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Washoe Tribe completes major land back purchase

A narrow creek runs through a wide valley surrounded by sage and colorful scrub brush. Desert mountains rise up from the horizon in the background.
Elizabeth Carmel / Courtesy Waší·šiw Land Trust
The WélmeltiɁ Preserve

In February, the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California bought over 10,000 acres of land from the city of Santa Clara. This is the first of many land purchases the tribe plans to make, and part of the broader land back movement, which is restoring Indigenous land and benefiting the environment.

“Part of colonization, it was to remove that tribal togetherness to where everybody would be individuals and not come back together as a tribe anymore,” said Serrell Smokey, chairman of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.

Jimmy Romo-Buenrostro joined Nevada Public Radio in 2025 as an Indigenous affairs reporter and producer.

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