The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe are the native people of Death Valley. Western Shoshone and Paiute people once occupied several villages scattered throughout the region, but today only the village of Timbisha at Furnace Creek remains within what is now Death Valley National Park.

In January, 2000 the Timbisha Shoshone Homeland Act was implemented, officially providing land in trust to the Tribe on which the Tribe can live permanently and govern the Tribe's affairs within the ancestral homeland of the Tribe outside and within the Park. Today a partnership between the tribe and the National Park Service ensures resources within the park and their traditional homeland are protected and enhanced by cooperative activities.

Timbisha Shoshone Tribe's official website

Timbisha Shoshone Homeland Act (S.2102.ENR) January 24,2000

An overview of the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe just prior to the Homeland Act

John Reynold's preface to the "Draft Secretarial Report to Congress" on the establishment of a Timbisha Shoshone Tribal Homeland

Pauline Esteves' preface to the "Draft Secretarial Report to Congress" on the establishment of a Timbisha Shoshone Tribal Homeland