- Location
- Nevada
- Current protection
- Bureau of Land Management and other lands in Spring Valley; listed on the National Register of Historic Places
- Status
- Tribal campaign for a Park Service monument
- Tier
- Tier 2 · National Monument
- In the book
- Not featured in Undiscovered America
Why should it be a National Park?
In Spring Valley, a few miles north of Great Basin National Park, a grove of Rocky Mountain junipers grows on the valley floor at 5,000 feet, thousands of feet below where the species belongs, fed by springs. The Newe call the place Bahsahwahbee, sacred water valley.
It was a gathering place for ceremonies until three massacres in 1859, 1863, and 1897 killed hundreds of Newe people there, among the largest massacres of Native Americans in the country's history. A monument run with the tribes by the Park Service would honor what happened here, as the Park System does at Sand Creek.
The history of National Park Campaigns
The Duckwater Shoshone Tribe, the Ely Shoshone Tribe, and the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute have long sought federal protection for Bahsahwahbee as a national monument managed by the National Park Service. Nevada's legislature backed them in 2021, and on July 29, 2024, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto introduced a bill to create the monument. President Biden did not designate it before leaving office.
- Distinct National Park attempts
- 1 (campaign for a Park Service monument, including S. 4828, 2024)
- Other designation attempts
- 1 (National Register listing)
Sources
- S. 4828, Bahsahwahbee National Monument (118th Congress)
- Office of Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, press releases (2023–2024)
- The Nevada Independent (2024)
- 1859
The Spring Valley massacre.
- 1863
The first Swamp Cedars massacre.
- 1897
The second Swamp Cedars massacre.
- 2020
The Southern Nevada Water Authority drops its plan for a groundwater pipeline that would have drained the valley.
- 2021
The Nevada Legislature passes a resolution supporting the monument, unanimously in the state Senate.
- April 26, 2023
Sens. Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen urge Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to support the designation.
- July 29, 2024
Sen. Cortez Masto introduces S. 4828 to establish the Bahsahwahbee National Monument; it is referred to Energy and Natural Resources.
- January 2025
The Biden administration leaves office without designating it.