Great Basin tribes want Bahsahwahbee massacre site in Nevada named national monument

ELY, Nev. — White attackers turned a lush, high desert oasis in eastern Nevada, with its bubbling springs and a rare stand of Rocky Mountain junipers, into killing fields. Delaine Spilsbury, an Ely Shoshone elder, smells a branch from a Rocky Mountain juniper tree in Bahsahwahbee on Nov. 11, 2023, a site in eastern Nevada that is sacred to members of the Ely Shoshone, Duckwater Shoshone and the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation. A stretch of Rocky Mountain junipers are visible at Bahsahwahbee on Nov. 11, 2023, a site in eastern Nevada that is sacred to members of the Ely Shoshone, Duckwater Shoshone and the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation. And so we darn sure are going to protect those people.” Delaine Spilsbury, an Ely Shoshone elder poses for a photo on Nov. 11, 2023, in Bahsahwahbee, a site in eastern Nevada that is sacred to members of the Ely Shoshone, Duckwater Shoshone and the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation. “Or maybe more.” Rick Spilsbury looks in the direction of Rocky Mountain juniper trees on Nov. 11, 2023, in Bahsahwahbee, a site in eastern Nevada that is sacred to members of the Ely Shoshone, Duckwater Shoshone and the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation.