It's a great day for the Goshute and Western Shoshone. Maybe even a great day for all people who hold sacred those places where we carry out our spiritual lives, hold ceremonies, honor ancestors, pray and offer gratitude. Today was a giant step forward in protecting Bahsahwahbee, the Sacred Water Valley or Swamp Cedars.
In what's been dubbed "the largest water case in Nevada's history," we won in the state water proceeding and again in the district court. Both agreed that a Las Vegas water developer's plans to suck out groundwater from beneath Bahsahwahbee would be detrimental to this National Historic Property -- one of the largest massacre sites of Indian people (nearly a thousand men, women, and children were killed three separate times during sacred ceremonies). As it turns out, the water developer is now deciding to change course. Congratulations to the Tribes! I'm proud to work on their behalf and proud to stand at their side to fight the good fight.
(Apologies for my moppy hair in the photo; I'd just come out of my hermitage, slapped on a suit, and forgot about trimming up the grays.)