Feds plan Nevada meeting on tribal land cash offer

ELKO, Nev. (AP) – The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs plans a northeast Nevada meeting ahead of an Aug. 2 deadline for Western Shoshone tribe members to apply for government land loss settlement money.
A Bureau of Indian Affairs official, Matt Crain, tells the Elko Daily Free Press the June 19 meeting at the Elko Colony Gymnasium will be about the distribution of about $185 million in settlement money.
A 2004 law authorizes distribution of money set aside in 1978 by the federal Indian Claims Commission for lands acquired through so-called “gradual encroachment.”
Opponents maintained the Western Shoshone never gave up millions of acres in the Great Basin under the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley.
Western Shoshone Claims Steering Committee official Felix Ike says more than 8,400 applications have been filed so far.
–––
Information from: Elko Daily Free Press,
http://www.elkodaily.com