Feinstein Embarrassed on Shasta Dam
Secret negotiations are fascinating to behold, especially when the fate of a Native American tribe hangs in the balance, not to mention the California environment. The 2015 window is closing for…
Please Don’t Flood My Cathedral
I was having some fun last week writing a letter of protest to Senator Barbara Boxer with water scientist Peter Gleick and Winnemem Chief Caleen Sisk. Ideas and questions were flying back and forth…
Open Letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer
On October 29, 2015, the following letter was delivered to Senator Barbara Boxer. Led by Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk, an array of notable allies ask Senator Boxer to amend the California…
Shasta Dam Threatens Winnemem
California Senator Dianne Feinstein and the Westlands Water District are teaming up to deliver yet another wave of water wealth to corporate farmers and campaign contributors in central and southern…
Dr. O’Connor’s Tar Sands Dilemma
Alarming news from Alberta, Canada: Dr. John O’Connor has been fired by the Ft. Chipewyan health clinic—with no explanation, no cause given, effective immediately. O’Connor is the family physician…
Hopi and Zuni Visit Bears Ears in Utah
Back in the 1980s, when I was younger—and more limber—I led 20 week-long backpacking trips in the canyon country of southern Utah. In the Cedar Mesa area, south of Canyonlands National Park, every…
Koch Brothers Leased 2 Million Tar Sands Acres
In March 2014 there was a brief media dust-up after the Washington Post reported that the Koch brothers were the largest leaseholders of tar sands acreage, having leased 1.1 million acres. The Post…
Tar Sands Protests Then and Now
I’m headed to Dartmouth at the invitation of old friend Terry Tempest Williams, to show Profit and Loss and Islands of Sanctuary on Wednesday. Terry has hiked the area of eastern Utah where…
Report From Four Corners
In early February, I made a pilgrimage back to the Four Corners area to visit old friends at Zuni and Hopi, to show some films, and to find out about sacred site battles old and new. Tops on everyone’s mind is the proposal to build a resort hotel…
Taos Pueblo Tribe Regains Ownership of Sacred Hot Springs
As the sun set on the annual Taos Pueblo Powwow in Taos, N.M., on July 14, representatives of the Taos Land Trust, surrounded by dancers and tribal members from across the country, officially returned a sacred hot springs property to the Taos Pueblo Tribe…