The serene beauty of Lake Tahoe, known as Da’aw in the Washoe language, hides a rich history that predates its fame as a popular tourist spot. For the Washoe people, this lake is the heart of their ancestral land, a sacred place where their story began. However, modern developments have limited their access to these cherished shores.
The Washoe Warrior Society, also referred to as Washiw Zulshish Goom Tahn Nu (WZGT), is dedicated to restoring this connection. The society’s executive director, Lisa Grayshield, emphasizes the significance of the land in the Washoe’s cultural narrative. She recalls a time when the Washoe lived around the lake, stating, “We had stories about every one of these mountains and all these waterways and the way that the lake was before the edge of the lake was all taken up by people, colonizers.”
The WZGT’s mission is to establish a land trust in the Tahoe Basin and construct the Washoe People’s House, or Wašiw Tahn Nu Ungal, as a cultural and spiritual hub. This initiative aims to preserve the Washoe language and cultural practices, crucial as there are only a handful of fluent speakers remaining.
Melba Rakow, a founding elder of the WZGT, sees the People’s House as vital for cultural preservation and youth engagement. She notes, “If you do it correctly, you feel good about it and you’re also teaching young [people] about [the culture] and you’re also helping them stay off the streets and becoming what they shouldn’t.”
Art Martinez, a board member, highlights the importance of this space for spiritual gatherings, saying, “The Washoe People could say this is our place for our sacred ways to occur and to happen and for us to be with the spirits of our ancestors here.”
The project aligns with a broader mission shared with other Indigenous groups, including the Buryat people from Siberia, who have a similar bond with Lake Baikal. Grayshield believes that Indigenous stewardship can also benefit the broader Lake Tahoe community by improving land health through traditional practices like cultural burning.
Securing land is the next challenge, with costs in the region being high. The WZGT is exploring partnerships with private landowners or federal agencies like the National Forest Service. In 2020, they initiated a fundraising campaign to support their goal.
Progress is being made, as evidenced by a recent grant awarded to the Wášiw-šiw Land Trust for acquiring land in traditional Washoe territory. Although this land is outside the Tahoe Basin, Martinez views it as a positive step forward.
Grayshield and her team are considering a parcel near Cave Rock, a site of spiritual importance. With the passing of former WZGT president Frank Grayshield, the urgency to realize this dream grows, as Lisa Grayshield reflects, “When we’re here and when we put those pillars down, we’ll have gathered. That means the tribal people will have come together. The local people will have come together for that support in that allyship. And we will be standing there in the healing, knowing that we’re on the upside of it now. We’re not fighting it any longer.”
