Washoe Tribe contributes to Carson Valley

The beautiful Carson Valley and its environs are as close to the heart of the people of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California as anyone on earth. Historians have documented the presence, historic and cultural connection of the "people from here," in this region for many thousands of years.

The Washoe Tribe of the 21st century is heavily invested in Carson Valley and Douglas County communities' education, environment and economy. As fishers, hunters and world renowned basket weavers, our people have continued to support themselves over generations off the majestic lands at Lake Tahoe, and from Honey Lake to Mono Lake for centuries.

Today, the 21st century tribe is an economic engine that pumps millions of dollars annually into Carson Valley's economic health. We operate retail, resort and ranch businesses that include two smoke shops, a cattle ranch, gas station and our Lake Tahoe resort, with more than $10 million in revenue from our development group each year. Our outdoor advertising business helped boost our business enterprises and provides marketing opportunities and increased sales for many Douglas County small businesses and members of the Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Carson Valley Inn and Syncon Homes. Using our media, the Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce's "Don't Hurry, Be Happy" billboard campaign even featured Bill Driscoll as their spokesmodel.

Nearly 10 years ago an economic analysis documented tribal contributions at $72 million to the Douglas-Carson economy annually. That figure is certainly higher now, with recognition of new programs introduced since then that benefit all county residents and some that benefit Indians because of their status as Indians. We employ 350 people who reinvest their salaries daily. We exercise plenty of buying power, and do it locally to a large extent. We invest in this community both individually and corporately.

Our 1,600 plus membership on and off reservation, their family members and their descendants who total thousands more, live, work and vote in Douglas County communities and pay their taxes every time they spend money at the market, car dealers, casinos, churches and county offices.

Like all residents, we pay tax when we buy everything from food to furniture, property to prescriptions, gas to gifts, machines to movie tickets.

We provide critical early childhood education through our Head Start program which does not discriminate by race, supporting some of the county's neediest of children. Our federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program relieves county health care, social services and law enforcement providers and supplements community resources in Douglas County.

The Washoe Tribe operates a state of the art health center, opened in 2003, with an annual operating budget of more than $5 million for medical, dental, optometric, preventive health and mental health services. We partner with world-class medical centers including Stanford. We invest more than $1 million each year in local outside health care providers.

We offer child care, transportation, career development, tutoring, GED preparation and job training, substance abuse counseling, family maintenance and pregnancy prevention services, all to the benefit of the people of Carson Valley.

The tribe's environmental department employs 22 people who are dedicated to protecting the quality of life, air and water we all value and enjoy here. We earned the 2004 Award for Outstanding Achievement from the federal Environmental Protection Agency for non-point source river restoration at Stewart Ranch in Carson Valley.

Fire protection, wildfire suppression and reforestation top our efforts to restore and rehabilitate the land. We are proud to serve as first responders and in the emergency response community. Our people serve as an engine captain, volunteer firefighters, on summer hand crews with multi-agency firefighting forces and work side by side with agencies that service other federal lands like military bases, national forests and parks, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management and many more. We bring more resources to the table.

Where firefighting is concerned, residents expect and enjoy the same level of service as any other Douglas County constituent. We are proud to serve and support our local firefighters, both paid and volunteer.

We do so knowing that nationally, there was clearly a link between 6 o'clock fire sirens and ridding the "sundown towns" of non-whites. Locally, with the 1917 ordinance that required Indians out of town at 6:30 and set fines, and the 1908 one that mentioned the time as sunset, the Washoe people always knew they were at risk in the early 20th century.

The Washoe people have survived a long history of threats to our survival, from disease to dispossession of our homelands. We are making great strides on our path to economic self-sufficiency. We have the blessing of motivated members and strongly held values and culture.

To us, history is more about place than time and today, as in the past, we remain committed to the unfinished dreams of those upon whose lives our lives are built and who still exist in the undiscovered country that lives in the hearts and souls of the Washoe. Today, for us the horizon of the future may be lit by a table lamp or a computer screen, but theirs is lit by the burning sun and stars that watch over their sacred resting places.

Washoe people are a proud and essential part of Carson Valley history, and like the settlers, have paid in the form of blood, sweat, tears and lives in the building of this community. The last thing we need as a community is to allow the pendulum to swing backward with a diatribe of division and condemnation. We know our past and are determined for our future. We ask you to join us in our efforts to lift this great nation to a higher and better place - and honor those buried here who gave all their many tomorrows for our today to earn the ability to raise a generation of children to match these mountains.

n A. Brian Wallace is chairman of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.