In February, the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California bought more than 10,000 acres of land from the city of Santa Clara. It was land that the Washoe had originally settled and occupied. This is the first of many land-back purchases the tribe plans to make.
Traditionally, federally recognized tribes who want their land back have to wade through the U.S. government's notoriously slow-moving bureaucracy.
“... Tribal leaders, especially, know that the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the BIA takes forever. And when it comes to land, it's not just the BIA that goes through," said Serrell Smokey, chairman of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California. "It has to go through all these departments within the federal government and get a check off saying ‘OK, this is ok to do.'”
Smokey’s People, the Waší·šiw, wanted to avoid that red tape.
“We can actually move things faster by having it in a fee status to where we are paying taxes, rather than going through the Bureau of Indian Affairs and trying to jump to the hoops of the federal government,” he said.
In February, the tribe purchased more than 10,000 acres of land about 20 miles northwest of Reno for $6 million. The acquisition roughly doubles the tribe’s land, and it was a decision that didn’t happen overnight. Years of consulting with parts of their 1,400 membership went into it. Once enough people were on board, the council had the final say on whether to buy the land.
They created a trust account to purchase their first property, helping to restore their original boundary.
The tribe consists of four colonies: one in California and three in Nevada. The expansion is on the California side along the Middle Fork of the Feather River’s watershed. They plan to call the site the Wélmelti Preserve.
It returns to the Washoe land that was taken from them in the late 19th century through a federal policy known as “allotment.”
“Individual members of tribes were given allotments, and that was in order to move the Indian people to certain areas, families specifically to live on their own lands," Smokey said. "Part of colonization, it was to remove that tribal togetherness to where everybody would be individuals and not come back together as a tribe anymore."
Historical records indicate that the Bureau of Land Management gave lots along the Sierra Valley and in Doyle County to the Northern Washoe People.
The upper part of that area is home to the single-leaf pinyon pine, which produces pine nuts, an essential Washoe food. After several wildfires in the area, the supply of pine nuts has shrunk to dangerously low levels, according to Smokey.
“Under our governance, we went into a state of emergency for the single-leaf pinyon pine because of the fact that the pine nuts are not only a staple food source for Washoe people, [but] also a part of our customs and traditions and our ceremonies," he said. "And it's in our creation stories. So it's more than just a food source for us.“
Now that the land is back in the hands of the Washoe, they can focus on preserving the single-leaf pine through reforestation efforts to bring the trees back to sustainable numbers.
Of course, the relatively small tribe wasn’t always financially ready to take on more land, Smokey says. Their need to conserve the single-leaf pine, however, presented an opportunity. It came about four years ago through a collaboration with the Feather River Land Trust and the Northern Sierra Partnership, two conservation-focused nonprofits.
Smokey worked on the land acquisition with Corey Pargee, the executive director of the Feather River Land Trust. The organization helped facilitate the land sale. They also helped the tribe get a 5.5-million-dollar grant from the California Wildlife Conservation Board.
“There's a lot of funding from the state of California for conservation. Conserving these biodiverse landscapes is a high priority in California, from the California Natural Resources Agency," Pargee said, "and returning land to tribes and working closely with tribes. Seeing tribes as true leaders in conservation is a priority of the state of California.”
Despite the grant, the tribe needed another half-million dollars to complete the purchase. However, Donors gifted enough funds to make up the difference.
“This is something that's been discussed amongst tribal leaders across the country when it comes to philanthropy," Smokey said, "getting fundraising. People are more likely to give money to nonprofit organizations than they are to tribes. People still just don't want to help tribes still, but they'll help organizations. That's just kind of the [reality].”
Although the plan is to set the land aside for preservation, Smokey hasn’t taken the possibility of economic opportunities for the Waší·šiw People off the table.
