Watts Fights to Protect Trees Sacred to Indigenous People

From the The Nevada Independent:

Assembly Bill 171 would make it the state’s policy to protect the geographically distinct Rocky Mountain juniper population and make it illegal to damage the swamp cedars without obtaining a special permit from the state, similar to rules that govern other sensitive species.

“When you get to this valley, you see how different and significant it is to have a stand of Rocky Mountain junipers thriving in this valley floor,” said Assemblyman Howard Watts III (D-Las Vegas), the bill’s sponsor and the chair of the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources.

“One of the things I’ve been advocating for is addressing the long and painful history that our state and government has with Native American people,” Watts said in an interview Tuesday. “I think there’ve been a lot of instances, over time, including recently, where the cultural, spiritual beliefs of Native populations here have been overlooked or disregarded.”

Additional context from the Associated Press:

The Ely and Duckwater Shoshone and Goshute people view the trees and the ground beneath them as sacred and use the groves to celebrate, sing and pray to honor those lost in three 19th century massacres where soldiers and vigilantes killed hundreds of Native Americans.

"Swamp cedars in the Spring Valley embody the spirits of the lives lost during those massacres. Our relatives are in those trees," Ely Shoshone elder Delaine Spilsbury told lawmakers.

Read more about this issue from the Las Vegas Sun and Nevada Current.