9/23/02- CRESCENT
VALLEY, NEWE SOGOBIA, Nev. -- Western Shoshone Indians and sympathetic Nevada stockmen are bracing for the next stage in federal raids on the herds of the elderly sisters and Shoshone traditionalists Mary and Carrie Dann, after a pre-dawn convoy Sept. 22 carried off more than 200 head of cattle for auction.
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) agents staged the Sunday morning roundup as the latest move in a long-standing attempt to collect grazing fees from the Danns and other Shoshone ranchers for the use of what the federal government maintains is "public land." The Western Shoshone traditionalists have refused to pay for decades, maintaining that the rangelands were never legally ceded by their tribe. The raid came just days before the U. S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee is scheduled to meet to "mark up" a bill introduced by U. S. Sen. Harry Reid, D. - Nev., to extinguish the Shoshone land claims.
An anonymous tip on the night of Sept. 19 alerted the Danns that federal agents were planning another raid on their livestock.
The Danns, now in their 70s, immediately put out a call to supporters to help them bring cattle off the vast remote rangelands of northern Nevada where many Shoshone graze livestock.
Supporters and ranchers, Indian and non-Indian alike, began to arrive on the Dann Ranch, including a group of Shoshone cowboys from the Yomba Shoshone reservation and Chief Raymond Yowell who suffered a $100,000 loss when BLM confiscated and sold his cattle in May.
At 4:00 am on 9/22, about 20 vehicles with flashing lights
roared up the valley. About 40 uniformed federal agents -- all armed with guns -- told them to evacuate the area or they would be arrested.
A Shoshone group of witnesses was escorted out of the area and told not to return.
Along with the caravan of sport utility vehicles came six or seven semi-trucks for hauling livestock off to auction, helicopters used to drive cattle, an airplane, about 20 all-terrain vehicles and more than 50 armed federal
agents.
"It's domestic terrorism," said Carrie Dann of the ongoing federal raids. "The mightiest nation in the world sent its paramilitary to steal our livestock and force us off our land. How can a country that professes to value democracy and human rights act like this?
It's morally and ethically wrong." For complete News From Indian
Country article, click
here.
6/3/02- Update:
On Friday, May 31st, the stolen livestock described below were auctioned
by BLM at Reno NV for $27,000. Targeting the Western Shoshone National
Chief at the same time that the US is trying to force money for Shoshone
land rights and dump the nation's nuclear waste on Shoshone Treaty lands
is outrageous. Protest now!
On Friday morning May 24th, 2002
before sunrise armed BLM agents assisted by several Nevada State officials raided the tribal grazing allotment of the South Fork Reservation and seized 136 head of cows belonging to Western Shoshone ranchers, including Raymond Yowell, Chief of the Western Shoshone National Council. We are asking for your immediate assistance in expressing the public’s outrage at this clear violation of Western Shoshone rights and the 1863 Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed at Ruby Valley! Other Western Shoshone livestock under the care of Mary and Carrie Dann remain at large grazing upon Shoshone land in the Crescent Valley area. These will most likely be the next target of BLM confiscation.
1. Please call the following U.S. officials immediately and ask them to cease and desist from their efforts to punish Western Shoshone citizens by fines and confiscation for the act of grazing on ancestral lands. Ask for the immediate release of livestock confiscated from the W Shoshone living on the South Fork Reservation. Ask why grazing lands were never included as part of the various W. Shoshone reservations.
-Elko BLM Field Manager Helen Hankins (775)-753-0200
-Nevada State BLM Director Robert Abbey (775)-861-6400
-Secretary of Interior Gale Norton (202)-208-3100
2. Contact (call or fax) your Congressional representatives in both the House and Senate to voice your concerns about this roundup, U.S treatment of the Western Shoshone and pending legislation before the Congress that does nothing to resolve the lack of recognized land rights for the W. Shoshone. Legislation (S958 Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act) is currently pending in the Congress which would individually distribute the claims money, which is the entire legal basis of the U.S. claim that it has extinguished land title. The legislation was crafted by Nevada Senator Harry Reid without the consent or participation of any Western Shoshone Tribal councils, either Federally recognized or Traditional; and includes no provisions to provide for an adequate land base for Western Shoshone communities or the recognition of any resource rights, such as hunting, gathering , and fishing!
It is especially important to communicate ASAP to members of Congress on the present and impending danger of confiscations and because of the pending Shoshone Claims Distribution Legislation. If you have the time, try setting up a meeting with them or their staff. As the bill currently is sitting before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, it is especially important to communicate with your Senators if they sit on this committee.
Offices for all Congressional members can be reached through the capital switchboard at 202-224-3121
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
838 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-2251 http://www.senate.gov/
Democrats
Daniel K. Inouye, Chairman Hawaii
Kent Conrad North Dakota
Harry Reid Nevada
Daniel K. Akaka Hawaii
Paul Wellstone Minnesota
Byron L. Dorgan North Dakota
Tim Johnson South Dakota
Maria Cantwell Washington
Republicans
Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Vice-Chairman Colorado
Frank H. Murkowski Alaska
John McCain Arizona
Pete V. Domenici New Mexico
Craig Thomas Wyoming
Orrin G. Hatch Utah
James Inhofe Oklahoma
Some suggested points to make include:
· The ongoing confiscations clearly demonstrate why S 958 will not provide relief to the Western Shoshone because it does nothing to resolve the need for an adequate land base for all W. Shoshone communities. In the Treaty of Ruby Valley , the Shoshone agreed to become agriculturists and herdsmen, yet the government will not recognize any land for these purposes.
· Any legislation concerning the Western Shoshone must be developed with the consent and participation of Western Shoshone leadership, both Traditional and Federally Recognized Councils.
· Any legislation concerning distribution of Claims money must make clear the money is for past damages which do not include title or rights to the land. Language in any bill should explicitly override the provision of the Indian Claims Commission Act which precludes the exercise of rights connected to lands being compensated for.
· A one time cash payment suggests that only the current generation of Western Shoshone is important and leaves nothing for the future generations.
·Cash payments do nothing to change the conditions which have left the Western Shoshone without land or resources. Any legislative solution must provide an adequate land base for the cultural and economic survival of all Western Shoshone communities. Legislation should reaffirm the Treaty of Peace and Friendship.
3. Contact the WSDP to get on the Alert List in the Event that the BLM continues with the planned confiscation of Shoshone livestock. People willing to participate in non-violent, direct action, as well as documentation (photo, audio, and video) are needed. We are not asking for you to come here now, but would like to know who could come out to Northeast Nevada in the unhappy event of a confrontation. Remember, the Western Shoshone remain committed to the Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Firearms, Drugs, and Alcohol are strictly forbidden!
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