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Land Restoration Timeline

1850: Homesteaders, ranchers and mining interests descend upon California and so begins the dislocation of the Timbisha Shoshone from the land

1933: Death Valley National Monument is established by President Hoover. This brings the National Park Service (NPS) and their removal policy to the region. The NPS forces the relocation of Shoshone camps several times before a final move to what is now the Timbisha Indian Village, a 40 acre plot of land on the valley floor.

1936: An agreement between the BIA and NPS authorizes the Civilian Conservation Corps to begin construction of the Timbisha Indian Village. Nine adobe homes, a trading post and a laundry are built. A barbed wire fence encloses the small forty acres. Timbisha Shoshone living at the present day site of the NPS headquarters, NPS residential area, and Furnace Creek & Texas Springs Campgrounds are relocated to the village. It is located on the valley floor. The idea is that the people will produce items for the trading post, wash NPS employee's clothes and be put on display outside the trading post entrance.

1983: The tribe receives federal recognition. With this the tribe is able to receive funding to renovate the existing adobe homes, install electricity, pave roads, improve the water line system and purchase additional housing.

1994: The California Desert Protection Act is signed into law by President Clinton. The act includes a provision that directs the Secretary of Interior, in direct consultation with the tribe, to conduct a study to identify lands suitable for a reservation within the tribe's aboriginal homelands.

March 7, 1996: In direct violation of the California Desert Protection Act, the NPS tells the tribe there is no "suitable" land within the park. The tribe issues a press release. The media takes an interest in the issue and the NPS clarifies their position stating that they will work out a long-term lease agreement with the tribe.

September 1996: The tribe sends a letter to President Clinton urging him to stop the illegal actions of the NPS and that a new agency take over the study.

November 1, 2000: The Timbisha Homeland Act is signed into law by President Clinton. The bill provided for the transfer of 7,500 acres of land in California and Nevada into trust for the tribe. This act created the first tribal reservation within a National Park.