

In the face of the BLM's recent harassment of Traditional Western Shoshone Cattle Grazers in the Crescent Valley, Odgers' Ranch and South Fork areas, four tribal councils have passed resolutions condemning the BLM's activities, and supporting Western Shoshone people's rights to their traditional homelands. Western Shoshone community members from across Newe Sogobia have met with the BLM to voice concerns about the agency's actions. 

 

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbit U.S. Department of the Interior 18th and C Street NW Washington, DC 20240 202-208-7251 NV State BLM Director Robert Abbey 850 Harvard Way Reno, Nv 98502-2055 702-785-6500

National BLM Director Patrick Shea 1847 C St. NW  Washington, DC 20240 202-208-5717 Please also send copies to the WSDP: PO Box 211308  Cresecent Valley, NV 89821 wsdp@igc.org. Thank You!

Summer 1998

The Interior Board of Land Appeals, a federal administrative court, has granted a stay for any BLM actions against a sacred hot spring, a cultural and spiritual encampment, and sections of the Dann Ranch that are on traditional Western Shoshone lands in Crescent Valley, NV. Both the Western Shoshone and the U.S. claim the lands in question, although the U.S. has been unable to document how it acquired the land from its original caretakers. The stay curbs any fines or other penalties against the Danns or the Western Shoshone Defense Project, and prohibits the BLM from removing any property. The stay is binding until the ILBA rules on the current appeal of Trespass Decisions issued on May 26.

"I doubt that the Western Shoshone can get justice from any US court, but at least we can breathe a little easier now that the BLM cannot come in at any time and destroy our livelihood and way of life. Until the United States can show us a title transfer, we will continue to live off our lands," says Carrie Dann, a traditional Western Shoshone grandmother and leader in the land rights struggle. In granting the stay, the IBLA refers to the cultural and ceremonial values at stake in the land conflict, as well as to potentially devastating economic damage: "The Danns allege that the BLM is engaged in a pattern of conduct that would deprive them of their cultural and spiritual identity as Western Shoshone, break their cultural bonds with the land that sustains them, and destroy them as an Indian people."

This stay is the latest official recognition that Western Shoshone concerns require scrutiny. Western Shoshone people have been working for recognition of their land rights for decades, both in and out of the court system. Since October 1997, BLM pressure on Western Shoshone who graze livestock on their traditional lands has escalated. In response, the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has requested that the U.S. let the matter rest until the Commission can independently examine the issues, and the U.S. Department of State has asked the BLM to carefully consider the foreign policy implications of its actions.