Four Obama Administration Cabinet secretaries have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on sacred site policies over the next five years — pledging to improve protection of sacred sites.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our year-end funding appeal! Thanks to YOU we reached our $25,000 matching donation goal! We appreciate your continued support of Standing on Sacred Ground. Your contribution enables us to continue with the post-production of our four-part documentary series on sacred places in the United States and around the world. With your help [...]

Month after month in early 2012, the Winnemem WIntu organized protests and letter-writing campaigns demanding the closure of a stretch of the McCloud River in California. They were requesting the river closure from the U.S. Forest Service so the tribe could hold a coming-of-age ceremony for the young woman

On September 12, delegates attending the World Conservation Congress in Jeju, South Korea, voted overwhelmingly to approve a motion aimed at strengthening protection for sacred places.

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.

In the face of threats and violence from a Chinese mining company and local authorities, a small village’s year-long effort to stop a gold mining project on the slopes of one of Tibet’s holiest mountains finally paid off, perhaps with a little help from the mountain.

The annual Qoyllurit’i pilgrimage of Peru’s Q’eros and other indigenous groups and the traditional knowledge of the jaguar shamans of Yuruparí in Colombia are among the cultural heritage “elements” added to UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage lists.

Satish Kumar brings a Hindu, Buddhist and Jain perspective to the definition of “sacred place.” For Satish, a UK-based writer, pilgrim and editor of Resurgence magazine, all of the Earth is the home of a divine, life-giving force so vast, mysterious and expansive that it is incomprehensible.

About 15 percent of the world’s surface, much of it forest, is “sacred land,” according to a team of Oxford University scientists working on a project to scientifically measure the coverage of religious and sacred land around the globe and assess its biodiversity and land-use values.

After a 98-day on-site prayer vigil, the Committee to Protect Glen Cove yesterday announced a victory in its struggle to protect the sacred burial grounds of Sogorea Te/Glen Cove.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar yesterday announced a six-month extension of a temporary moratorium on new uranium mining claims in a million-acre buffer zone around the Grand Canyon, while the Interior Department considers implementing a 20-year ban.

Earlier this month, leaders of Peru’s indigenous Q’eros people effectively blocked geneticists from collecting DNA samples from their community as part of National Geographic’s ongoing Genographic Project, which has been gathering DNA from people around the world.

When we filmed in the spectacular Altai Republic of Russia in 2007, U.K. native Joanna Dobson kindly helped us with translation. Joanna is fluent in Russian and has moved to the Altai to work on various projects to help preserve traditional culture and protect sacred sites. Joanna reports on her work via a great website [...]

In February, an SLFP team attended a two-day workshop led by Google’s Rebecca Moore and the Google Earth Outreach team aptly titled, “mapping environmental scenarios & solutions with Google technology.”

Citing environmental concerns, a Brazilian judge has halted construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam on the Xingu River in the Amazon rain forest. If constructed, it would destroy a vast area of forest and displacing tens of thousands, including tribal people.

Last week the US joined the international community and became the last nation to adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Australia ratified the declaration in 2009, New Zealand ratified it earlier this year, and Canada followed in November.

A crowd of 200 Anangu traditional owners, along with tourists and officials, recently gathered at the base of Australia’s iconic sandstone monolith Uluru to commemorate the 25th anniversary of its return to the traditional custodians.

New Mexico’s Taos Pueblo community recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of the return of their sacred Blue Lake after 64 years under federal government control. Hundreds gathered Sept. 17 and 18 to commemorate this precedent-setting victory for religious freedom and sacred-land protection.

A Hawaiian marine national monument known for both its abundant and unique aquatic species and its significance to Native Hawaiians has become the United States’ first new UNESCO World Heritage site in 15 years and its first to be recognized as a mixed cultural-natural property.

In one of the largest repatriations of Native American ceremonial artifacts in U.S. history, the Smithsonian Institution has returned 217 sacred items to California’s Yurok tribe. Meanwhile, the Ohlone people are seeking to protect their sacred sites around a proposed redevelopment project in San Francisco.

In a major victory for indigenous land rights, India’s environment minster on Aug. 24 struck down a controversial mining project in eastern Orissa state that would have threatened the survival of the 8,000-member Dongria Kondh tribe.

After a two-day court hearing, the traditional custodians of Phiphidi Waterfall last week won an injunction to halt the construction of a tourist resort at their sacred site for 20 days, allowing them to prepare for further legal action. The Ramunangi clan, in South Africa’s Limpopo Province, has been waging a years-long battle to protect [...]

With the U.S. Department of Energy’s March 3 withdrawal of a license application to build a high-level nuclear waste dump under Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, the long-contested project is at last on its way to being closed.

In January, the U.N. released its first-ever report on the “State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples,” which presents a global view of the current situation of indigenous peoples, examining poverty and well-being, culture, education, health, human rights, environment and emerging issues.

Reversing an earlier U.S. district court decision permitting Barrick Gold Corp. to proceed with plans for a massive open-pit gold mine at Nevada’s Mount Tenabo, a federal appeals court ordered a preliminary injunction against the mine.

A Department of Interior administrative law judge has overturned Peabody Coal Co.’s life-of-mine permit for operations at Black Mesa on Navajo-Hopi land in Arizona. The controversial permit was granted by the Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining in the final days of the Bush administration and was appealed by native activists and environmental organizations. [...]

Guardians meeting at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona in October 2008 issued a statement on protecting sacred sites. After review and editing, the final version is now available for download.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the occupation of Alcatraz by the Indians of All Tribes, perhaps one of the most significant acts of activism conducted by Native Americans to date. Led by Mohawk activist Richard Oakes,  Indians from diverse tribes across the country occupied Alcatraz for 19 months from Nov. 20, 1969 to [...]

In recent months we’ve been hard at work bringing some of our older site reports up to date, and we’re pleased to report that a few of these sacred sites have come a step closer toward preservation

A decades-long effort to save Stonehenge from the damaging effects of automobile traffic and restore the integrity of its surrounding landscape is now a significant step closer to fruition.

Australia has established two globally significant conservation reserves on indigenous lands in the Northern Territory. Spanning nearly 1.4 million hectares on the Arnhem Land Plateau, Warddeken Indigenous protected area adjacent to the Kakadu National Park was declared Sept. 24. A day later, hundreds gathered at Rocky Point on Boucaut Bay about 310 miles east of [...]

The utility company PacifiCorp has agreed to a proposal to remove four hydroelectric dams that for decades have blocked salmon migration on the Klamath River in Oregon and California. The Sept. 30 announcement marked a major step forward in a sometimes bitter decade-long negotiation process between PacifiCorp, federal and state governments, Native American tribes, fishermen, [...]

SLFP congratulates youth filmmakers from the Swinomish Tribe for the national debut of the documentary film March Point on PBS November 18, 2008. Cody Cayou, Nick Clark, and Travis Tom worked with the Native Lens program to document the impact of oil refineries on their ancestral land in Washington state. Tribal members continue to fish [...]

We applaud the United Nations’ passage of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and congratulate the many, many indigenous elders and activists who collaborated over decades to enshrine these fundamental human rights in international law. However, in the spirit of dialogue and debate we offer these thoughts on the removal of the words [...]

The UN General Assembly passed the controversial Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by a majority vote of 144 to 4 with 11 abstentions. The Declaration protects the rights of indigenous peoples to determine their own social and economic development and practice their cultural and religious traditions. It prohibits discrimination and political disenfranchisement of [...]

A Federal Court of Appeals has upheld the U.S. Forest Service’s ban on climbing Cave Rock, a sacred site on the shore of Lake Tahoe. Cave Rock is a 360-foot high, 800-foot wide dome sacred to the Washoe as a home for spirits that have medicinal powers. The area supports many recreational uses, including hiking [...]

Today, Brazil formally set aside 125,000 acres of richly biodiverse rainforest as Yanawawa native territory, protecting the sacred land from deforestation and further resource development. The land is sacred to the community, not least because several burial sites are located in that swathe of pristine forest. Aveda Corporation, an American cosmetics and health products company, [...]

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) endorsed new sacred land protection legislation at their mid-year meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, which was held June 10-13. Resolution #ANC-07-020 calls for a strong “cause of action” to allow Native American tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations to litigate in court to protect threatened sacred sites, and calls on [...]

The operators of Arizona Snowbowl ski resort on the sacred San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona, cannot use treated sewage water to make snow, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today. In a unanimous decision, the judges said there is no evidence that denying the operators of the Snowbowl the ability to use [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. Sacred sites, intellectual property rights and the mapping of indigenous peoples’ territories are all mentioned in the [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

The California State Assembly today voted 53-12 in favor of SB 1828, the sacred lands protection bill authored by State Senator John Burton (D, San Francisco). It was a strong bipartisan vote-with 10 Republicans voting for the bill-and it shows that lawmakers are serious about protecting the sacred places of California’s indigenous people. Governor Gray [...]

Readers of the San Francisco Chronicle awoke Monday morning to a front page headline “Tribes Wager Newfound Clout on Sacred Land,” and Tuesday morning they drove to work and heard KQED-FM’s Forum program devote an hour to a sacred land protection bill that passed the California State Senate in June and will be considered by [...]

Rep. Nick Rahall (D, WV) has introduced The Native American Sacred Lands Act (H.R. 5155, to counter growing threats to holy places like Quechan Indian Pass and Zuni Salt Lake. 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 [...]

A landmark agreement between a corporation, a nonprofit agency and the federal government has been reached that will protect Weatherman Draw from current oil drilling leases. The Anschutz Exploration Corporation has turned over its leases to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which will hold the leases until they expire, and the Bureau of Land [...]

On the slopes of the San Francisco Peaks, north of Flagstaff, Arizona, a 100-foot deep mine pit yields volcanic pumice, a soft white rock used to make stonewashed jeans. For the last three years a determined coalition led by the Sierra Club and thirteen Native American tribes who hold the Peaks sacred have waged a [...]