Open Letter to All Washoe Community Members from Washiw Zulshish Goom Tahn Nu Executive Director, Dr. Lisa Grayshield

Washoe Warrior Society

E-mail:  wzgtmail@gmail.com     Webpage: wzgt.org

10-2-2024

Greetings Washoe Tribe Community Members Especially Youth: This is an open letter from Washiw Zulshish Goom Tahn Nu (WZGT) to Washoe Tribe community members, especially the youth and future council members.

We are grateful for the support of the Tribal Council, entrusting us with the confidence to take this first initial step towards reigniting the WCC project. A dream that was started decades ago by those that walked before us, such as Joanne and Teressa Smokey, whose faded photograph is still visible on the large wooden sign that marks the land dedicated for this purpose, “The Future Home of the Washoe Cultural Center”. 

At the WTC meeting on Sept. 13, 2024, the council voted to rescind the RESOLUTION to support WZGT in their efforts to plan and organize a Cultural Center Strategic Planning Kick-off event because of concerns raised from a group of community members who disapproved.

We understand that a project of this magnitude requires much collaboration and solidarity, therefore, we, Washiw Zulshish Goom Tahn Nu, do not feel the need to push forward on the WCC strategic planning without the full support of the Tribal Council and therefore in addition to rescinding RESOLUTION No. 2024-08-WTC-072, we further recuse ourselves from RESOLUTION No. 2024-02-WTC-014 to champion an updated strategic plan.

However, this project is not going away, it will become the work of another council, or the next generation of Wašiw who will incorporate new ideas and modern indigenous programs for restorative & regenerative tourism as well as for educating the public.

Washoe Cultural Center at Taylor Creek The groundwork for the WCC project goes back nearly 50 years to a landscape analysis completed in 1977 identifying the parking lot across from the Taylor Creek visitor center as the most appropriate place for the WCC.

More progress was made after the 1997 Lake Tahoe Presidential Forum where it was recognized that the health of Lake Tahoe required the return of the Washoe to the lake” by the U. S. government, the governments of the States of Nevada and California, and The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, local governments, and the Tahoe community.

In honor of those who went before us–our ancestors, our relations, whose work left a legacy of activism in service of “Washoe Return to Lake Tahoe” including the building of a Washoe Cultural Center at Taylor Creek.

Additionally, in 2004, the Lake Tahoe Restoration Forum 2004; Recovery of the Biological & Cultural Heritage of the Lake Tahoe Basin & National Forest; National Vision of Wellness & Recovery; a document that provided an overview of several projects to be completed towards a Washoe return to the Lake including:

1. The Washoe Tribe Lake Tahoe Act (P.L. 108-67), directing the Secretary of Agriculture to convey 24.3 acres located on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe, near Skunk Harbor, to the Secretary of the Interior in trust for the Washoe Indian Tribe of Nevada and California for traditional and customary uses.
2. Meeks Bay Resort and Marina.  Through a competitive bid process, the Washoe Tribe was awarded a special use permit to operate the forest Service concession at Meeks Bay for up to 30 years.
3. Cultural Center at Taylor Creek.  The Forest Service has approved the Washoe Tribe to create a Washoe cultural center on Forest Service land located at Taylor Creek, to provide the public with a place to learn about the historic and living history of the Washoe People and Lake Tahoe.
4. Lom Watah “Healing Water” at Zephyr Shoals.  The Washoe Tribe has submitted a proposal to the Forest Service to  operate and international environmental and cultural learning iInstitute and spa to promote traditional wellness, socially responsible and sustainable business development, and traditional and modern knowledge and technology.  The public will have access to the lakeshore at Zephyr Shoals.
5. Meeks Creek Meadow.  The Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) issued a 30-year special use permit to the Washoe Tribe to manage approximately 350-acre meadows for the care and harvesting of plants used for traditional purposes.
6. Commercial Opportunities for the Tribe.  The Washoe Tribe has an additional goal of reestablishing a commercial and economic presence at Lake Tahoe.  The LTBMU will assist the Tribe with reestablishing that presence.

This document further describes “Complex Adaptive Systems and Business Management Practices contributing to cultural and physical survival of Washoe.

The WCC was one of many projects identified in 1997 designed to re-establish a Washoe presence at Lake Tahoe. Support in the form of legislation, funding and professional development continue to be available from government agencies, non-profit organizations, and private investors, The US Forest Service dedicated land located at Taylor Creek for this purpose……

“To provide the public with a place to learn about the historic and living history of the Washoe” People and Lake Tahoe”

this Special Use Permit; DECISION NOTICE and FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT: Washoe Cultural Center Environmental Assessment was issued in 1999 with a 20 to 30-year term, to the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, to construct, operate, and maintain a WCC including all infrastructure. This leaves 5 years; until 2029, then the lease is up.

More recent developments in understanding the impact of climate change and rising carbon emissions into our environment is bringing additional attention to Indigenous people’s Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) as an important platform for addressing these pressing issues and provide more leverage for tribes’ endeavors to regenerate their ancestorial land practices. Assembly Bill No. 1284 of the California Legislature––2003-2004 (Amended in January 22, 2024); lays the groundwork for collaborative agreements at the tribes request, and further states that “California’s Native Americans have distinct cultural, spiritual, environmental, economic, and public health interests, and hold indigenous traditional knowledge [TEK] relating to natural systems in California” (Section 1:B).

The time is ripe to build our Cultural Center; A WCC with a focus on the living people themselves, their traditional practices, art, stories, and ways of life naturally lays the foundations for a Washoe regenerative tourism movement that places Wašiw in the center. A window of opportunity is open; however, this is an endeavor that must be engaged with full support of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California’s governing body.  

The WCC project was the dream of numerous tribal members, the Tribal Historic Preservation Office, the Washoe Tribal Council up until 2006, and numerous other organizations, friends, and supporters. The ground has been laid, it’s now up to you–our future generations to move this project forward. You can obtain any of the documents sighted here on this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bsCVgS1UwVgFsl1EzO2w8K2F47AYK9gA?usp=sharing

Or you can e-mail me and I will be happy to send you the link, or send a copy.

Respectfully,

Dr. Lisa Grayshield
Washoe Tribe member, and WZGT Executive Director

“Washiw Zulshish Goom Than-Nu continues to be committed to being a complement to existing tribal programs, working collaboratively wherever feasible, and reporting progress to the tribal council on a consistent basis and/or when called upon to do so” (MOU between Washiw Zulshis Goom Than Nu and the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, 2023).

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