The Bishop Paiute Tribe, formerly known as the Paiute-Shoshone Indians of the Bishop Community of the Bishop Colony is a

federally recognized tribe This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

Mono Mono may refer to: Common meanings * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono * Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single Music Performers * Mono (Japanese b ...

and

Timbisha The Timbisha ("rock paint", Timbisha language: Nümü Tümpisattsi) are a Native American tribe federally recognized as the Death Valley Timbisha Shoshone Band of California. They are known as the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and are located in sout ...

Indians of the

Owens Valley Owens Valley (Numic Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin, Colorado River basin, Snake River basin, and southern Great Pl ...

, in

Inyo County Inyo County () is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 census, the population was 19,016. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County is o ...

of eastern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

."California Indians and Their Reservations: Bishop Reservation."
''San Diego State University Library and Information Access.'' 2011. Retrieved 4 Sept 2013. As of the 2010 Census the population was 1,588.

Reservation

The Bishop Paiute Tribe has a federal reservation, the Bishop Community of the Bishop Colony (), in the upper Owens Valley, above the city of

Bishop, California Bishop (formerly Bishop Creek) is a city in California, United States. It is the largest populated place and only incorporated city in Inyo County. Bishop is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley, at an elevation of . The city was na ...

. The reservation is on the lower slopes and

alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...

of the Eastern

Sierra Nevada Mountains The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Cars ...

and is in size. Approximately 1,441 tribal members live on the reservation. The reservation was established in 1912. In 1990, 934 people were enrolled in the

.Pritzker, 241 The reservation's current boundaries are the result of an Executive Order due to watershed acts during 1932 when President Hoover downsized the size of the grant from 67,000 acres to roughly 900 acres to enable the city of Los Angeles to pipe water from Bishop to Los Angeles County without negotiating a right-of-way with the Paiute. The Bishop reservation also has their own casino (Wanaaha Casino, formerly known as Paiute Palace Casino), a health care system (Toiyabe Clinic), a student learning center (Barlow Gym), and even a gaming commission.

Government

The tribe is governed by a democratically elected tribal council. The current administration is as follows: *Council Chairman: Tilford P. Denver *Vice Chair: Jeff Romero *Secretary: Steven Orihuela *Council Member: Allen Summers, Sr. *Council Member: Joyce White The tribal council changes every 2 years. Sometimes there are 3 members who are appointed during odd numbers of the year. It is also co-ed. The tribal council has power to appoint authorities to certain members of the tribe to represent departments like TANF or Public Works. The tribal council has the power to remove members from departments and committees. They also have the power to make ordinances, policies, sanctions, and distribute land to its members.

Language

The Bishop Community traditionally spoke both the

Timbisha language Timbisha (''Tümpisa'') or Panamint (also called Koso) is the language of the Native American people who have inhabited the region in and around Death Valley, California, and the southern Owens Valley since late prehistoric times. There are a fe ...

and Mono language, both of which are part of the

Numic Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin, Colorado River basin, Snake River basin, and southern Great Plains. The word Numic com ...

branch of the

Uto-Aztecan Uto-Aztecan, Uto-Aztekan or (rarely in English) Uto-Nahuatl is a family of indigenous languages of the Americas, consisting of over thirty languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico. The na ...

language family. Timbisha is in the Central Numic and Mono is in the Western Numic divisions.

Today

The tribe's headquarters is located in Bishop, California. The tribe is governed by an elected five-member tribal council. With over 2000 enrolled members, the Bishop Community is the Fifth largest Native American tribe in California."Tribal History."
''Bishop Paiute Tribe.'' 2009 (retrieved 8 Dec 2009) The tribe has its own tribal court and many programs for its members. For economic development, the Bishop Community created the Paiute Palace Casino (now called Wanaaha Casino) and Tu-Kah Novie restaurant in Bishop.

Owens Valley Paiute Shoshone Cultural Center

The tribe operates the Owens Valley Paiute Shoshone Cultural Center located in

. The center displays art and artifacts from area Paiute and Timbisha tribes and has an active repatriation program through

NAGPRA The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Pub. L. 101-601, 25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq., 104 Stat. 3048, is a United States federal law enacted on November 16, 1990. The Act requires federal agencies and institutions that ...

. Their museum store sells contemporary beadwork, basketry, jewelry,

quillwork Quillwork is a form of textile embellishment traditionally practiced by Indigenous peoples of North America that employs the quills of porcupines as an aesthetic element. Quills from bird feathers were also occasionally used in quillwork. Histor ...

, and educational materials.OVPSCC-Museum.
(retrieved 16 Dec 2009)

Education

The colony is served by the

Bishop Union Elementary School District A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

and

Bishop Joint Union High School District A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Notes

References

* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. .

External links

Bishop Paiute Tribe
official website
Owens Valley Paiute Shoshone Cultural Center
museum website * http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Le-Pa/Paiutes.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop Paiute Tribe Timbisha Mono tribe

Northern Paiute Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

Native American tribes in California Bishop, California Inyo County, California Owens Valley Federally recognized tribes in the United States