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| PREFACE |
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As a new nation, the United States took virtually all of the ancestral lands of our Native
American predecessors leaving them with little foundation for their own distinct cultures to
survive. As a visionary nation, we invented national Parks so that America’s most evocative
places could be preserved forever. Often those Parks, and the lands most important to Native
Americans, are one and the same. Such is the case in the Death Valley area where much of the
Timbisha Shoshone Homeland and Death Valley National Park not only coincide physically but
are highly valued by the Tribe, the National Park Service, and the American public.
If we resolve to make a better nation for our children, a nation that recognizes the promises of America’s best ideas and is not bound to the thought that the decisions of the past are the best that we can do, then we have a unique opportunity to rectify the existing situation where the Tribe lives on its ancestral lands without the ability to achieve self-determination and economic independence. Consequently, we resolved in Death Valley, and in the surrounding ancestral homelands of the Tribe, to value the beliefs and needs of both nations, to be fair to the Timbisha Shoshone and to the people of the United States. We seek to restore lands on which the Timbisha Shoshone can exercise their sovereign tribal rights guaranteed by our Constitution and courts, and to develop lasting cooperative arrangements with the Tribe. We do so in the context of a better and more holistic vision of what Death Valley National Park and other parts of the Tribe’s ancestral lands can become with an expanded and renewed tribal presence and the commitment to such a presence by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
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| PREFACE |
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The word ‘timbisha’ refers to a red material found in the Black Mountains not far from our
tribal village at Furnace Creek. Our ancestors, the Old Ones, used this material, called ochre in
English. They would use it like paint on their faces, to protect them and heal them. The Old
Ones believed that this material, ‘timbisha’, strengthened their spirituality.
Our people, the Timbisha, are named after this material and so is our valley. The term ‘Death Valley’ is unfortunate. We refrain from talking about death. Instead, we refer to “one who it has happened to.” Even more importantly, this is a place about life. It is a powerful and spiritual valley that has healing powers and the spirituality of the valley is passed on to our people. Our people have always lived here. The Creator, Appü, placed us here at the beginning of time. This valley, and the surrounding places that the Old Ones frequented, is ‘tüpippüh’, our Homeland. The Timbisha Homeland includes the valley and the nearby mountains, valleys, flats, meadows, and springs. Then others came and occupied our land. They gave us diseases and some of our people died. They took away many of our most important places. The springs....the places we used for food. The places we used for our spiritual practices. They didn’t want us to carry on our religion or our ceremonies or our songs or our language. The names of our places became unknown to some of our people. We never gave up. The Timbisha people have lived in our Homeland forever and we will live here forever. We were taught that we don’t end. We are part of our Homeland and it is part of us. We are people of the land. We don’t break away from what is part of us. Still, a lot has been lost. The current situation is very serious. We have no land at all. Very few of our people are employed. They need, for their welfare, housing and economic development. The plan negotiated between the Timbisha and the Department of the Interior will be of great assistance in bringing economic self-sufficiency, done sustainably, to my Tribe. Economic development, if it is to work, must be done by the Timbisha people themselves. Now, there are very few opportunities within the Tribe. This plan will bring many opportunities within the Tribe. It is significant that this will be done, not just in one place, but in several places within the Homeland, because that is how the Old Ones always did it. Most important of all, I envision that this plan will bring the people closer together. Many of us will be able to live and work in tribal communities once again. Our cultural preservation program will be greatly expanded once we have a tribal center. What we are fundamentally doing is re-educating many of our people as to who they are. The Timbisha people are not from some other Homeland. This is our Homeland. We will stay on, and this plan will give us the opportunity to do that in a self-sufficient, sustainable, and spiritual way.
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