The Western Shoshone Defense Project is a grassroots nonprofit advocacy organization formed in 1991 to support Western Shoshone communities in defending their unceded ancestral lands and treaty rights. It grew out of support for the Dann family and works to protect, preserve, and restore Western Shoshone land, cultural and spiritual ties to territory, and community sovereignty through public education, outreach and legal advocacy.
Indigenous and treaty rights; land protection and stewardship; opposition to extractive projects (mining, large‑scale development) and nuclear waste storage on Western Shoshone lands; environmental justice and conservation; legal advocacy and international human rights appeals; community education and cultural preservation.
Primarily small foundation grants, donations and grassroots fundraising; intermittent project support from allied nonprofit funders.
Western Shoshone National Council; the Dann family (Mary and Carrie Dann); Indian Law Resource Center; Seventh Generation Fund; Center for Biological Diversity; Great Basin Resource Watch; Noowuh Knowledge Center
Non-profit grassroots advocacy organization
