On June 18, the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill (H.R. 884) was heard before the House Committee on Resources. The bill proposes a controversial one-time land claim settlement to the Western Shoshone in a forced buyout of their ancestral lands in Crescent Valley, NV — land now worth billions to gold mining companies and developers. The U.S. continues to treat Western Shoshone land as public land, allowing mining, military testing and preparation of a high-level nuclear waste storage facility in Yucca Mountain. Since last September, the Department of the Interior has forcibly removed hundreds of cows and horses from Western Shoshone grazing lands in the Crescent Valley area. If the bill, which has the strong support of the Nevada Congressional delegation, is passed by the House Committee, it will go before the U.S. House of Representatives for a full House vote. Native activists and attorneys warn that payment of the land claim would extinguish Western Shoshone aboriginal title to most of Nevada. For further information, visit the Western Shoshone Defense Project website, or  read a June 27 editorial in Indian Country Today.