Western Shoshone Homelands, Newe Sogobia
The story of the Western Shoshone is a long lesson in the ways that law can fail Indigenous People threatened by mineral interests. The ancestral territory of this native American people encompasses an area stretching from southern Idaho, through eastern Nevada, to the Mojave Desert of California. Underneath this swath of over 240 thousand square kilometers (over 60 million acres) lie billions of dollars worth of gold. Nearly 10 percent of the world's gold production -- and 64 percent of US production -- comes from Western Shoshone land. LEARN MORE
Western Shoshone Victorious at United Nations: U.S. Found in Violation of Human Rights of Native Americans LEARN MORE
US Fails to Respond to UN Request; Western Shoshone Petition for Public Support
Protection of the land is critical to the Western Shoshone’s preservation of their cultural and spiritual integrity. But among the threats it now faces is a plan to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain and to conduct open-pit gold mining at Mt. Tenabo, both areas that are spiritually significant to the Western Shoshone. LEARN MORE
The Western Shoshone and many other Indigenous Peoples have been wrongly denied their sovereignty and lands, and we all have a responsibility to help create a just solution to this situation. LEARN MORE
The Lakota have joined with the Shoshone Indigenous nations. LEARN MORE
PROTECT YUCCA MOUNTAIN IN WESTERN SHOSHONE HOMELANDS
United Nations Committee Responds to Western Shoshone Requests –
Specific Mention of Threatened Spiritual & Cultural Areas:
Mt. Tenabo and Yucca Mountain
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"Our traditional laws tell us we were placed here as caretakers of the land. As part of the Western Shoshone Nation, we will not stand idly by and allow the U.S. federal government to cement its hold on our ancestral land base."
Joe Kennedy, Western Shoshone
"We will never give up our struggle to protect our Sacred Newe Sogobia – the Earth Mother.
Carrie Dann, wsdp.org
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Joe Kennedy, Western Shoshone
Carrie Dann, wsdp.org
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Thanks to Carrie Dann of Western Shoshone Defense Project, Scott Barta of 1851treaty.com Anne Marie and Joe Kennedy.