Beyond Land Acknowledgements
A borrowed phrase I like so much I want you to think about it too.
When I think of home, I still think of Tahoe—the place I grew up and spent my first 30 years. Although I moved away 6 years ago, my connection to that place, particularly certain areas along the west shore, keep me deeply rooted there.
Recently, I attended a lecture by Dr. Natasha Varner called “Beyond Land Acknowledgement: Settler Stories, Rematriation, and Reimagning how we think about ‘home.’” We discussed questions like what “home” means to people and how do we grapple with feelings like pride of heritage and guilt about our own settler legacies?
What does “home” mean to you? How do you grapple with feelings like pride of heritage and guilt about your own settler legacies?
When Dr. Varner asked, “Do Indigenous People in your area have free and full access to their land and water?” I thought of Tahoe. Partly because of the book I’m writing, and partly because my own good fortune comes directly from my family’s land ownership in Tahoe.
Lake Tahoe is considered by the Wá∙šiw People, the Indigenous People of the greater Tahoe region, to be the center of their universe. It is a massively deep, beautifully blue lake high in the Sierra Nevada at the crook of the California and Nevada border. To my knowledge, the Wá∙šiw People do not own any land in the Lake Tahoe basin.
They manage Meeks Bay Resort along Tahoe’s west shore and in 2023 were awarded a 20-year concessionaire permit from the U.S. Forest Service. But the land, buildings, beach, cabins, parking lot, infrastructure, etc. are owned by the U.S. government.
In 2010, Skunk Harbor on Tahoe’s east shore was transferred to the Washoe Tribe under a Forest Service agreement (to be held in a trust), but party goers continue to rev their boats along the lake shore, wondering why there aren’t bathrooms or better trash service. To my understanding, nothing much has changed regarding land use.
Do the Wá∙šiw People have free and full access to their land and water?
According to modern standards of land ownership, no. Whatever small victories their centuries of relentless activism has achieved, nearly all, probably 100% of land in Tahoe is still owned by Federal, State, and local governments or private landholders.
In 2003, Congress passed the Washoe Indian Tribe Trust Land Conveyance acknowledging that Lake Tahoe and surrounding lands are the traditional homelands of the Wá∙šiw People. This Congressional Act (which I found via random internet searches, so please forgive any errors or oversight in my interpretation) includes stipulations like bans on residential, recreational, or commercial development by the Washoe Tribe, and all uses must comply with TRPA environmental requirements. They may have permits and concessionaire agreements, but the Feds left some wiggle room in determining what counts as traditional uses.
For example, this Act forbids any Wá∙šiw person from living on permitted lands, and the earning potential has also been reduced. It feels like a meek offering from the federal government, but any step in regaining a presence in the Lake Tahoe basin is an important step for the Wá∙šiw People.
A Note on Language
Those of you in Tahoe, and those reading my blog, may see different spellings for the Washoe Tribe. While researching my novel, I’ve come to understand the differences are as follows, which you can also find on WashoeTribe.us:
Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California - The official name for governmental recognition
Wá∙šiw (Wa-shu) - the adjective form - Use as a descriptor before a noun, as in the Wá∙šiw People, or the Wá∙šiw language
Waší∙šiw (Wa-she-shu) – “the people from here” - Use when referring to the entire community (although, some community members have told me they only started hearing this definition in the 90s…)
Waší∙šiw ɁitdéɁ - “the homelands of the Wá∙šiw People” and name of the annual festival held in July at Meeks Bay
Sacred Sites Are Always Sacred
In 2007, climbing was banned on de’ek wadápush (Cave Rock), which is now listed as a historical marker by the Nevada State Preservation Office. This was a monumental win for the Wá∙šiw People because Cave Rock is their most sacred site. It is so sacred that, to this day, only certain Wá∙šiw People (like shamans) are allowed to go there. Their advice to everyone else, “Don’t go there.”
In the 1860s, around the time my historical novel takes place, a trestle bridge was built around the side of Cave Rock so white colonizers could run horse-drawn wagons, fish from the lake, logs cut from Tahoe’s forests, and other supplies to the new boomtown called Virginia City. As Wá∙šiw People were being quickly and violently displaced from their winter homelands in the Carson Valley, their summer homelands surrounding Tahoe were also being desecrated. (This deforestation is what my novel is about.) For centuries, since the first foreigners invaded their lands, the Wá∙šiw People have been protesting the presence of non-Indigenous people especially at their spiritual center.
In 1931, the State of Nevada blasted a tunnel through the heart of Cave Rock for cars to pass more safely through. In 1957, the state bored a second tunnel to increase traffic flow. When the late famous climber Dan Osman started hammering more than 350 steel bolts into the granite face in the 1980s, the Wá∙šiw People protested again, even more loudly this time and the landowners, now the U.S. Forest Service, agreed to ban rock climbers from the sacred site.
In 2007, the climbing advocacy group Access Fund challenged the decision, calling it unlawful and unconstitutional to close public lands, but they lost. Today, climbing is still banned at Cave Rock, but hiking and picnicking is allowed. Which means people still scramble to the top of this sacred site and vehicular traffic still flows right through its center. (Read more about this in Cave Rock: Climbers, Courts, and a Washoe Indian Sacred Place).
What is Rematriation?
I’m feeling especially curious about land use now because it feels impossible and imperative to rematriate lands back to Indigenous Peoples. Does this mean more federal leasing of public lands to Tribes? Does it mean donating private land to Tribal Communities? Do the Wá∙šiw People want that?
I am absolutely caught up in the capitalistic system of land grabbing. I grew up in a private residence in Tahoe Pines. I currently live in a house in Bend, Oregon, on the traditional lands of the Wasco, Warm Springs, and Northern Paiute Nations. I am benefiting from generational wealth that came from land ownership in the Tahoe basin. So when Dr. Varner asks how do we move beyond land acknowledgments? I myself am hard pressed to understand how giving land back would logistically work for me personally. I like my home. I’m grateful to have it. Without it, I would feel insecure or, to use Dr. Varner’s word, unsettled. Living here is part of my settler legacy. I feel both grateful and guilty for it.
Healing the Earth Is a 12-Step Program
In 2023, the Sierra District of California State Parks and the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California signed a 5-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) formalizing a government-to-government relationship that establishes a protocol to consult with, co-manage, and collaborate on stewardship responsibilities for the benefit of both governments. Basically, although CA State Parks still owns the land, they are now agreeing to consult with the Wá∙šiw People about how to manage it.
If healing the earth is a 12-step program, step one is acknowledging our own settler legacies. Step two is learning, listening, observing. Ask questions. Listen more. Start to feel unsettled.
Step One: Verbal Land Acknowledgments
I acknowledge that myself and my ancestors have and continue to contribute to the exiling of Indigenous People from their lands. Where I grew up in Tahoe City is the traditional homelands of the Wá∙šiw People. Where I currently reside in Bend, Oregon, is the traditional lands of the Wasco, Warm Springs, and Northern Paiute Nations.
Step Two: Engage and Learn
In Tahoe, the forests are sick with crowded understory species, the shores are ruthlessly guarded by luxury private homes, and what the land needs most is probably lessons learned from the Wá∙šiw People.
If you’re in Tahoe, here are a few great opportunities:
On July 27 & 28, 2024, the Wá∙šiw Community is hosting their annual Waší∙šiw ɁitdéɁ Festival at Meeks Bay. It’s a beautiful and welcoming Indigenous Culture and Arts Festival open to the public, with food, arts, and cultural expositions.
Note it is generally not okay to take pictures or videos of cultural ceremonies or dances you may witness. Recording and sharing such things is a perfect example of cultural appropriation, which is not something we want to do. Instead, listen, enjoy, and be present.
Every summer, Palisades hosts monthly Washoe Cultural Talks at High Camp, where you can learn what Tahoe was like pre-colonization.
Learn about the Washoe Warrior Society, a nonprofit started by Wá∙šiw elders seeking to return their people to their land.
What is Our Future Relationship with Land?
I know we’re all just trying to have a home, provide for our families, love one another, feel safe, feel comforted, feel secure. Home ownership, for so many generations, has been the staple to feeling secure.
But as long as the we continue to place capitalistic value in owning land, with the expectations of retiring wealthy by selling or inheriting that land, we cannot achieve anything close to affordable housing. Nor will we ever find a path to rematriation.
I am an active participant in this real estate game. It’s easy for me to speculate and ask these (still hypthetical) questions because I myself experience housing security. But this security also affords me the privelege of asking, How can I help heal the land? How can I start the process of rematration?
I’m actually not sure how. I’ve been working on Step Two of my 12-step plan for the last 4 years while engaging with Wá∙šiw Community members in order to write my book. Just trying to engage and learn.
What I have learned is that is it not their responsibility to teach us. It is our responsibility to learn. Be curious, do research, attend opportunities like cultural talks, festivals, libraries, and museums. Be active. Listen. Engage. Be vulnerable about feeling pride of heritage and colonial guilt all at the same time. Take the smallest, most bite-sized step you can to feel comfortable about learning what might feel uncomfortable, and just begin.
P.S. If You Know This Guy…
If anyone knows Mark Zuckerberg, please forward him this email. I happen to know the Washoe Warrior Society is looking for a spiritual gathering place they will call Washiw Tahn-nu-ung-gal, or People’s House, to bring their people back to their land —a critical step in healing. Maybe they could borrow his 10-acre lakefont mansion when he’s not using it…
As always, thanks so much for reading. Hit the like button and leave a comment, so I know you’re out there! I really love hearing from you.
Thanks for addressing the issue of settler ownership and rematriation of land. I struggle with the logistics of reconciliation and always celebrate when indigenous peoples gain back their land or strengthen their cultural heritage or find a balance between governments.
Loved this article and I love learning about your part of the world and how to think about things differently. Thank you for posting