Par #17

A. Relationships of the Timbisha Shoshone People to the Death Valley Area For millennia the Timbisha Shoshone have been a people inextricably tied to the beautiful but austere desert landscape. It has been their home and the source of their sustenance for countless generations. The Timbisha have an immense attachment to the land and a strong sense of responsibility for it. Their knowledge of the area and the life within it is unequaled.

Par #18

Over the ages, the Timbisha Shoshone have devised ingenious methods for managing the natural resources of their Homeland. One such innovation was the Tribe’s use of fire to control vegetation in marshes and to encourage seeds and other plants known to be fire followers. Rich harvests and lush plant growth resulted from the time and effort the people traditionally spent clearing and pruning plants like pinon, mesquite, and willow and transplanting and cultivating native domesticated plants such as devil’s claw, corn, beans, and squash. Tribal knowledge also included the location of water sources which they regularly cleaned and kept clear of debris to ensure a continued supply of clean, potable water for humans, animals, and migratory birds. 4 Some springs are choked with vegetation because the Tribe has not been allowed to continue its traditional care-taking activities. The recommendations in this report provide opportunities for the Tribe and the National Park Service to work together to restore these important resources in the Park.

Par #19

The Tribe is known for a basketry tradition that the Tribe very much wants to continue. Historically, baskets were made to collect seeds, carry pine cones and mesquite beans, and for parching and winnowing nuts and seeds. Baskets were made for boiling food and holding water, and for trapping birds. The provisions of this plan relating to traditional uses by the Tribe in certain areas inside and outside the Park support the Tribe’s desire to reinvigorate this important tradition.

Par #20

Although mining interests, homesteaders, and ranchers began moving into Death Valley in the 1850s, the Timbisha maintained their traditional life style until well into the 20th Century. Traditionally, the Timbisha families would move into the mountains during the hot summer months and return to the mild valley floor in winter. There were 150 people living here in clusters from the valley in the winter to the mountains in the summer. It was a community with people beyond the mountains and the valley. They ate with the seasons. My auntie lived to be 105 years old. She told me, “We ate rabbits. When it became warm we would eat springtime greens. When we would get a piece of animal fat, we would give it to grandma who needed fat. We are related to animals and we respect them.” Pauline Esteves

Par #21

B. History of Tribal Dislocation The process of Timbisha dislocation began in the 1850's and accelerated through the 1870's and 1880's when homesteaders and ranchers moved into the area to supply mining camps and other settlements that served the miners. Dislocation increased even more dramatically in the century. Between the mid-1920s and 1936, the Tribe was forced to move four times within the area that is now Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park.

Par #22

In the 1920's, the Pacific Coast Borax Company built a large ranch house north of the present Post Office at Furnace Creek. At that time, tribal members lived near the ranch house. During this time, the Company experimented with the cultivation of grapes and citrus and brought cattle, sheep, chickens, and cottonwoods into the area. Chairwoman Pauline Esteves remembers the Company’s ranch and when the date trees, now the most visually dominant tree at the oasis, were planted. In those days, many Timbisha members worked at the Ranch and on the 20-mule team wagons. They cultivated gardens of their own. In the late 1920s, the Tribe was directed to leave the ranch and move to what is now the Sunset Campground area. At this time, the families continued to live in traditional brush homes. Water was available from the Furnace Creek ditch. (T)hey were living in shelters made out of...bush shelters. They used the arrowweed a lot for their shelters...and in order to keep cool, what my mother told me...they’d get water from the creek because they were very close to the creek. And they would wet down the shelters..and then they would also throw water on their gravel floors, and they would put canvas over it and that way they would stay cool. Pauline Esteves

Par #23

In the early 1930s, the Company directed the Tribe to leave the Sunset Campground area and to move to where the Visitor Center is located today. Although no water was available here, the Tribe complied with the Company’s directive with the understanding that piped water would be provided. Tribal members constructed homes and planted gardens, but after only a few years, the Tribe was forced to move once more.

Par #24

Another major disruption in the lives of Tribal members occurred in 1933 when President Herbert Hoover established Death Valley National Monument. The legislation creating the Monument was silent on the question of Timbisha Shoshone land tenure and no other accommodation for Tribal land was made. To address the Tribe’s situation, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs entered into an agreement in 1936 to establish a tribal village site and to construct adobe residences. The residences were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and several remain today. They are important historical structures that the Tribe plans to restore under this plan. The agreement also provided for a tribal gift shop and laundry business -- an early indication of the need for tribal income sources within the Park that were considered compatible with Park purposes at that time. As the houses were built, the Timbisha moved to their present location, south of Furnace Creek Ranch. At first, only some of the houses were finished and some of the families were forced to live in tents. The tribal settlement near the Visitors Center was destroyed.

Par #25

Unable to continue hunting and caring for the land within the Monument, and with very limited economic opportunities from the National Park Service and the Fred Harvey ( now AmFac) Corporation which supplies lodging, food, and other services to visitors to the Park, many families left Furnace Creek. Today, about 50 tribal members live in seven adobe residences and 11 mobile residences at Furnace Creek.

Par #26

Over the years relationships between the Tribe and the National Park Service have suffered due to the Tribe’s lack of a secure land base. The Tribe has felt that the National Park Service did not want them in the Park. This has come to be understood by the Tribe as a National Park Service policy designed to drive them out. Our people maintained an existence. Even through the days of the National Park Service trying to do everything in their power to force the people to leave their Homelands. There was a Park policy to eliminate the local Indians. The adobe homes were washed down by high-power water hoses, or they were set on fire when the people left the Valley for the highlands during the summer. This stopped our people from moving to the mountains during the hot summers. The people were forced to remain on the Valley floor in the heat with no electricity, which finally arrived in the early 1970s. It has taken a lot for our people to sit across the table from the Federal government and work out an agreement for our continued existence within Death Valley National Park. It is especially difficult for our elders who have personal memories to draw on. That distrust has been there for many, many years. But now we must remember that we are two nations at the table, sharing words, ideas, and talking. Barbara Durham

Par #27

C. The Timbisha Today While the Tribe has been formally organized since 1937, its present tribal government organization was established after the Tribe was Federally recognized in 1983. The Tribal Council is made up of the Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary-Treasurer and two additional Council members, elected by the General Council. The governing body of the Tribe is the General Council which consists of all tribal members 16 years of age or older. Any member of the Tribe who is 18 years of age is eligible to serve as a member of the Tribal Council.

Par #28

The lack of secure land tenure has been a major barrier to the social and economic advancement of the Timbisha ShoshoneTribe. Of the 285 enrolled members, nearly 40% are unemployed, a rate more than three times that of Inyo County and four times higher than the State of California. 5 More than 50% of the Tribe’s population is in the active labor force, but almost 25% work only part time. More than 80% of the Tribe’s households fall below the 1993 poverty threshold, which is $13,950 for a U.S. family of four. 6

Par #29

Tribal members work in a variety of occupations ranging from nursing to unskilled labor. The Tribe employs some tribal members while others are employed by AmFac, the Park, and the United States Post Office. A number of young tribal members are attending colleges, including Notre Dame and the University of California at Los Angeles, and several have majored in wildlife management in the hope of finding employment in resource management positions in the Death Valley region. We need a secure Homeland where we can rebuild our community and overcome the dispersing of the Tribe--a place where people can live, work, and plan as a community. We need to create economic development, employment, and income potential for our people. We need a strategy for the Tribe to participate in the protection of the Park--the protection of wildlife, plants, medicinal plants and other vegetation. We need to establish an Indian presence in the Park, where we can tell the Tribe’s story for Americans and for foreign visitors. We need a place to teach our people how to live correctly, to follow our traditions and ceremonies. The Tribe is not just thinking of today, but of lasting opportunities for many generations of people. Barbara Durham We need housing for tribal members to move back. Some members have dropped their enrollment because there is no housing. It is too late for some of the people. Too late, if the Tribe cannot offer housing and economic development. Pauline Esteves Families are the most important. When they move away, it’s beyond normality--inherently beyond instincts. Family is everything. Separating families is not improving humanity. My mother, my nephews and nieces need a place to identify with. This is urgent! We need trees, gardens, homes. Leroy “Spike” Jackson

Par #30

The lack of a land base has prevented the Tribe from accessing Federal housing or other community development programs. As a result, many Timbisha tribal members have moved to other Indian communities like the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Reservation, the Big Pine Paiute Tribal Reservation, and the Bishop Paiute Reservation in Owens Valley. Some tribal members live in Nevada in Beatty, Schurz, Reno and Las Vegas. The Tribe is committed to preserving its cultural and social integrity and sees the establishment of a land base as the key to its continued survival as a people. Timbisha tribal members seek the security that having land in trust status will provide.

Par #31

The geographic dispersion of tribal members impedes communication and full participation in tribal government. This plan provides for a land base on which to build an efficient, effective, government center. The Tribe is recognized in name only. The community building is built on skids because we were not allowed to put a permanent foundation in. The new sign is the first thing to go into the ground. That was two years ago on Memorial Day (1996). Barbara Durham Our Tribe is losing its culture. We are deprived of being a sovereign nation, deprived of keeping traditions, songs, stories, cultural practices and kinship above. With the creation of a Homeland for the Timbisha Tribe, we can rebuild our family ties, keep traditions alive, and keep our language intact. I am a full-blooded Timbisha Indian. My mother was born at Wildrose. My father came from the Beatty, Nevada, area. I grew up with them speaking the language every day. I grew up traditionally. I maintain my home in Timbisha because my folks are here. I don’t intend to ever move away, and hopefully I’ll still be around when tribal development takes place inside and outside the Park. Barbara Durham

Par #32

Approximately 57% of tribal members have no health insurance, or rely solely on the health services provided through the Indian Health Service Clinic, and/or Medicare, and/or Medi-Cal. Nearly 40% of tribal members do not receive dental care. 7 Permanent land tenure will provide the Tribe the opportunity to establish health services in the community.

Par #33

The recommended actions set forth in this report present an integrated strategy to address these and other tribal concerns through the establishment of a tribal land base suitable for housing, a center of tribal government, a health clinic, and opportunities for economic development. The potential for the development of a tribal museum/cultural center, and other appropriate economic activities will ensure a strong tribal presence within and outside the Park for the future.

Par #34

D. Need for Tribal Land Base Although the Tribe has lived in Death Valley for thousands of years, no lands were ever legally set aside for the Timbisha Shoshone. This situation is atypical as historically some accommodation for land rights were made for most tribes when aboriginal lands were acquired by the United States government. Nearly all Federally recognized tribes have land bases. Generally, this was done through a treaty of cession or by Executive Order. In more recent times, tribal lands have been provided through acquisition or by legislative transfer. However, only two Timbisha families received homestead allotments sometime around the turn of the century.

Par #35

Since 1933, when the Executive Order establishing Death Valley National Monument was signed, the lack of permanent land tenure has been a source of continuing frustration for both the Tribe and the National Park Service. Although many attempts to resolve this issue have been made over the years, it has persisted for decades without a resolution satisfactory from either perspective. Options available under existing National Park Service authorities, such as granting special use permits or negotiating memoranda of agreement are inadequate substitutes for tribal trust status which provides permanence, security, and economic opportunity for the Tribe. Tribal land tenure will also clarify administrative responsibilities for the village area and provide a more appropriate framework for the division of responsibilities among the Tribe, the Park, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Par #36

Without trust lands, a tribe’s access to Federal aid programs designed to benefit tribal communities is impeded, particularly with regard to housing assistance. Federal aid for basic tribal services is also limited. Unless the Tribe secures a land base of sufficient size to ensure sustainable development, its long term economic prognosis is dramatically diminished, as well as its social and cultural integrity. Many Federal services and programs available to Indian tribes through the Bureau of Indian Affairs are dependent upon the existence of tribal trust land. Consequently, even a long-term lease would not make the Tribe eligible for most Indian program funding. A new approach is required that meets the need of the Tribe for a Homeland within Death Valley National Park consistent with Park values and purposes and that also provides opportunities for tribal development outside the boundaries of the Park.

Par #37

Once the proposed lands are placed in trust for the Timbisha, a number of Federal programs and services can be made available to the Tribe and its members. Many Federal services and programs available to Indian tribes through the Bureau of Indian Affairs are dependent upon the existence of tribal trust land. Consequently, even a long-term lease would not make the Tribe eligible for most Indian program funding. A new approach is required that meets the need of the Tribe for a Homeland within Death Valley National Park consistent with Park values and purposes and that also provides opportunities for tribal development outside the boundaries of the Park.