News

December 4, 2006

Six New Sacred Site Reports!

Check out our six, new site reports on the Altai Republic’s Golden Mountains (Russia), the McArthur River (Australia), Vilcanota Spiritual Park (Peru), Mecca (Saudi Arabia), Mount Sinai and the Monastery of St. Catherine (Egypt) and the Dampier Archipelago (Australia). Learn about poaching of endangered snow leopards at sacred Mt. Belukha, the planned diversion of a river associated with the Rainbow Serpent to provide zinc to China, a thousand varieties of potato, mega development around the Ka’baa, trekking in the footsteps of Moses, and massive industrialization that is destroying petroglyphs and priceless rock art.

December 1, 2006

Read the Sacred Land Film Project’s 2006 Annual Report.

November 30, 2006

UN Tables Declaration on Indigenous Human Rights

The Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, which deals with social, humanitarian and cultural issues, has voted to postpone consideration of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by a vote of 82 to 67 (with 25 abstentions). Several African nations, including Namibia and Botswana, opposed bringing the declaration to the UN General Assembly for a vote at this time, but it was the behind-the-scenes opposition of the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand that made the difference. Les Malezer, an Australian aboriginal leader who chairs the Indigenous Caucus at the U.N., said, “This is unjustifiable. This is an attempt to derail the whole process.” Read a detailed article from Inter-Press Service.

November 22, 2006

New Report: Is Nothing Sacred? Corporate Responsibility for the Protection of Native American Sacred Sites

Recognizing the impact of corporations on indigenous peoples’ sacred lands, SLFP has produced a comprehensive new report exposing the enormity of the threat and defining what “corporate good practice” would be regarding sacred sites. The 80-page report contains six case studies on Indian Pass, Weatherman Draw, Medicine Lake, Black Mesa, Zuni Salt Lake, and Cave Rock. Conclusions gleaned from these conflicts yield a number of reasonable steps that corporations and stakeholders can take to avoid conflict around sacred sites, including engagement in meaningful consultation with all interested parties and being willing to take “no” for an answer where alternatives simply do not exist. You can download a copy of the report, or send us a message to receive a hard copy.

November 10, 2006

Historic Apology at Sacred Site

After PG&E built a $15 million water treatment plant to prevent hexavalent chromium from reaching the Colorado River, the utility realized that the building was in the middle of the Topok Maze, the ancient pathway to the otherworld for departing souls of the Ft. Mohave Indian Nation. In a historic agreement, PGE agreed to move the plant and apologized for the desecration. They further admitted that they should have consulted with the tribe and listened to their concerns before harming the sacred landscape. The story made the front page of the Los Angeles Times (and ends with a quote from SLFP Project Director Christopher McLeod).

November 9, 2006

New Report on Sacred Sites and Biodiversity

UNESCO and its Man and the Biosphere project has published “Conserving Cultural and Biological Diversity: the role of sacred natural sites and cultural landscapes.”

A 340-page book containing the proceedings of the 2005 international symposium in Tokyo on sacred natural sites. The proceedings were edited by Thomas Schaaf and Cathy Lee and include in-depth presentations from experts on many sites worldwide, including the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, Shinto temples in Japan, sacred landscapes in southern Ethiopia and Kyrgyzstan, as well as excellent discussions of current scholarship on biodiversity, indigenous mapping, protected area co-management practices and conservation of water and wetlands.

The book also contains the “UNESCO/IUCN Working Guidelines on the Management and Conservation of Sacred Natural Sites” in its Annex. The full text of the proceedings is available in PDF format for downloading.

November 7, 2006

Court Stops Calpine Geothermal Development at Medicine Lake

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service extension of Calpine’s geothermal leases at Medicine Lake violated both the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPS). In early 1998, the BLM and USFS extended Calpine’s leases for five years and then started an Environmental Impact Study (EIS), in violation of NEPA. The Court also found that after finally completing the EIS, the agencies did not include a “no action” alternative: “The agencies never took the requisite ‘hard look’ at whether Medicine Lake Highlands should be developed for energy at all.” The Court ruled that BLM and USFS “violated their duties under NEPA and NHPA and their fiduciary duty to the Pit River Tribe by failing to complete an environmental impact statement before extending Calpine’s leases in 1998. Hence, both the five year lease extensions and the subsequent forty-year extensions must be undone.” Download and read the PDF file Pit River Tribe v USFS. You can also download and read the Pit River Nation’s supporters’ press release.

November 6, 2006

Declaration on Indigenous Rights Goes to the UN General Assembly

Supported by indigenous peoples’ representatives from all over the world, Peru and several other member states submitted a resolution to the 61^st General Assembly to finally endorse the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Declaration addresses both individual and collective rights, cultural rights and identity rights to education, health, employment, language and others. It outlaws discrimination against indigenous peoples and promotes their full participation in all matters that concern them. It also ensures their right to remain distinct and to pursue their own visions of economic and social and cultural development.

Speaking about the document, UN Under-Secretary-General José Antonio Ocampo said, “The Declaration provides the international community with a comprehensive international standard which we should all strive together to achieve.” Like other UN Declarations, though not legally binding, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is expected to have a major impact on the status of indigenous peoples worldwide. Once adopted, it will establish an important standard for the treatment of indigenous peoples and will be a significant tool towards eliminating human rights violations against the estimated 370 million indigenous people worldwide and assist them in combating discrimination and marginalization.

The Human Rights Council adopted the Declaration on June 29, 2006 after more than twenty years of discussions and a fruitful dialogue among States and indigenous peoples. The document needs to be approved by the members of the UN General Assembly. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of Indigenous People, Mr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen and the Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (see below) sent a strong message to members of the UN General Assembly urging them to adopt the Declaration without further delay. The following countries are cosponsors of the draft resolution:

Armenia, Bolivia, Congo, Croatia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Fiji, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hungary, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

The following countries appear to moving against the UN’s adoption of the Declaration: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Further, Botswana submitted a “highly inaccurate and prejudicial interpretation of the Declaration provisions” to the Assembly according to a statement by an outraged Indigenous Peoples Caucus. The IPC commented: “In light of the appalling human rights records of Botswana, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States in the context of Indigenous Peoples, it is unconscionable that they have chosen to reject one of the first Human Rights Council recommendations for the approval of a UN human rights instrument specifically addressing the unique status and rights of Indigenous Peoples.” To see more of the IPC’s statement and to take action, visit the Indigenous Peoples Caucus web site.

For more information of the Declaration, please visit the UNPFII web page.

For background information on the Declaration or interviews with UN officials and indigenous leaders, please contact: Oisika Chakrabarti, Department of Public Information (mediainfo@un.org)

For Secretariat of the Permanent Forum, please contact: Mirian Masaquiza, Secretariat of UNPFII (IndigenousPermanentForum@un.org)

RELATED EVENT: The Indigenous Peoples’ Resistance to Economic Globalization event will be November 18, 2006 from 1:00 to 10:00 pm at Cooper Union Great Hall, 7 East 7th St. at 3rd Ave., New York City.

The event will include 30 Indigenous and other speakers from every continent, including Winona LaDuke, John Mohawk, Vandana Shiva, and Goldman Award Winner Luis Macas, former President of Ecuador. The event will celebrate publication of a book edited by Victoria Tauli-Corpuz of the Philippines, and titled Paradigm Wars: Indigenous Peoples’ Resistance to Globalization. This is a Sierra Club book containing 28 reports of indigenous resistance to global corporations, the World Bank, IMF and WTO, which pose direct threats to indigenous lands and sovereignty.

October 27, 2006

Ancient rock art vandalized in Utah

The Bureau of Land Management discovered this week that petroglyphs outside Vernal, Utah had been vandalized. The ochre-colored paintings of human figures sprawl across a large rock face east of Salt Lake City on property currently managed by the BLM. In the last week a group of unidentified people carved names over the paintings effectively desecrating the site that had remained untouched for at least a thousand years. Pictures taken at the site on October 23 show that the vandals left evidence of their identity, as the names “LAMAR, CODY ALLMAN, EMILY, DAVID, ALAN ALLMAN” and “5A”are all legible. “It’s not unlike walking into an art gallery and painting your name across a Van Gogh,” said state archaeologist Kevin Jones. “It defaces a piece of our cultural heritage that is irreplaceable.” The BLM will now determine whether the rock art panel actually sits on federal land, rather than private property, thereby warranting an investigation under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act. “If it is [on BLM land] we will aggressively pursue an ARPA investigation,” Phillips said. Call the BLM at 435-781-4400 to report any information you may have about the vandalism.

For more information on the Vernal area’s many petroglyph sites visit the Utah Rock Art Research Association or James Jacobs’ Rock Art pages.

Landmark land swap in Maine returns sacred rock art site to Native tribe

This week Maine’s Passamaquoddy people brought out their drums and tribal regalia to celebrate the long overdue return to the tribe of Picture Rocks, a site they compare to a sacred textbook with carvings telling the history of the Passamaquoddy. Donald Soctomah, the tribe’s preservation officer, explained the importance of the site to the Passamaqoddy: “It is our ancestors that live in the stories that are transposed onto the rocks. Our life stories are on those rocks.” The Picture Rocks site is more than 3,000 years old and contains many carvings of caribou, hunters and shaman as well as a magnificent depiction of the arrival of Samuel de Champlain by ship in 1604. After several years of negotiation, the tribe and several anthropologists and art historians from the University of Maine at Machias finalized a land deal to protect Picture Rocks. In the deal, the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, a non-profit conservation group based in Brunswick, bought the 5.5 acre parcel on which the site sits from a private land owner. The tribe gave a 300-acre easement along the Little Kennebec Bay to the Trust in return, which prohibits any future development on the easement, maintaining the pristine land for the tribe and future generations.

For more information on the Passamaquoddy visit the Pleasant Point - Passamaquoddy Tribal Government Web Site (link to: ) and the Passamaquoddy’s other sacred site claims.

October 12, 2006

Boy Scout Executive from Texas Guilty of Illegally Entering Sacred Site in Arizona

A national Boy Scouts executive was sentenced to one year of probation, banned from all national parks in Arizona and fined $1,500 for illegally entering an archaeological site considered sacred by Native Americans in Canyon de Chelly National Monument. William Steele, of Irving, Texas, is an associate director for the Cub Scout Division of the Boy Scouts of America. “Scouting should provide young people with the opportunity to learn how to respect Native American and park boundaries. Mr. Steele should have learned this lesson long before we had to teach it to him,” said Paul K. Charlton, the U.S. Attorney for Arizona. In August 2005, Steele was spotted entering Yucca Cave, an inner canyon archaeological site containing Native American ruins dating back to 750 A.D., and considered sacred by both the Hopi and Navajo tribes. While there were no reports of damage to the religious structure, ancient habitation architecture and rock art inside the canyon, “the site is considered sacred, so just entering it is considered sacrilege,” said Wyn Hornbuckle, a spokesman for Charlton.

October 10, 2006

Proposed Hazardous Waste Dump on Sacred Grounds of the O’odham

The Mexican government and the company Centro de Gestion Integral de Residuos S.A. (CEGIR) are planning to build a 246-acre hazardous waste dump on Quitovac, the sacred ceremonial grounds of O’odham. The site—125 miles southwest of Tucson, Arizona in the Mexican state of Sonora—could store up to 45,000 tons of hazardous waste materials annually, including asbestos, organochlorides and waste sludge from nearby industrial plants. Chemical waste of this scale will descecrate the sacred grounds of Quitovac, disrupting spiritual activities and sacred sites. To the O’odham, who believe all plant, animal, and human life is connected, destruction of Quitovac’s landscape will not only interrupt ceremonies but will fundamentally alter their way of life. They depend on their ecosystem for food and medicinal plants, and have already felt the impacts of cyanide leaching from a mine into their water system. The waste from CEGIR’s facility will release dangerous toxins into the air, potentially contaminate underground well water, and negatively impact the biodiversity of a lagoon. Local residents who depend on income from the nearby beach resort of Puerto Peñasco are also concerned about the effects of the proposed waste repository on tourism.

The project was reportedly developed without any consultation with the O’odham and the surrounding community, and local leaders argue that it must be halted immediately and the Mexican government should work with CEGIR to find another site for the proposed dump. “We oppose this outright threat to our O’odham way of life by storage of hazardous chemicals in our sacred lands and near our sacred ceremonial grounds,” write the Traditional O’odham Leaders of the O’odham Territories. “We demand the strongest implementation of existing environmental and cultural protection laws to stop this project and demand protection of O’odham and all life in this region. The planned devastation of the region is in total neglect to humanity and the natural life.”

Please contact the Mexican Embassy and the United States Environmental Protection Agency to let them know that this is not an appropriate place for hazardous waste! Call, fax, or email: Alfonso Flores, Mexican Secretary of the Environment (Tel: +52 5556 243334; Fax: +525556 243589; Email: alfonsoflores@semarnat.gob.mx) and Wayne Nastri of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX (Tel: 415-947-8021; Email: nastri.wayne@epa.gov).

For more information, visit the Green Action web site.

September 19, 2006

San Francisco Peaks Get Good Hearing at 9th Circuit

A proposal to use treated sewage water to make artificial snow on the sacred San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona, ran into stiff opposition at a hearing before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. For details, read this story at Indianz.com, “Tribal leaders and Native advocates expressed optimism last week after a federal appeals court heard their pleas to protect a sacred site in Arizona.” Continued…

Listen to this audio recording of the 40-minute courtroom arguments. (Windows Media Player 10MB)

August 1, 2006

Indigenous Nations gather at Bear Butte, South Dakota to protest construction of world’s largest biker bar

The Summit of Indigenous Nations, a gathering of more than 40 delegations of indigenous, spiritual and political leaders and NGO’s, will be held August 1-4 at the base of Bear Butte in South Dakota—a place sacred to more than 30 tribes, but soon to be a neighbor to the world’s biggest biker bar. Organizers expect 2,000 Native Americans and their supporters to attend the summit, intended to help prepare Native people to reach out to state legislators, county commissioners and federal lawmakers as they try to preserve sacred lands. Biker bar mogul Jay Allen is creating a permanent presence less than 2 miles from Bear Butte, where Native Americans pray and perform ceremonies during about five months of the year. The New York Times reports that Allen estimates the cost of his 22,000-square-foot, three-story bar and adjacent campground at $3.5 million. The bar will allow motorcyclists to drive right through the main floor and will feature a “Best Breast” contest. A 30,000-seat rock music amphitheater is also in the works, with a view of Bear Butte on the horizon. According to Mary Annette Pember (Red Cliff Ojibwe), former president of the Native American Journalists Association, “Allen plans on offering 600 acres of police-free partying with daily ‘orgasm’ and ‘Popsicle licking’ contests.” Tim Coulter, director of the Indian Law Resource Center in Helena, MT, said the new development would violate a declaration on the rights of indigenous people that the United Nations is expected to pass in September.

For more on this story, read Jim Robbins’ New York Times article or visit, “Indigenous summit planned at sacred S.D. site” in the Helena, Montana Independent Record.

Also visit the Summit of Nations 2006 web site or DefendBearButte.org.

July 27, 2006

Winnemem Puberty Ceremony Held on the McCloud River

From July 9-11, the Winnemem held a puberty ceremony for Waimem Sisk-Franco, age 14, daughter of tribal chief Caleen Sisk-Franco and Headman Mark Franco. Waimem spent four days and nights on one side of the river, sleeping in a bark hut at night, walking upriver by day, and listening to aunts, friends and elders pass on women’s knowledge. On the fourth day, along with three attendants, Waimem swam across the river and joined the ceremony as an adult.

After much wrangling with the Forest Service and local law enforcement prior to the ceremony, the Forest Service finally agreed to institute a “voluntary closure” and to ask boats to stay out of the small arm of the McCloud River portion of Shasta Lake Reservoir while the ceremony was underway, because children and adults were frequently in the water. Most boaters chose to stay away. A few pushed their way in, waving beer cans, yelling insults, and baring breasts. This prompted the sheriff to close the river arm totally to boat traffic on the final afternoon, as Waimem swam across the river, and the remainder of the ceremony took place in peace and quiet. A deer appeared to watch the deer dance, and a bald eagle landed in a tree across the river at the moment the ceremony concluded.

Read the two Redding Record Searchlight stories by Kimberly Ross:

“Ceremony needs space: Public asked to respect voluntary closure in forest”

“Right of passage: Teen girl undergoes tribal coming of age ceremony”

View a multimedia presentation (slideshow with audio) by Andreas Fuhrmann of the Redding Record Searchlight.

July 15, 2006

First Native American Superintendent at Devils Tower!

As America’s first National Monument prepared to celebrate its centennial, Dorothy FireCloud (Rosebud Sioux) was named Superintendent of a park where climbers and native people have clashed in recent years. FireCloud previously worked with the U.S. Forest Service. Previously she was acting deputy forest supervisor at the Black Hills National Forest. Previously, she served as team leader of the Forest Service’s National Implementation Team on tribal relations and as regional tribal relations program manager for the Forest Service’s Southwest Region. FireCloud, who holds a law degree from the University of New Mexico, began her federal career in 1992 as a water rights specialist with the BIA in Phoenix. She worked as BIA administrative officer at the Hopi Agency at Keams Canyon, Arizona, and for the Pueblo of Zuni, where she developed the Pueblo’s water rights program.

Read the National Park Service Press Release

June 20, 2006

ACTION ALERT: Winnemem Wintu vs. US Forest Service

The Winnemem Wintu need your help. Plans to conduct a Puberty Ceremony on the McCloud River south of Mt. Shasta starting July 8 are being obstructed by the U.S. Forest Service’s failure to provide adequate camping facilities and protection for children who will swim across the river as part of a coming of age ceremony. Letters are needed to Forest Supervisor Sharon Heywood. PLEASE SEND A LETTER TODAY!

Download a sample letter to Sharon Heywood.
Download a press release with more information.

Listen to a KQED Radio California Report “Indian Site Could Soon Be Under Rising Waters of Shasta Lake” (June 9, 2006)

Read a new article about the Winnemem fight to stop the heightening of Shasta Dam in NRDC’s On Earth magazine.

June 20, 2006

Day of Prayer for Sacred Sites on June 21

On the summer solstice, prayer vigils will be held at ten places around the country to help protect threatened sacred sites. Vigils will be held at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC, at the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder, CO, and across the country. Among the endangered places being desecrated are Mount Graham and the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona, Bear Butte in South Dakota, the Medicine Lake Highlands in northern California, Ocmulgee Old Fields in Georgia, the Petroglyphs in New Mexico, Snoqualmie Falls in Washington, the Haskell-Baker Wetlands in Kansas, and the Missouri River in the Northern Plains.

Download a press release from the Morningstar Institute with full details.

June 20, 2006

Christensen Fund Grant Launches Our New Film Production

The Christensen Fund has awarded the Sacred Land Film Project a $150,000 research and development grant to start work on our new documentary miniseries on threatened sacred places around the world. We now begin one year of research and fundraising, followed by production starting in late 2007. Read more about our new project, Losing Sacred Ground.

June 7, 2006

Two National Parks Handed Back to Yuin Aboriginal Community

The government of Australia has returned two coastal mountain National Parks in New South Wales to the control of the traditional Yuin Aboriginal owners, after 240 years of European control. The handback of the freehold titles for Biamanga and Gulaga National Parks marks an important day in the history of both Australia and of international protected area management. Located south of Sydney, the two national parks have been declared places of cultural significance to Aboriginal people and contain important sacred sites such as Mumbulla Mountain. The lands will remain as national parks, and will be leased back to the NSW Government for this purpose. They will have a Board of Management with an Aboriginal land owner majority determining how the parks are managed. At the handback ceremony, New South Wales Attorney General and Minister of the Environment R.J. Debus said, “Here in Tilba Tilba on this day, I say on behalf of the New South Wales government that the Yuin people will retain the lands where they worship. The historic injustice is now corrected.”

Read the entire handback ceremony statement by Mr. Debus.

More details are available on the IUCN - The World Conservation Union website.

May 31, 2006

Winnemem War Dance Film on PBS Series Natural Heroes

Winnemem War Dance at Shasta Dam is featured in the second season of PBS series Natural Heroes, in the episode titled “East and West.” Follow this link for more information about the show, or to view the episode.

May 4, 2006

Hopi/Navajo Victory Featured in Earth Island Journal

Read two new articles on the closure of the Mohave Generating Station by editor Chris Clarke, and the local activists’s visionary Just Transition Proposal by SLFP project director Christopher McLeod, in the Summer 2006 edition of Earth Island Journal. Download a PDF of Chris Clarke’s article or Christopher McLeod’s article.

March 21, 2006

Drawdown: An Update on Groundwater Mining on Black Mesa

In 2000, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) published an assessment of the damage caused by Peabody Energy’s groundwater mining at Black Mesa and determined that the Navajo Aquifer showed signs of serious decline after 30 years of pumping by Peabody. This 2006 update to the original report concludes that material damage is still present in Black Mesa and that the aquifer shows signs of continuing damage and deterioration.

Read a two page summary.

February 24, 2006

Cracking of Glen Canyon Damn! on Free Speech TV, starting Sunday February 26th

See an excerpt of project director Christopher McLeod’s first documentary short on the birth of the radical environmental group Earth First! on FreeSpeech TV’s news magazine SourceCode this Sunday, February 26th at 9am EST on the DISH Network. McLeod’s 1982 film will be featured in the show’s final segment, The Art of Resistance.

SourceCode is Free Speech TV’s weekly news magazine, focusing on social justice issues with the aim of turning audiences into activists. This episode, The Criminalization of Dissent, explores the persecution of dissenting activist groups under the guise of protecting the country from terrorists.

This show will be rebroadcast on the following days/times, all EST:
Sunday 2/26 noon, Monday 2/27 at midnight, 9am, 1pm, 8pm, and 11pm, Tuesday 2/28 at 1am, 4am, 11am and 6pm and Wednesday 3/1 at 5am and 5pm.

You can also watch this episode online at http://sourcecode.freespeech.org.

February 9, 2006

New Resources on Sacred Places

If understanding is the first step toward building respect, the movement to protect sacred places will receive a great boost from the simultaneous publication of five new important resources. Please check out the following three books, a 134-page report, and an investigative magazine article:

Where the Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places by Peter Nabokov (Viking)
Recovering the Sacred - The Power of Naming and Claiming by Winona LaDuke (South End Press)
Geography of Religion: Where God Lives, Where Pilgrims Walk by Susan Tyler Hitchcock with John L. Esposito, et al (National Geographic)
World Wide Fund For Nature/Alliance of Religions and Conservation Report, Beyond Belief - Linking faiths and protected areas for biodiversity conservation
Orion (Nov/Dec 2005): Conservation Refugees: When protecting nature means kicking people out by Mark Dowie
Paradigm Wars: Indigenous Peoples’ Resistance to Economic Globalization, edited by Jerry Mander and Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, International Forum on Globalization (May, 2005)

January 13, 2006

Sewage and Snow on SF Peaks

A federal judge has ruled that because Hopi, Navajo and other religious practitioners do not practice their religion within the boundaries of the Ski Bowl ski resort, the resort may begin making snow using treated sewage from nearby Flagstaff. Read the Associated Press story.

January 12, 2006

Just Transition Plan Introduced in Wake of Mohave Closure

Following the closure of the air polluting Mohave Power Plant and groundwater depleting Black Mesa Mine, Hopi and Navajo activists joined with the Sierra Club and Grand Canyon Trust to challenge the California PUC to devise a “Just Transition Plan.” The plan would require Southern California Edison and three other utilities, the owners of the power plant, to channel income from sale of pollution credits back into the communities impacted by the mine closure. Under the plan, up to $40 million per year would be invested in job retraining, community planning and development of sustainable energy projects such as solar and wind power on Black Mesa. Read the LA Times story.

January 1, 2006

Mohave Power Plant Shut Down!

Southern California Edison shut down the Mohave Power Plant in Laughlin, Nevada on New Year’s Eve, in accordance with a court order mandating the plant’s closure due to sulphur dioxide pollution of the Grand Canyon area. This ends a thirty year struggle by Hopi activists to shut down the coal slurry line operated by Peabody Coal Company that has depleted sacred ceremonial springs on Black Mesa, 270 miles to the east of the power plant. For details read the January 1, 2006 New York Times article, the Los Angeles Times report on the plant’s closure, download our 2005 annual report or see our Web page on Black Mesa.

Congratulations to Black Mesa Trust and the many Hopi and Navajo leaders who have collaborated over decades with an array of allies to end this environmental injustice.

National Public Radio’s environmental program Living on Earth reported on the Mohave closure on January 6, featuring a six-minute interview with Sacred Land Film Project Director Christopher “Toby” McLeod. To download the story/interview visit Living on Earth’s website.

December 5, 2005

Read the Sacred Land Film Project’s 2005 Annual Report.

November 14, 2005

In Memoriam: Vine Deloria, Jr. (1933-2005)

Native American author, historian, theologian and legal expert, Vine Deloria, Jr. passed away Sunday at the age of 72. Author of Custer Died For Your Sins and 20 other books, Vine was perhaps the most important Native American intellectual of the 20th century.

We were honored to be granted one of the few film interviews Vine ever sat for. For two and a half hours he was dazzling and he was subsequently the intellectual guide for viewers of our film, In the Light of Reverence.

Read more about the life of Vine Deloria, Jr. in obituaries in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Indian Country Today, Indianz.com, The Denver Post, The Rocky Mountain News, The Guardian (UK) and Ascribe (the public interest newswire).

Read a personal remembrance by American Indian Studies Professor David Wilkins (Lumbee) of University of Minnesota.

November 12, 2005

Sacred Claims on the San Francisco Peaks

Read a new High Country News article on battles to protect Native American sacred sites on public lands in the Western U.S., such as the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona, by Daniel Kraker.

Listen to Kraker’s radio reports for Voice of America and for KNAU - Arizona Public Radio.Read the latest legal arguments ("Findings of Fact") submitted to an Arizona court to prevent processed sewage and wastewater from being used in snowmaking machines on the sacred San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff.

November 10, 2005

House Drops Arctic Drilling

Fearing it would jeopardize the budget bill, House Republicans dropped language that would open the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling. Read today’s reports from the Washington Post.

Please send a note of thanks to Representative Charles Bass (R, NH) who is leading the coalition of Republican House members that forced the removal of the Arctic drilling provisions from the budget. Rep. Bass’s email address is: cbass@mail.house.gov or he can be reached at 2421 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515.

Telephone: (202) 225-5206

Say something like: “Thank you very much for the courageous stand you have taken to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling. Please do all you can to keep your 29 Republican House colleagues together and please resist Senate pressure during budget reconciliation to change your position. Many, many people appreciate what you are doing.”

If you would like to call or write to thank the 29 Representatives who defended the Arctic Refuge, visit the NRDC Arctic Action Site.

November 8, 2005

House to Vote on Drilling in Arctic Refuge

Oil companies and their friends in the U.S. Congress have resorted to using the Budget Process to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. They have attached a drilling provision to the massive 2006 Budget Reconciliation package in an effort to limit public debate and circumvent normal Congressional procedure. The Republican-controlled Senate voted in favor of the drilling provision on Thursday, November 3, and the House is poised to vote this week. THE ARCTIC REFUGE NEEDS YOUR HELP RIGHT NOW!

There appears to be mounting opposition within the House on the refuge provisions. There are reports that House leaders are considering dropping the contentious refuge drilling language. We need to put pressure on the House of Representatives. After the House passes its version of a budget measure, the final decision on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will be made when the Senate and House go into conference to hash out differences between their two budgets. If the House drops the Arctic drilling language, the area might be spared (again).

The most important thing to do RIGHT NOW to help save the Arctic Refuge is to contact your Representatives.

Urge them to vote against any budget reconciliation budget that allows oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge, and to strike the ANWR language from the 2006 Budget Reconciliation Bill.

You can call the Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121. Or call toll-free via the Arctic Action Hotline: 1-888-8-WILDAK (1-888-894-5325).

Please act now! Contact your Representatives ASAP. For a sample letter, please visit the Arctic Refuge Action Web site.

For details about the history of the Arctic Refuge please read our Web site report.

October 6, 2005

Calpine To Stop Work At Medicine Lake, CA

As reported today in the Mt. Shasta News, “After hearing numerous objections from the Telephone Flat Geothermal Project Oversight Committee at a meeting September 29th in Yreka, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management have put on hold Calpine’s plan to begin work this week on geothermal projects at Medicine Lake.” Calpine’s plans to build two 49 megawatt geothermal electrical generating plants, called Fourmile Hill and Telephone Flat, near Medicine Lake, have encountered strong resistance from Native Americans, environmental groups and local residents. The work scheduled includes plans to clear four sites of timber, three for wells and one for a power plant, and build a 300 to 400 yard dirt road to the sites.

Read the full article from the Mt. Shasta News.

October 4, 2005

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Sacred Site Challenge

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to the Forest Service’s protection of the Medicine Wheel in Wyoming. Without comment, the justices declined to hear Wyoming Sawmills Inc. vs. U.S. Forest Service, No. 04-1175, a case originating from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. Wyoming Sawmills, a timber company represented in the case by Mountain States Legal Foundation, sought to challenge a Forest Service decision to restrict, but not bar, development within 23,000 acres in the Bighorn National Forest. The forest is the site of the largest medicine wheel in the U.S., which is used for ceremonies by several tribes. The 10th Circuit ruling held that Wyoming Sawmill lacked standing to sue under the U.S. Constitution or environmental law. The company appealed, arguing that it has a right to challenge, and that the Forest Service can’t make decisions that advance or restrict any particular religion.

For more information: Read the Medicine Wheel Coalition brief in the case or check out the NARF-NCAI Tribal Supreme Court Project.

September 12, 2005

Arctic Refuge Threatened by Oil Power Play

For 25 years, vigilance and perseverance have helped keep drill rigs, pipelines and oil spills out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Now, the Republican Senate is poised to stifle debate and subvert our democracy once again by using a backdoor maneuver to authorize oil drilling in the Refuge through a budget bill that cannot be filibustered.

Please act now! Send letters to your Senators. For a sample letter, please visit the Arctic Refuge Action website. Read our full action alert.

For details about the history of the Arctic Refuge please read our website report.

June 10, 2005

Growing International Movement Focuses on Sacred Lands

An important, new international movement for the protection of sacred places is building momentum. “Conserving Cultural and Biological Diversity: The Role of Sacred Natural Sites and Cultural Landscapes,” a major symposium convened May 30 to June 2 in Tokyo, Japan, brought together 200 people from every continent to document and discuss how sacred natural sites — and the local communities that care for them — nurture and protect biodiversity. U.N. experts from the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), along with The World Conservation Union (IUCN), met with numerous indigenous people, protected area managers, scientists and academics. The discussions were aimed at protecting sacred places, and surrounding ecosystems, through existing international instruments, new laws and improved land management policies.

A number of important documents have emerged as this historic cultural preservation movement continues to grow. Symposium participants drafted and approved the Tokyo Declaration, which urges the development and implementation of UNESCO and IUCN’s Draft Guidelines for the Conservation and Management of Sacred Natural Sites, and the dissemination of CBD’s Akwé: Kon voluntary guidelines for the conduct of cultural, environmental and social impact assessment regarding developments proposed to take place on, or which are likely to impact on, sacred sites and on lands and waters traditionally occupied or used by indigenous and local communities. (Note: Akwé: Kon is pronounced agway-goo, and is a Mohawk term meaning “everything in creation.”) The Akwé: Kon guidelines are available in English, French and Spanish.

Also relevant are:

The Playa del Carmen Declaration on Indigenous Spirituality, Nature and Sacred Sites (April 2005);
The Vth World Parks Congress Durban Recommendations on the Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas (September 2003) (download the PDF file and then see V.13 on pages 168-170);
UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (October 2003);
The Yamato Declaration on an Integrated Approach to Safeguarding Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage (October 2004); and
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (February 1971).

May 27, 2005

In the Light of Reverence will screen in Tokyo at an international United Nations symposium

An international symposium, “Conserving Cultural and Biological Diversity: The Role of Sacred Natural Sites and Cultural Landscapes,” will convene at the United Nations University in Tokyo, Japan, from May 30–June 2, 2005. Participants from around the world will present case studies on sacred natural sites, biological diversity and cultural landscapes. In the Light of Reverence will be screened three times, at 6 PM on Monday, May 30, in U Thant International Hall (Room 3F), and at 9:30 AM and 1:15 PM on Tuesday, May 31, in the Reception Hall (Room 2F), with filmmaker Christopher McLeod on hand to lead discussions. Read the UNESCO-IUCN Draft Guidelines for the Conservation and Management of Sacred Natural Sites, which will be discussed and refined at the symposium.

May 4, 2005

The Raising of Shasta Dam discussed on KQED Radio’s Forum Show

Listen to an hour-long radio program originally broadcast on March 4, 2005, featuring Caleen Sisk-Franco, tribal chief of the Winnemem Wintu tribe, Jeff McCracken, public affairs director for the Mid-Pacific Region of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Keith Coolidge, deputy director of communications for the California Bay Delta Authority, and Sacred Land Film Project Director Christopher McLeod. Hosted by Angie Coiro.

April 12, 2005

In the Light of Reverence receives Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film and Digital Media

On April 10, In the Light of Reverence was honored with the Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film and Digital Media at the Council on Foundations’ 2005 Film and Video Festival, during the Council’s 56th annual conference in San Diego.

February 25, 2005

New Campaign Opposes Shasta Dam Plans
Native Land & Water in Jeopardy: Week of Benefits Unites Winnemem, Hopi & Environmental Leaders — March 1-4

The impact of California’s water and energy crises on Native American tribes remains an untold story. This week of events will expose the impact of both crises on two Native American tribes whose struggle to preserve their sacred lands heated up recently with the passage of Senator Feinstein’s CalFed legislation and the weakening of environmental regulations by the Bush administration.

The award-winning PBS documentary In the Light of Reverence will be coupled with a panel discussion with Native American leaders Caleen Sisk-Franco (Winnemem Wintu) and Vernon Masayesva (Hopi) of Black Mesa Trust. These events will include our new seven-minute short, Winnemem Wintu War Dance at Shasta Dam, which depicts the Winnemem’s September 2004 ceremony against the proposed raising of Shasta Dam. Proceeds from the three benefits will support the Winnemem Wintu Tribe’s participation in the new campaign. If you can’t join us, you can make an on-line, tax-deductible donation to the Winnemem at the Cultural Conservancy’s website. Event details:

San Francisco: Wednesday, March 2 at 7 PM—Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center—with Julia Butterfly Hill—Admission $15—5:30 PM Reception $50 (includes film and panel). Advance tickets: 415-345-7575.

Oakland: Thursday, March 3 at 7 PM—Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave.—with Julia Butterfly Hill—Admission $15. Advance tickets can be purchased in person at the Grand Lake Theater Box Office.

Sacramento: Friday, March 4 at 7 PM—Crest Theatre, 1013 K St. Admission $12. Advance tickets can be purchased in person at the Crest Theatre Box Office. 5: 00 PM Reception at Jump Start Cafe, 1122 L Street (near 11th Street.) Parking garage adjacent, enter on 10th Street. Tel. 916-441-7555. $5-$10 donation at door.

The events mark the launch of a unique grassroots campaign that unites some of the state’s most effective environmental organizations with Native communities in an effort to stop the enlargement of Shasta Dam near Redding. The proposed dam raising would flood some of the Winnemem Wintu’s remaining sacred sites and destroy a stretch of what remains of the free-flowing McCloud River. Vernon Masayesva, Executive Director of Black Mesa Trust, has been leading the fight to stop Peabody Energy’s coal slurry that is depleting Hopi and Navajo springs at a rate of 3.3 million gallons per day on Black Mesa.

The panel discussions, moderated by Christopher “Toby” McLeod, Director of Earth Island Institute’s Sacred Land Film Project and Director/Producer of In the Light of Reverence, will focus on creating a new relationship with water, finding alternatives to destructive projects that encourage increasing consumption, better management of existing water supplies and conservation.

For more information about these events, please call 415-459-9211, ext. 40.

Feel free to view a PDF of the official invitation (128K).

Academic Symposiums

On Tuesday, March 1 at 1 PM, the American Indian Studies Department of San Francisco State University will host an afternoon “Sacred Land & Water Symposium” featuring presentations by Native American leaders and a 3:30 PM screening of In the Light of Reverence. Professor Melissa Nelson (Anishinaabe/Metis) will moderate a panel with Caleen Sisk-Franco (Winnemem Wintu), Vernon Masayesva (Hopi) and Ann Marie Sayers (Mutsun Ohlone). The symposium and screening will be held in Humanities 133 on the San Francisco State University campus, 1600 Holloway, San Francisco. Campus map: http://www.sfsu.edu/~sfsumap/

On Friday, March 4 at 12:30 PM, at Sacramento State University, join us for a reception and a screening of the 7-minute film Winnemem War Dance at Shasta Dam, followed by a half-hour discussion with Caleen Sisk-Franco, Tribal Chief of the Winnemem Wintu. Location: Orchard Suite, Sacramento State University Union, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA. Map and directions: http://itweb.csus.edu/map/default.asp?location=4#largemap, http://www.csus.edu/pa/directions.html.

February 20, 2005

Comments Needed on Peabody Coal’s Black Mesa Plan

The Office of Surface Mining is accepting comments until Friday, March 4 at 4 pm on Peabody Energy’s plans to expand mining and water extraction at Black Mesa, on Hopi and Navajo land in northern Arizona. In its current application, Peabody seeks to increase the amount of water it will use for mining from 4,400 acre feet per year to 6,000 acre feet a year. For Black Mesa Trust’s sample comment letter to OSM please click here.

Comments can be e-mailed to BMK-EIS@osmre.gov. In your e-mail subject line please write: “BMK-EIS.” For additional details and ideas for comments click here (links to a PDF document).

To view OSM documents about Peabody’s new plan, click here.

December 6, 2004

Read the Sacred Land Film Project’s 2004 Annual Report.

November 22, 2004

Native American Petroglyphs and Ancestral Sites May Be Open to Oil and Gas Drilling in Utah

Nine Mile Canyon in Utah, part of a striking landscape of red rock, cliffs, and valleys, is quickly moving through the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) pipeline for gas and oil drilling. The BLM has already approved the use of sound waves, dynamite, and drilling to document the oil and gas reserves contained in the canyon, paving the way for full-scale industrial development. Now Nine Mile Canyon is included in a draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) for a large area of red rock wilderness. The RMP would allow oil and gas drilling under the surface extending to the canyon bottom, a practice which endangers the canyon’s ancient rock art and remains of native settlements. Often called “the world’s longest art gallery,” Nine Mile Canyon in Utah contains over 10,000 petroglyphs and rock formations left by the Archaic, Fremont, and Ute people thousands of years ago. Recognizing the severity of the threat, the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed Nine Mile Canyon on its 2004 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The area is often described as the location of priceless archaeological sites but to Native people, the importance is spiritual and timeless. “This here is our church,” says Larry Cesspooch, a Ute religious leader. “These cliffs, they’re as high as any cathedral…. They’re what God put here.” Your comments are needed to tell the BLM that their RMP should protect the bottom and sides of Nine Mile Canyon from any drilling or industrial development. Hurry: the comment period ends November 29, 2004! Click here for a sample letter and contact information.

November 11, 2004

Benefit Screening for Winnemem Wintu with Caleen Sisk-Franco, Julia Butterfly Hill and Christopher McLeod

A benefit screening of In the Light of Reverence and a discussion will be held at the Lark Theater, 549 Magnolia Avenue in Larkspur, CA on Thursday, November 11, at 7:30 pm. This event is co-sponsored by the Lark Theater and Kathleen Russell Consulting, and is a benefit to support the Winnemem Wintu efforts to regain tribal recognition and to stop the raising of Shasta Dam near Redding. Also showing will be Christopher McLeod’s 5-minute documentary, Winnemem War Dance at Shasta Dam (see What’s New for November 7th.)
Following the film will be a discussion with Caleen Sisk-Franco, spiritual leader and Tribal Chief of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, of Redding, California, whose struggle to protect sacred sites is portrayed in the film, activist Julia Butterfly Hill of Circle of Life and Christopher McLeod, Director of Earth Island Institute’s Sacred Land Film Project and Producer/Director of In the Light of Reverence.

Currently, the Winnemem Wintu are mounting a major effort to stop the proposed raising of Shasta Dam by 6-200 feet, which would flood the Winnemem’s remaining ancestral territory along the McCloud River south of Mt. Shasta and destroy many of the Tribe’s sacred sites. In September, the tribe held a 4-day war dance to protest the raising of the dam, the first such dance to take place in over 100 years. For more information about this event, click here.

November 7, 2004

Winnemem War Dance to screen at 2004 American Indian Film Festival

Christopher McLeod’s new 5-minute documentary, Winnemem War Dance at Shasta Dam, will screen at the 2004 American Indian Film Festival, Sunday, November 7 at 3:30 pm, at the UA Galaxy Theater, 1285 Sutter Street in San Francisco, CA. A proposal to raise the height of Shasta Dam near Redding threatens to flood Winnemem Wintu sacred sites on the McCloud River. In September 2004, the Winnemem responded with a four-day war dance to spiritually unite the people in their struggle for sovereignty and religious freedom, and their efforts to protect the water, salmon and ceremonial sites.

September 30, 2004

Winnemem Recognition Bill Introduced

Retiring Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R, CO) introduced legislation to restore federal recognition to the Winnemem Wintu Tribe of northern California. The bill is titled “The Winnemem Wintu Tribe Clarification and Restoration Act.” It affirms the tribe’s assertion that they have had an ongoing, unbroken government-to-government relationship with the United States since the 1800s, and finds that “the Tribe should have been included in the 1979 listing of federally recognized California tribes.” Federal recognition will give the Winnemem a seat at the table during discussions of the controversial plan to raise the height of Shasta Dam. To read Sen. Campbell’s proposed bill (S 2879) as published in the Congressional Record click here.

September 30, 2004

Schwarzenegger Signs Sacred Sites Bill

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed SB 18, the sacred sites protection bill entitled Traditional Tribal Cultural Places (Chapter 905, Statutes of 2004). The new law, which takes effect on January 1, 2005, requires consultation between county governments and tribes when counties are adopting or amending general plans or specific plans for major developments, and gives California tribes new tools to protect sacred places, such as being able to hold conservation easements and to include such places in open space designation. Click here to read the text of the bill.

September 7, 2004

Woodruff Butte Lawsuit Affirms Sacred Site Protections

Opponents of sacred site protection have failed again. In our film, In the Light of Reverence, we told the story of an Arizona butte that is sacred to the Hopi and Zuni where mining for gravel has destroyed nine Hopi shrines. The owner of Woodruff Butte teamed up with Mountain States Legal Foundation to argue that Arizona’s Department of Transportation policy banning the use of material mined from the sacred butte in state construction projects represented an endorsement of native religion in violation of the First Amendment establishment clause. On September 1, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that rather than advancing any particular religion, safeguarding Native American sacred sites “has historical value for the nation as a whole.” Judge Betty B. Fletcher wrote: “Native American sacred sites of historical value are entitled to the same protection as the many Judeo-Christian religious sites.” To read the decision click here (links to a PDF document). To read an Indianz.com report click here.

September 4, 2004

D.C. Screening of In the Light of Reverence and Panel Discussion on September 23, During Opening of the National Museum of the American Indian

An afternoon screening of In the Light of Reverence and a panel discussion with Native American leaders Winona LaDuke, Oren Lyons, Henrietta Mann and Caleen Sisk-Franco will be presented during the week of the opening of Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, in Washington D.C., in association with Spirit: The Seventh Fire, a theatrical celebration of American Indian history and identity. The screening and panel discussion will be held from 2 to 5:00 PM on Thursday, September 23 in the tent stage of Spirit: The Seventh Fire, on the Mall in the 14th Street Center Panel near the Washington Monument. Admission is free. To read our press release for additional information please click here.

September 2, 2004

Peabody Plans To Increase Water Depletion at Black Mesa

The environmental and cultural tragedy continues on the Hopi and Navajo reservations in northern Arizona. For over 30 years, Peabody Coal Company has pumped 1.3 billion gallons of pure drinking water from the Navajo Aquifer beneath Black Mesa, to slurry coal to the Mohave Generating Station in Nevada, 273 miles away. In spite of mounting opposition and thousands of comments submitted to the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) in 2002, Peabody (the world’s largest coal company) continues to seek more coal and more water. In July 2004, Peabody submitted a revised application to OSM to combine the Black Mesa Mine into the nearby Kayenta Mine. With this application, Peabody proposes to: increase its coal production by 20%; build a coal washing facility that will use more precious water and fill impoundments used by farmers with toxic materials; take 6,600 acre feet from the Coconino Aquifer which supplies water to many northern Arizona cities; and continue pumping from the Navajo Aquifer through 2008, if not indefinitely. The Office of Surface Mining is accepting public comments on Peabody’s application until October 15, 2004.

To find out what you can do click here.

September 1, 2004

Winnemem War Dance to Protest Raising of Shasta Dam

The Winnemem Wintu will conduct a war dance from September 12 -16, to protest the raising of Shasta Dam, which could flood more of their ancestral lands - including ceremonial sites, ancestral villages and burials. The War Dance is performed when a serious threat to homeland and culture is perceived, and though there have been many threats the dance has not been performed since 1887. The Bureau of Reclamation is studying raising Shasta Dam by between 6 and 200 feet to store more water for the Central Valley and southern California. To find out what you can do click here. For the Winnemem Wintu press release click here.

Read a Redding Record Searchlight op-ed piece about Shasta Dam by Caleen Sisk-Franco (September 6, 2004).

UPDATE (Sept. 14): To read the New York Times War Dance report, click here.

August 20, 2004

Sacred Sites Bill Passed by California State Senate

The California State Senate yesterday passed SB 18, a sacred sites protection bill entitled Traditional Tribal Cultural Places. The vote was 30 to 4. On August 20, bill was sent to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for signature. If he does not veto or sign the bill within 30 days it becomes law. SB 18 requires consultation between county governments and tribes when counties are adopting or amending general plans or specific plans for major developments, and gives California tribes new tools to protect sacred places, such as being able to hold conservation easements and to include such places in open space designation. Click here to read the text of the bill.

August 9, 2004

Sacred Sites Bill Moving Forward in California

The California State Assembly today passed SB 18, a sacred sites protection bill entitled Traditional Tribal Cultural Places, by a vote of 72-4. The state Senate will vote on SB 18 on August 19, and passage is expected. The bill will then go to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for signature. The bill requires consultation between county governments and tribes when counties are adopting or amending general plans or specific plans for major developments, and it gives tribes new tools to protect sacred places in California, such as being able to hold conservation easements and to include such places in open space designation. To read the text of the bill click here.

July 23, 2004

Rahall Attempt to Protect Sacred Sites Voted Down by House

Representative Nick Rahall (D, WV) introduced an amendment to an appropriations bill that would ban federal spending on projects that could undermine Native American sacred sites. The House defeated narrowly the amendment, 215-209. To read an Indian Country Today article about the issue click here.

July 8, 2004

New Threats to Snoqualmie Falls, WA

The Snoqualmie are being broadsided by a triple threat to their Falls. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved a 40-year renewal to Puget Sound Energy’s lease to drain water from the Falls; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is blasting at the rock around the Falls as part of a flood control project; and the City of Snoqualmie recently approved an expansion of the nearby Salish Lodge. The tribe and the Snoqualmie Falls Preservation Project are now developing a strategy to react to these attacks. Initially, they are asking for letters of support sent to the tribe’s office. See our page on Snoqualmie Falls for more information and the address.

July 7, 2004

Western Shoshone Land Claim Settlement Signed by Bush

President George W. Bush today signed into law H.R. 884, the federal government’s long-standing attempt to extinguish aboriginal title to tens of millions of acres of disputed lands in Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California for 15 cents an acre. The land at issue is the third largest gold producing area in the world and is the site of the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. To read a statement by Shoshone activist and elder Carrie Dann and a press release by the Western Shoshone Defense Project, click here.

June 26, 2004

City of Eureka Hands Over 40 Acres of Indian Island to Wiyot Tribe

Eureka - (Times-Standard): “On Friday, nearly 500 people attended the official deed-signing ceremony between the city of Eureka and the Wiyot tribe. Last month, the Eureka City Council unanimously voted to return a portion of the island. Eureka made history by becoming one of only a small number of cities in the United States to return a sacred site to indigenous people.”

For more information, read the full story here.

May 28, 2004

Proposed Strip Mining Threatens 1300 Sacred Sites at Coteau, North Dakota

Coteau Properties Company in Mercer County, North Dakota, plans on expanding an existing coal strip mine, which will destroy approximately 1349 sacred sites, burials and stone effigies, all of which are within the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty territory. The Coteau Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), the environmental analysis for leasing federal coal in Mercer County, ND, was recently released. The deadline for comments on this project is early to mid-July. The Bureau of Land Management is the lead federal agency. The contact people are:

Lee Jefferis, Project Manager
701-227-7713
and
Doug Burger, Field Manager
701-227-7703.

Written comments can be sent to:

Coal Team
Bureau of Land Management
North Dakota Field Office
2933 Third Avenue West
Dickinson, ND 59601.

For more information, read an editorial by Charmaine Whiteface, member of the Oglala band of the Tetuwan Oceti Sakowin and Coordinator of Defenders of the Black Hills, published in the Sioux Falls Argus on February 22, 2004.

The Bureau of Land Management is also hosting the following public meetings in North Dakota:

June 1, 6:30-8:30 pm, Four Bears Casino & Lodge, New Town, ND
June 2, 6:30-8:30 pm, Civic Center (120 7th Ave NE) Beulah, ND
June 3, 6:30-8:30 pm, Prairie Knights Casino, Fort Yates, ND

May 27, 2004

Western Shoshone Distribution Bill Scheduled for June 1st Vote

Despite heavy protests by Western Shoshone tribal councils and traditional people, the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill (S 618/HR 884) will go before the House Representatives on June 1st. The largest tribe of the Western Shoshone came out yesterday with a powerful message to Congress and a hand-delivered a unanimous tribal council resolution objecting to the Distribution Bill, which proposes a settlement to the Western Shoshone in a forced buyout of their ancestral lands in Crescent Valley, NV. The lands at issue are the third largest gold producing area in the world, cited as the next “Saudi Arabia” of geothermal energy production and home to the Nevada Test Site, where the Bush Administration has been hinting at renewed full scale nuclear testing, and the proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository. To speak out against the passage of this bill, contact your local Representatives (House receptionist: 202-224-3121), Speaker of the House, J. Dennis Hastert, 202-225-0600, and Majority Leader Tom DeLay, 202-225-4000. Read more about Yucca Mountain and threats to Western Shoshone land.

May 24, 2004

Winnemem Wintu Still Fighting for Tribal Recognition

The Winnemem Wintu continue their determined struggle for the restoration of federal recognition. Representatives of the northern California tribe assert that they have long been recognized by the U.S. government, and their lack of that official status now is simply the result of being mysteriously dropped from the BIA list of recognized tribes in the late 1980s. Federal recognition would help them fight the raising of Shasta Dam, which would cause the McCloud River to back up further and drown what remains of the Winnemem’s traditional homeland. Click here to read an excellent Associated Press story from May 22.

May 18, 2004

Eureka City Council Returns Wiyot Land

In northern California, the Eureka City Council voted by unanimous consent to approve the return of a portion of Indian Island north of the Samoa Bridge on Highway 255 to the Wiyot People of the Table Bluff Reservation. At a very emotional meeting, United Indian Health Services representatives Jerry Simone and Maria Tripp spoke of the healing — not only of the Wiyot, but the entire community of Eureka and Humboldt County as well — which will come from this historic action. After 145 years, the Wiyot descendents of the massacre that occurred on a fatal night in 1860 will be able to once again hold their World Renewal Ceremony on Indian Island. To learn more about the 1860 massacre that almost wiped out the Wiyot tribe, read Bill Kowinski’s poignant story from the San Francisco Chronicle of February 28, 2004.

May 11, 2004

Native American Alliance to Protect Indian Burial Mounds
Demonstration of Unity Scheduled for July 2004

Ancient burial mounds and earthworks in Ohio are being destroyed and damaged and human remains have been dug up and stored in a warehouse. The Octagon Mounds near Newark, Ohio were leveled to build a private country club and golf course. The public and Indian groups are only allowed on the property on four golf-free days during the year. For more information about the July 4th demonstration or to make a donation, contact John Beckett, 740-435-8471, naeda50@hotmail.com, or John Wills, 330-339-5359, redhawk@tusco.net, or visit the Native Earthworks Preservation Group website.

April 21, 2004

Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, told the 12th U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development: "Communities must declare all water sources as sacred sites." Read the Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus Statements as presented at the U.N.

April 2, 2004

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats Reject William Myers

Thanks to everyone who contacted their elected representatives to oppose the nomination of William Myers to the 9th Circuit. Today the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Myers out of committee for consideration by the full Senate by a vote of 10-9. All nine Democrats on the Committee voted against the nomination. While the party line vote still means that the full Senate will now consider Myers’ nomination, the vote sends a strong message to the other Senate Democrats and sets up the probability of another filibuster. You can read Senator Patrick Leahy’s statement here and Senator Diane Feinstein’s here. Further information on Myers, including the Alliance for Justice report on his record can be found at Independent Judiciary. Please contact your Senator to oppose the Myers nomination. For alerts already prepared on-line and ready to send to your Senators, please visit The Alliance for Justice or Earthjustice.

March 23, 2004

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Protection of Rainbow Bridge

In another victory for sacred site protection on National Park lands, a federal appeals court ruled that non-Indians seeking access to Rainbow Bridge cannot sue the National Park Service for violation of constitutional rights. On March 23, 2004, a three-judge panel for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said that the plaintiffs did not show that they were harmed by their lack of access. Currently, signs at Rainbow Bridge request that visitors not walk under or near the bridge due to Native American religious practices. This suit is part of an ongoing effort by the Mountain States Legal Foundation to fight National Park Service policies which request that visitors respect certain sacred areas. MSLF also fought the voluntary climbing ban at Devils Tower in Wyoming. For more information, see the March 31, 2004 Indianz.com article and the court’s decision.

February 10, 2004

Phone Calls Needed to New Mexico Governor Richardson

Activists won a huge victory in October 2003 when citizens of Albuquerque voted down a street bond measure by a 55-45% margin (see below). This vote ensured that there would be no money available for the construction of Paseo Del Norte and Unser Blvd., which threaten to bisect Petroglyph National Monument. Now, New Mexico State Senator Joseph Carraro is mounting a campaign to get Governor Bill Richardson to fund the construction of Paseo Del Norte. Calls are needed to Gov. Richardson to ask him to oppose the funding for the Paseo Del Norte road. Please call Governor Richardson today at 505-476-2200. Tell him to oppose funding for a road through the petroglyphs! Native American religious values and beliefs should be respected in the state of New Mexico.

February 9, 2004

Letters Needed to Oppose the Judicial Nomination of William Myers

An intense fight is underway to prevent the confirmation of former mining industry lobbyist and Interior Department Solicitor William Myers to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Myers was instrumental in overturning the Clinton administration decision to protect Indian Pass in California from a massive open-pit gold mine that would decimate a landscape long held sacred by the Quechan people. On February 5, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Myers’ nomination. More than 100 environmental, American Indian, civil rights, women’s rights and labor groups oppose Myers’ nomination. Senators at the hearing noted the unprecedented number of groups and breadth of opposition to this nominee. Please contact your Senators and urge them to vote against Myers’ confirmation. For alerts already prepared on-line and ready to send to your Senators, please visit The Alliance for Justice or Earthjustice. For details, read coverage of this issue by the New York Times and Los Angeles Times.

February 1, 2004

Scoping Comments Needed for NASA’s Mauna Kea EIS

NASA is preparing an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) to determine the potential impacts of building up to 6 new telescopes on the sacred summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawai'i. Mauna Kea is perhaps the most sacred site to Native Hawaiians. The volcanic peak serves as the zenith of the Hawaiian people’s ancestral connection to the spirit of creation. The deadline for written comments is February 16, 2004. For an on-line action alert with suggested text already prepared by Hawaiian activists please click here. Comments can be provided in writing or electronically to:

Office of Space Science Code SZ
NASA Headquarters
300 E Street, SW
Washington D.C. 20546-0001
otpeis@nasa.gov (please cc: kahea-alliance@hawaii.rr.com)

For a full, detailed list of suggested scoping comments and concerns click here.

For more information: KAHEA, The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance.

January 14, 2004

Controversial Shooting Range Near Bear Butte Defeated!

Plans for a proposed shooting range near the sacred vision-questing site know as Bear Butte in South Dakota have been dropped in the face of strong opposition by native activists. Charmaine White Face, coordinator for the Defenders of the Black Hills, said prayers and a lot of hard work led the developers to abandon the controversial proposal: “Thank you to all of you for your prayers, support, and encouragement. This could not have been accomplished without all of us working together.” To read more click here.

December 31, 2003

Read the Sacred Land Film Project’s 2003 Annual Report.

December 24, 2003

Check Out Our New Map: Sacred Places Around the World

Our next film will feature struggles to protect sacred places in countries around the world. As part of our initial research and development, we are expanding our project focus to include site reports on some of the well known sacred places around the world. Additional lesser known site profiles will be appearing regularly in the months ahead, so stay tuned! Check out our new map of the world, and find site profiles on Uluru in Australia, Machu Picchu in Peru, The Ganges River in India, Mt. Kailash in Tibet, Mt. Kenya and Jerusalem.

December 18, 2003

Calvert Demands Calpine Stop Medicine Lake Development

The controversy over geothermal development in the sacred Medicine Lake Highlands in northereast California is heating up as public pressure for corporate responsibility grows. Calvert Social Investment Fund has filed a shareholder resolution demanding that the Calpine Corporation, “cease and desist development in the Medicine Lake Highlands.” In the same resolution, Calvert further insists that Calpine “develop, implement, and make public a formal written policy on the rights of indigenous peoples by September 01, 2004.” Read the shareholder resolution text, and the press release announcing the resolution.

December 9, 2003

Glamis Seeks $50 Million in NAFTA Damages

Glamis Imperial, the Canadian goldmining company, has served notice that it will seek to use NAFTA and UNCITRAL (United Nationas Commission on International Trade Law) to challenge through international arbitration a U.S. Interior Department decision that has hindered a Glamis open pit gold mining project because it would have damaged Quechan Indian Pass, a culturally sensitive site in southeast California. Glamis is also claiming that the state of California expropriated $50 million by passing environmental legislation in early 2003 requiring backfilling of open pit mines. Read the text of Glamis’s Notice of Intent to File.

December 1, 2003

World Bank Grant Program

The World Bank recently launched a new facility to provide small grants ($10,000 to $30,000) directly to indigenous peoples. The deadline for the first round of grants is December 15th 2003, and proposals will be reviewed in January 2004. Click here to read the call for the first round of proposals. Sacred sites, intellectual property rights and the mapping of indigenous peoples’ territories are all mentioned in the guidelines. Click here to read additional grant information (including Spanish and French versions).

November 22, 2003

In Memoriam: Florence Jones (1907-2003)

We have been asked to report the sad news that Winnemem Wintu elder Florence Jones passed away this morning at the age of 96. Seven days shy of her 97th birthday, the "top doctor" of the Wintu was at home surrounded by family at the time of her passing. It has been a privilege and an honor to work with Florence over the last twelve years. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Winnemem, who are mourning the loss of a great healer and caretaker of sacred places on and around Mt. Shasta. Florence’s strength will surely live on as the wonderful people she taught and healed carry on the Wintu traditions. To read obituaries from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle, click here.

October 29, 2003

A Victory for Petroglyphs!

This just in from the SAGE Council in Albuquerque: "We won! We’re still in shock, as we’ve lost so many battles, but this was a HUGE victory for all of us and for sacred places across this earth. The final count was 52% - 48% against the Street Bonds. Thank you to all who’ve sent us prayers, money and time." The defeat of the bond measure means that Petroglyph National Monument will be protected from highway construction for at least two years.

October 9, 2003

Activists Fighting Bond Measure to Pave Roads Through Petroglyphs

For fifteen years, native activists in Albuquerque have been fighting a proposed commuter highway which would cut through the middle of Petroglyph National Monument, a Native American sacred area still used for religious practice. Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez is seeking funding for the road via Albuquerque’s Street Bond election measure on October 28. The real estate development industry has raised $150,000 to push the bond measure and activists are trying to raise $100,000 by October 16 to put a television ad on the air. Please donate on-line at Stop Tax Waste or mail your check to P.O. Box 27733, Albuquerque, NM 87125. Thank you for your support!

October 3, 2003

Two Screenings and Special Events in Denver, Colorado

Sacred Lands Forum at National Preservation Conference
October 3 — 1:30 to 5 PM

An afternoon panel discussion on Native American Sacred Lands will take place as part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s annual conference in Denver, Colorado, on Friday, October 3, from 1:30 to 5 PM. A two-hour dialogue will follow a screening of In the Light of Reverence. The panel will include moderator Chris Peters (Pohlik-lah/Karuk), Executive Director of Seventh Generation Fund, Vine Deloria, Jr., Lakota scholar and author of God Is Red, For This Land, and Custer Died for Your Sins, Bambi Kraus (Tlingit), President of the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, Arden Kucate, Zuni Tribal Councilman, Andrew Gulliford, author of Sacred Objects and Sacred Places, and Director of the Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College, and Christopher McLeod, Director of the Sacred Land Film Project and producer of In the Light of Reverence. For more information, click here.

Denver Museum of Nature and Science
October 3 — 7 to 10 PM

The award-winning documentary In the Light of Reverence will be screened at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on October 3, at 7 PM. The screening will be followed by a question and answer session with four Native Americans who are featured in the film: Vernon Masayesva (Hopi), former Hopi Tribal Chairman, now Executive Director of Black Mesa Trust, who is fighting to get the Department of Interior and Peabody Coal Company to respect Hopi sacred sites and springs in Arizona, Caleen Sisk-Franco (Winnemem Wintu), a ceremonial leader with responsibility for Mt. Shasta in California, Vine Deloria, Jr., (Lakota) renowned author and scholar who takes a special interest in the conflict over Devils Tower in Wyoming, and Chris Peters (Pohlik-lah/Karuk), Executive Director of Seventh Generation Fund, an activist involved in sacred land struggles for 25 years. For more information, click here.

September 18, 2003

In Rapid City, South Dakota: Benefit Screening of In the Light of Reverence and Discussion with Julia Butterfly Hill, Winona LaDuke & Christopher McLeod

Join us at the historic Elks Theatre for a screening of In the Light of Reverence followed by a discussion with Native American author Winona LaDuke, forest activist Julia Butterfly Hill and filmmaker Christopher McLeod. Proceeds benefit Defenders of the Black Hills, local activists fighting to stop the clear-cutting of the remaining wilderness areas in the sacred hills. For more information about this event, click here.

September 13, 2003

Traditional Tribal Cultural Site Bill Fails in CA State Assembly

In one of the last actions of the California Senate Assembly before adjourning for the year, SB18 – the Traditional Tribal Cultural Site Bill, failed to get enough votes to pass in the Assembly. Senator John Burton (D, San Francisco), kept the legislature in session until 1:30 AM in hopes of passing the bill, which would have established a Traditional Tribal Cultural Site (TTCS) Register. The proposed legislation was an amendment to an existing law that established the state’s Native American Heritage Commission. It would have authorized the commission to bring legal action to prevent severe and irreparable damage to (and ensure access for California Indians to) a Native American sanctified cemetery, place of worship, religious or ceremonial site, or sacred shrine located on public property. To see the full bill text, click here.

September 10, 2003

World Parks Congress Addresses Sacred Natural Sites

Thousands of delegates from around the world gathered in Durban, South Africa, for the Vth World Parks Congress, to discuss the 12% of the Earth’s surface that is now officially considered “protected areas” of one kind or another—from national parks to community conserved areas. In the Light of Reverence was screened as part of a special evening program on The Spiritual Dimension of Parks. Read the Durban Recommendations on the Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas (download the pdf file and then see V.13 on pages 168-170).

Many of the Powerpoint presentations from the congress are available for downloading (you need to scroll to the bottom of the page)

September 8, 2003

Now Available to Download! Introducing The Sacred Land Reader

The Sacred Land Reader, a 92-page collection of essays on Native American sacred places, is now available to download from our website. The Sacred Land Reader compiles some of the best essays from last 10 years exploring the meaning and importance of sacred lands. Featured are Sacred Lands and Religious Freedom by Lakota scholar Vine Deloria, Jr., and Sacred Places of Native America — A Primer to Accompany the Film In the Light of Reverence, by U.C.L.A. anthropologist Peter Nabokov. Click here to download the 92 pages in pdf format, or click here to view the Table of Contents.

August 4, 2003

Zuni Salt Lake Has Been Saved!

The Salt River Project (SRP) of Phoenix, Arizona has announced that it will relinquish all permits and coal leases for the proposed Fence Lake coal stripmine, which threatened to devastate the sacred Zuni Salt Lake and surrounding Sanctuary Area in New Mexico. SRP claims in a press release that it has found a cleaner, more economical source of coal in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, but the Zuni Tribe and the Zuni Salt Lake Coalition can rest assured that their intense, well-organized, and spiritually-based opposition to the 18,000 acre industrial disaster was the real reason SRP is pulling the plug on the coal mine. Congratulations to everyone who worked on this important victory! To read more, click here.

July 11, 2003

Rock Climbing Banned at Cave Rock at Lake Tahoe

The U.S. Forest Service announced it would ban rock climbing at Cave Rock on the southeastern shore of Lake Tahoe in Nevada, calling the site a cultural resource worthy of protection. The decision, eight years in the making, was signed by Maribeth Gustafson, forest supervisor of the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. The Washoe Tribe considers the volcanic formation a sacred site that has historical and cultural significance to the Washoe people, including religious rituals that were practiced there until 1965. Gustafson said she weighed the decision like she would any other, backed by guidelines that exist in the forest plan and that it is no different than other resource decisions she makes on behalf of the American public. The Forest Service said it expects the decision will be appealed. If not appealed, the ban would take effect September 2nd. Click here to read more.

July 1, 2003

Western Shoshone Land Claim Distribution Bill

On June 18, the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill (H.R. 884) was heard before the House Committee on Resources. The bill proposes a controversial one-time land claim settlement to the Western Shoshone in a forced buyout of their ancestral lands in Crescent Valley, NV — land now worth billions to gold mining companies and developers. The U.S. continues to treat Western Shoshone land as public land, allowing mining, military testing and preparation of a high-level nuclear waste storage facility in Yucca Mountain. Since last September, the Department of the Interior has forcibly removed hundreds of cows and horses from Western Shoshone grazing lands in the Crescent Valley area. If the bill, which has the strong support of the Nevada Congressional delegation, is passed by the House Committee, it will go before the U.S. House of Representatives for a full House vote. Native activists and attorneys warn that payment of the land claim would extinguish Western Shoshone aboriginal title to most of Nevada. For further information, visit the Western Shoshone Defense Project website, or click here to read a June 27 editorial in Indian Country Today.

June 16, 2003

National Day of Prayer for Sacred Places — June 20, 2003

The Sacred Places Protection Coalition will observe Friday, June 20, 2003 as a National Day of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Places. Observances will be held on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol from sunrise to midday and in at least 10 other locations around the country including Phoenix, Albuquerque, Boulder, Sacramento, New York, and several sites along the Missouri River. For more information, please read this press release issued by the Morningstar Institute.

Senate Oversight Hearing — June 18, 2003

On Wednesday, June 18 the Senate Indian Affairs Committee will hold the third in a series of oversight hearings on the failure of federal agencies to protect sacred places. The hearing is in Senate Russell Building’s SR-485. Testimony will focus on Medicine Lake (CA), Ocmulgee Old Fields (GA), Medicine Wheel (WY) and Bear Butte (SD). You can watch and listen live on-line at 10am east coast time at http://Indian.senate.gov. (You need Real One Player to join the hearing on-line and we recommend that you download it for free before the hearing starts.)

June 11, 2003

Legislation Re-Introduced to Protect Sacred Lands

Rep. Nick Rahall (D, WV) has re-introduced The Native American Sacred Lands Act (H.R. 2419), to counter growing threats to holy places like Medicine Lake, Zuni Salt Lake and Indian Pass. The bill would create a process by which Native Americans can petition federal land management agencies to withdraw sacred lands from development, and go to court to seek protection if the land managers fail to protect culturally significant places. Rahall is the ranking Democrat on the House Resources Committee, and the bill’s future is uncertain. The draft legislation is not perfect but it is an important first step, and along with the oversight hearings currently underway in the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, H.R. 2419 demonstrates that enforceable sacred land protection is once again a Congressional priority. Concerned citizens should keep the pressure on! Write your Representatives and ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 2419 and hold hearings to seek additional input from Native American leaders to make The Native American Sacred Lands Act a strong and effective law. To read Rahall’s press release click here.

In contrast, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R, CO), Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, introduced the Indian Contracting and Federal Land Management Demonstration Project Act (S. 288) on February 4, 2003. One of this bill’s stated purposes is "to prevent significant damage to Indian sacred land" and if passed it would mandate co-management of some Native American sacred sites on public land. The legislation creates a program to provide $100,000 planning grants to Indian tribes to prepare for co-management of sacred places with the federal agencies on whose land the sites are located.

June 5, 2003

California Coastal Act Amendment Passed by State Assembly

In the first step towards reactivating a state sacred lands bill, the California State Assembly passed AB 974. The bill provides for the planning and regulation of development within the coastal zone, and would require an area containing a sacred site identified in consultation with the Native American Heritage Commission and appropriate local Native Americans, to be protected against significant disruption. The bill now goes to the State Senate Appropriation Committee.

May 29, 2003

Zuni Salt Lake is one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places

The National Trust for Historic Preservation today announced its new list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. Topping the list are two landscapes sacred to native peoples: Zuni Salt Lake in New Mexico, which is threatened by the Salt River Project’s proposed coal stripmine, and Ocmulgee Old Fields, a national monument in Georgia, where ancestral mounds may soon be destroyed by highway construction. For more information see our pages on Zuni Salt Lake and Ocmulgee Old Fields, or check out our map of endangered sacred lands (currently threatened) and our map of historic sacred places (where conflicts have been essentially resolved and lessons learned).

May 23, 2003

Native Activists Call for Boycott of South Dakota

Seventh Generation Fund and the Yankton Sioux Nation are calling for a boycott of the state of South Dakota due to the ongoing desecration of Indian burials at the North Point Recreation Area. South Dakota is preparing for the Lewis and Clark Bi-Centennial Celebration by sprucing up parks along the Missouri River but native people have long warned of the presence of numerous burials and sacred places. Human remains have been scattered around the park in landfill and the Yankton have set up a protest camp. To read our entire Action Alert on this situation, and what you can do to help, please click here.

May 15, 2003

Cherokee Woman Guilty of Trespassing & Praying on Ohio Golf Course

A Canton, Ohio court has dismissed an appeal by Barbara Crandell, a Cherokee woman who has been convicted of trespassing on ancient Indian Mounds at the Moundbuilders Country Club golf course. Ms. Crandell has prayed at the site for 20 years, and argues that the land is public. The ruling by the 5th Ohio District Court of Appeals states that Ms. Crandell “has not shown that a constitutional right exists to permit exercise of her wishes to utilize private property as she chooses.” In June 2002, Crandell went to pray at the Octagon Earthworks, which was built around 250 A.D. by the Hopewell culture. The Ohio Historical Society owns the site and has leased it to the Moundbuilders Country Club, which prosecuted Crandell because members of the public are not allowed to walk on the site when golfers are playing.

April 20, 2003

Calvert to Remove Calpine from Socially Responsible Company List

Calvert’s Social Research Department has recommended that the mutual fund no longer invest in Calpine, due to the company’s aggressive pursuit of geothermal energy at Medicine Lake, a vision-questing area for the Pit River Tribe in northern California. Calvert’s Social Index Committee will act at their quarterly meeting in June on the recommendation to delete Calpine from the Calvert Social Index because the company does not meet the Social Analysis Criteria for Calvert’s progressive indigenous peoples’ rights screen. Calvert Social Investment Fund currently holds 41,000 shares of Calpine. For information contact Calvert’s Director for Corporate Communications, Elizabeth Laurienzo at 301-657-7047.

April 18, 2003

Bush’s New Assault on Sacred Lands

Read Sacred Land Film Project Director Christopher McLeod’s two-page report on current threats to sacred places in the latest issue of Earth Island Journal.

April 15, 2003

Quechan Indian Pass Reprieved

In a landslide vote of 63-5, the California State Assembly passed, and Governor Gray Davis signed, SB 22, legislation that will require Glamis Gold Ltd. to fully restore a proposed open-pit gold mine at Indian Pass after mining is completed. The California desert site contains ancient rock carvings and pottery shards and is used for religious ceremonies by members of the Quechan Indian Nation, who for centuries have run from the Colorado River through Indian Pass for spiritual cleansing and prayer. Glamis has stated that the reclamation requirement will make the mine uneconomical. As he signed the new legislation, Governor Davis said: “We are sending a message that sacred sites are more important than gold.” For more information on SB 22 see the following:

SB 22 Chaptered Bill Text
From http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/acsframeset2text.htm
2003-2004 Senate Session, SB 22: Surface mining and reclamation.
Author: Sen. Byron Sher (D, Palo Alto).

Governor Davis Signs Bill to Protect Quechan Indian Pass
James May, Indian Country Today — 4/14/03
From http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1050332327

Governor Davis Signs Mining Bill
Steve Lawrence, Associated Press — 4/7/03

California Passes Complete Backfill Bill to Protect Quechan Indian Pass
Press Release issued by Quechan Tribe — 4/7/03

March 5, 2003

Quechan Indian Pass and Medicine