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July 3, 2008
ACTION ALERT: Peabody Coal Wants to Reopen the Black Mesa Mine — Comment Letters due by July 7 — Please help!
After a 30-year battle, Nevada’s Mohave Power Plant was closed in December 2005 for air quality violations, which stopped the aquifer and spring-destroying coal slurry pipeline and also shut down Peabody’s Black Mesa Mine. (Peabody’s second stripmine on Black Mesa, the Kayenta Mine, continued operations, and still fuels the Page Power Plant on Lake Powell.) Peabody and the US Office of Surface Mining (OSM) prepared an EIS last year because the Black Mesa Mine has been operating with a temporary permit for 30 years and now has no way to move coal. Peabody and OSM pushed hard for “Alternative A,” which would have tapped a new water source, the Coconino Aquifer, near Flagstaff. Public opposition stopped that bad idea. Now, with a new “energy crisis” in full swing, OSM and Peabody have suddenly announced a change in strategy and are pushing to re-open the Black Mesa Mine. The Hopi and Navajo need your comment letter by July 7.
The Office of Surface Mining (OSM) quietly re-activated the Black Mesa Project (BMP) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) in May 2008. Most local residents are familiar with and sent 18,000 comments on Alternative A, but OSM and Peabody have now switched the preferred alternative to Alternative B, which would expand and re-open the Black Mesa Mine, merge it with the Kayenta Mine, and grant Peabody Western Coal Company the right to mine coal in the lease boundary until there is no coal left.
Navajo and Hopi organizations and citizens hosted two town hall meetings on July 1 at Hopi Veterans Memorial Center and July 2 at the Forest Lake Chapter and voiced strong concerns about resuming of the Black Mesa Project Draft EIS. The Office of Surface Mining declined to attend these community meetings to give people more information about their preferred Alternative B.
OSM has given 45 days for the general public to respond on Alternative B. The deadline for public comments is July 7, 2008.
Take Action Now!
Please stand up for Black Mesa by doing one or more of the following:
E-mail comments should be sent to: BMKEIS@osmre.gov
Written comments should be mailed to:
Dennis Winterringer, Leader
Black Mesa Project EIS
OSM Western Region
P.O. Box 46667
Denver, Colorado 80201-6667
More information is available on these websites:
Black Mesa Water Coalition
Black Mesa Trust
Black Mesa Indigenous Support
June 18, 2008
Remember Mt Graham!
The National Environmental Policy Act process for renewing the Mount Graham International Observatory (MGIO) permit has formally begun, with the publication of a scoping notice and invitation to the public to comment on the scope of the NEPA analysis.
Please support the Western Apaches’ long-standing opposition to the presence of the MGIO telescope complex on Mt. Graham, known to the Apache as Dził Nchaa Si’An, a sacred site and traditional cultural property. Please assist in opposing MGIO as a desecration of American Indian religion and culture.
The U.S. Forest Service is claiming that under the Arizona-Idaho Conservation Act the agency does not have the authority to deny the MGIO permit renewal. However, the Apache tribes and their partners remain committed to the opposition to MGIO and to working with the Forest Service and others to mitigate or minimize the effects of the MGIO.
Comments are due by June 30 and may be sent by U.S. mail or hand-delivered to Ms. Celeste Gordon, Recreation/Special Uses Program Manager, Coronado National Forest, 300 W. Congress Blvd., Tucson, AZ  85701; by facsimile to “ATTN:  MGIO Permit Renewal” on (520) 388-8305; and by electronic mail (email) to comments-southwestern-coronado@fs.fed.us, with “MGIO Permit Renewal” in the subject line.
Oral comments may be provided to Ms. Gordon by telephone at (520) 388-8422 or in person at the Supervisor’s Office (address above).  Comment forms are available at the Safford District Office, 711 14th Avenue, Suite D, Safford, AZ  85546 during regular business hours, which are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., excluding Federal holidays.
Please take a moment to email or mail your comments (follow this link for a sample comment letter).
June 11, 2008
Canada Apologizes
On June 11, 2008, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologized to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people for the government’s operation and support of boarding schools. In the presence of survivors, including 104-year-old Marguerite Wabano, the oldest known living survivor of the residential schools, and Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine, Harper said in part, “The government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly.” He followed this statement with the words “We are sorry” in Ojibwa, Cree, Inuktitut, French and English. The national First Nations, Métis, and Inuit leaders all accepted the apology as a sincere first step in towards healing and the improvement of current conditions for Aboriginal people.
The boarding schools forcefully took generations of Aboriginal children away from their families into institutions in which they were encouraged to forget their culture, forbidden to speak their native languages, and often abused. About 90,000 survivors are still alive.
A five-year Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission also began its work last month. However, there is much unfinished business: several Aboriginal leaders and politicians pointed out that Canada has still refused to sign the United Nations Declaration On The Rights of Indigenous People. Further, many Inuit and Métis survivors are not due to receive individual compensation from the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement because the schools to which they were taken were endorsed but not operated by the Canadian government.
The historic apology follows an Australian apology in February (see below) and this month’s passage of a Colorado state resolution that apologizes for Native American deaths from colonization and acknowledges the “cruelty and inhumanity” that characterized European-American treatment of Native Americans.
For more information, see the text of Prime Minister Harper’s speech, the post-apology statement of the Assembly of First Nations, and news articles including:
  • Juliet O’Neill, et al. “‘We are sorry’” Canwest News Service/ The Montreal Gazette, June 12, 2008
  • Juliet O’Neill. “Leaders hope apology will curb prejudice; Truth and reconciliation. ‘Real and lasting forgiveness must be earned’” Canwest News Service/ The Montreal Gazette June 14, 2008
  • Rob Capriccioso “State Apology Could Spur Federal Action” Indian Country Today June 06, 2008
April 15, 2008
Utah’s Nine Mile Canyon Threatened with 800 More Gas Wells
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has proposed adding 800 more natural gas wells inside and around Nine Mile Canyon, with the majority on the southern West Tavaputs plateau. This will bring more drilling stations, traffic, noise and air pollution to this unrivaled repository of rock art. Nine Mile Canyon contains 10,000 petroglyphs and rock formations created by the Archaic, Fremont and Ute people (for more history, see our page).
The proposed West Tavaputs Drilling Project would be authorized by the BLM and operated by the Bill Barrett Corporation. The BLM’s Draft Environment Impact Statement (DEIS) for the West Tavaputs Drilling Project admits that none of the proposed routes for industrial traffic will protect Nine Mile Canyon’s cultural resources. With the current two drill rigs in operation, the road through the canyon sees 340 vehicle trips a day and damage to the rock art is already occurring. The proposed nine drill rigs on West Tavaputs will increase this damage exponentially. The DEIS also proposes building two new pump stations, one on federal land on the floor of Nine Mile Canyon, in direct contradiction of the BLM’s own Draft Resource Management Plan that does not permit surface occupancy on federal lands in Nine Mile Canyon. Nearby wilderness areas Desolation Canyon (a national historic landmark) and Jack Canyon are also slated to host wells—this despite the fact that BLM’s own policy for Desolation Canyon prohibits drilling “within sight or sound of the river.”
Go to the Natural Resource Defense Council’s alert page to send a letter to the BLM or your Senators, and see the Nine Mile Canyon Coalition’s website for more information.
March 28, 2008
April 22nd deadline to protect Britain's Thornborough Henge: New archaeological finds threatened by quarry plans
Quarry plans threaten archaeological finds at Britains’ “Stonehenge of the North” - Action Needed!
Tarmac Ltd., a massive British building materials corporation, has recently renewed its push to quarry on land adjacent to Thornborough Henge, a 5,000-year-old sacred ceremonial complex in North Yorkshire, despite new archaeological finds. The North Yorkshire County Council had denied Tarmac's February 2006 application to quarry Ladybridge Farm, the land abutting the henge, due to concerns that the activity would disturb archaeological artifacts. In January 2007, Tarmac submitted a revised application that limited the area to be quarried and reduced the amount of mineral extraction. The council approved this application as there was little evidence that the revised area would be of archaeological significance. However, there have been recent discoveries of artifacts by the company within the area Tarmac wishes to dig.
“The original application was thrown out because it threatened nationally important archaeology. The second application was only granted because the planning committee believed the revised site plan avoided any of the archaeology,” stated George Chaplin, chairman of the heritage preservation group TimeWatch. “But since the application was granted, Tarmac have found Neolithic archaeology within the site, meaning that the original ruling must stand, but only if the public show they value their heritage”.
The council will review the permit application and hear public commentary at its meeting in Masham on April 22nd, 2008.
Your comments are needed immediately! Please write to the North Yorkshire County Council planning department to express your concern:
The Planning Officer
Ladybridge Application
Environmental Services, Planning & Countryside Unit
County Hall, Northallerton DL7 8AH
Please refer to application number C2/29/500/53, Ladybridge Farm. 
To learn more about Britain's Stone circles and what you can do to protect them, read our site report. For more information about current preservation activities at Thornborough, contact TimeWatch.
February 13, 2008
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Apologizes to Aborginal Australia
In a powerful statement of reconciliation, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd offered a lengthy and detailed apology to the Aboriginal people of Australia. Noting that 50,000 Aboriginal children had been forcibly taken away from their parents between 1910 and 1970 with the backing of parliament, he said:
“Today we honour the indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history. We reflect on their past mistreatment.
We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were stolen generations - this blemished chapter in our nation's history.
We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.
We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.
For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.
To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.
And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.”
Read Prime Minister Rudd’s complete statement.
February 2, 2008
Obama Promises Legal Protections for Native American Sacred Places
A close reading of Sen. Barack Obama’s “Principles for Stronger Tribal Communities” find some very important language. Under the heading “Religious Freedom a Cultural Protection” Obama’s platform reads: “Cultural Rights and Sacred Places Protection: Native American sacred places and site-specific ceremonies are under threat from development, pollution and vandalism. Barack Obama supports legal protections for sacred places and cultural traditions, including Native ancestors’ burial grounds and churches.” Read Obama’s four-page Native American policy statement.
January 20, 2008
Haida Sign Deal With British Columbia
On December 12, 2007, the Haida Nation signed a historic agreement with the Canadian provincial government of British Columbia to co-manage the majority of their land base, known as Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands). The breakthrough Strategic Land Use Agreement is a government-to-government contract that increases the protected area to 52% of the total land base and emphasizes sustainable economic development. Guujaaw, the Haida Nation President, explains its significance: “This agreement is the first land use plan on the islands, aside from the ‘divide the loot’ kind of approach we have seen over the last century, and its intent is to plan ahead for the next decades and on. The course we were on would have seen all of the marketable timber simply cut, and if there were any success or value in the following crops, they would have been cut also. This so far has been good for a few industrialists, but short-sighted and not good for the land or the people who live here.”
The new designations of “Haida Natural Cultural and Spiritual Areas” and “Special Value Areas” are intended to hold these traditional land principles on an equal footing with conventional governmental designations, such as protected areas and areas where forestry is permitted. The agreement is perhaps best seen as the beginning of a new relationship between the Haida Nation, the provincial government, and industry. Many details—such as how exactly the two governments will jointly manage Haida Gwaii and to what extent the timber industry will cooperate with the agreement’s “ecosystem-based management objectives”—remain to be worked out.
For more information, read an article on the new agreement from the Queen Charlotte Islands Observer.
December 10, 2007
Read the Sacred Land Film Project’s 2007 Annual Report.
December 4, 2007
Protect Western Shoshone Lands - Sign On-Line Petition by December 21st!
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is currently reviewing a proposal to expand the Cortez Hills Project in Nevada. If approved, the mine expansion would create one of the country's largest gold mines. The project by Cortez Gold Mines, a subsidiary of Barrick Gold Mining Co., would disturb over 6,500 acres of public lands — all of which are considered traditional homelands by the Western Shoshone. Your help is urgently needed to convince the U.S. government to deny this proposal.
The entire area lies within Western Shoshone boundaries, and was included in the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, which recognized Shoshone rights to this land. The project, although termed as an “expansion” of the existing Pipeline and Cortez Mines, is really a new gold mine complex. It would be located on the slopes of Mt. Tenabo, a mountain sacred to the Western Shoshone, who have lived in the area since time immemorial. Mount Tenabo is an extremely significant spiritual and cultural area to the Western Shoshone. Many Shoshone have long expressed deep concerns and outright opposition to any further exploration on their lands, without their consent. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is currently taking comments on a draft Environmental Impact Statement until December 21st.
Please take a moment to sign an on-line petition hosted by Oxfam America.
For more information read the Western Shoshone Defense Project Action Alert.
November 15, 2007
Winnemem Sacred Spring Runs Dry
On November 10, our film crew hiked with the Winnemem Wintu to Panther Meadows on Mt. Shasta to visit their healing spring. When we filmed In the Light of Reverence, the annual mid-summer visit by the Winnemem would be a time of ceremony and song, with the bubbling spring regarded as a relative, a source of life. For the first time in the tribe’s long history, their sacred spring was dry.
Check out our new blog entry and four-minute film clip.
The Winnemem continue to battle U.S. Forest Service management of Panther Meadows, which continues to allow a free-for-all of New Age activity around the spring. Meanwhile, a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation proposal to heighten Shasta Dam would flood, for the second time, the McCloud River valley where Winnemem sacred sites, ancestral villages and burials are central to ongoing cultural practice below Mt. Shasta.
To help the Winnemem Wintu in their desperate fight to protect Panther Meadows and prevent the raising of Shasta Dam and flooding of their remaining sacred sites, you can make a donation at their web site.
Read our sacred site report on Shasta Dam and the Winnemem Wintu.
November 9, 2007
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.
October 22, 2007
New Article on Sacred Lands and Biodiversity Protection
We highly recommend this new essay by University of Hawaii anthropologist Leslie E. Sponsel, titled "Sacred Places and Biodiversity Conservation." Sponsel calls for more research on biodiversity and sacred places, summarizes the current state of knowledge and laying a framework for why sacred places are important worldwide, and explains why Community Conservation Areas should be a high priority for effective conservation.
September 21, 2007
Sacred Lake Spared By Canadian Mining Panel
The activism of the Tse Keh Nay First Nations has paid off: a Canadian review panel has recommended against the use of Amazay Lake, British Columbia, as a mining waste dump. At issue was Northgate Mineral’s proposal for its new Kemess North copper and gold mine. The company sought permission to contain Amazay Lake and deposit 700 million tons of acid rock in its sacred waters. “The Tse Keh Nay congratulates the panel members on their brave recommendation, and calls upon both governments [federal and provincial] to follow the panel’s lead and protect Amazay Lake,” said Gordon Pierre, Grand Chief of the Tse Keh Nay. He added, “There are currently over 20 lakes in Canada facing similar mining proposals and we are happy that a precedent has been set in Tse Keh Nay territory: killing lakes is unacceptable.”
The panel wrote that the conversion of Amazay lake into a tailings dump is “not in the public interest” and that “both the Gitxsan and the Tse Keh Nay have stated that water is sacred to them, and that the destruction of a natural lake goes against their values as aboriginal people.” The panel’s reasoning places sacred land issues on par with environmental concerns, which is indeed an important precedent in Canada. Politicians may still overrule the panel’s recommendation, but combined with the 2005 Supreme Court directive towards “meaningful consultation” with Aboriginal people, the momentum appears to be heading in the right direction.
Read more in the Tse Keh Nay press release and our report on Amazay Lake.
September 13, 2007
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Passes After Thirty Years of Struggle
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 indigenous peoples. It also sets an international standard of free, prior and informed consent by indigenous peoples to development on their lands. Tonya Gonnella Frichner, North American Regional Representative to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, said, “This was an historic day, and a step forward to help assure Indigenous Peoples’ treaty rights, human rights, and self-determination.”
The 46 Articles of the Declaration were negotiated over three decades between UN agencies, governments, indigenous representatives and numerous human rights groups. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour noted that “the hard work and perseverance of indigenous peoples and their friends and supporters in the international community has finally borne fruit in the most comprehensive statement to date of indigenous peoples' rights.”
Notably, the four votes against the measure were cast by the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, nations with substantial and politically active native populations. The abstaining nations were Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Kenya, Nigeria, Russian Federation, Samoa and Ukraine.
Canada expressed a position shared by the countries that voted against the measure that the Declaration would give indigenous peoples too much power to renegotiate or revisit previously settled treaties or land and resource agreements. Canada released this statement: “‘In Article 26, the document states: ‘Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired.’ This could be used by Aboriginal groups to challenge and re-open historic and present day treaties and to support claims that have already been dealt with.”
Pleased with the passage of the Declaration, but wary of international political realities, indigenous leaders pointed out that their work is not yet done. Chris Peters, President of the Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development, said, “This is a significant and momentous day in our history. A time when Indigenous communities and nations should take a lead role in breathing life into this new human rights document.”
Read the adopted text of the Declaration.
September 1, 2007
Federal Court Supports Forest Service’s Ban on Climbing Cave Rock
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 and fishing, but it is best known as an advanced climbing spot. The Forest Service, which manages Cave Rock under the jurisdiction of the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, recognized the damage done to Cave Rock through the insertion of bolts and other climbing hardware into the rock. In 2003, it banned climbing on Cave Rock in an effort to maintain the physical integrity of this sacred place.
The Access Fund, a non-profit organization of climbers, sued to overturn the ban, alleging that it violated the First Amendment’s establishment of religion clause. While a Federal District Court dismissed the action in January 2005, the Access Fund persisted and brought the case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. In August 2007, a three-judge panel ruled that the Forest Service’s climbing ban is constitutional because the Forest Service is protecting Cave Rock as an archaeological, cultural, and historical national resource, not because it is sacred to the Washoe. Thus the Forest Service is not supporting a specific religious practice. The protection of Cave Rock from egregious recreational use is an important victory; however, the legal reasoning used to arrive at this verdict does not appear to provide a precedent for sacred land protection based on ongoing religious use of a place. Read more in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals August 27, 2007 decision and in our full report on Cave Rock.
While the Forest Service supervises museum exhibits and archaeological sites dedicated to Washoe culture, the contemporary Washoe are still separated from their land. The tribe continues to lobby for the return of some of its traditional land base around Lake Tahoe. The Access Fund has not announced any further legal action, so as of this writing, Cave Rock is off-limits to climbers, though other recreational uses around it continue.
August 30, 2007
Yanawawa People of Brazil Secure Rights to Sacred Land with Help of Business Partner Aveda
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, played a critical support role for the community in its efforts to secure rights to their traditional sacred land.
Aveda has used ukuru dye from the community in its makeup since the formation of its partnership with the Yawanawa in 1993. This was Aveda's first partnership with an indigenous community and led to the development of a new village and ukuru plantation, financially enabling the Yawanawa to protect their lands from logging and rubber development. “After years of struggling together, it is extremely special for us to regain this important land,” says Tashka Yawanawa, Chief of the Yawanawa. “We thank Aveda so much for always supporting our efforts.”
“This land's ecosystem supports the great web of life that the Yawanawa are a part of,” said Dominique Conseil, president of Aveda. “It is also the foundation of their cultural identity, history and dreams—and enshrines the burial sites of legendary warriors, Chiefs and Shamans. In a world plagued by climate crisis, it is still possible to reverse the trends; by taking action,we can all create a legacy of beauty and diversity for the benefit of future generations.”
The addition of this acreage to native lands means that a new total of 450,000 acres is under Yanawawa control. The community and Aveda will continue to work on securing formal rights to other areas of the Yanawawa traditional lands.
July 31, 2007
Losing Sacred Ground and SLFP Film Crew Make News in Darwin, Australia
Project Director Christopher McLeod and crew—having just returned from three weeks in the Altai Republic of Russia where they filmed the first segment of our new 12-part series, Losing Sacred Ground—are now in their second week of filming in Australia. Read about their recent adventures in this article published on 7/31/07 in the Northern Territory News.
United: Christopher McLeod interviews Borroloola elders Leanne Norman, Roddy Harvey, Mavis Timothy and Dinah Norman outside the NT Supreme Court yesterday. Photo by Justin Sanson.
July 1, 2007
NCAI Passes Resolution Endorsing “Native American Sacred Lands Act”
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 Congress to hold hearings and pass sacred land protection legislation.
March 12, 2007
Appeals Court Overturns Ski Resort’s Snowmaking Permit
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 reclaimed wastewater for artificial snow would force the facility (on U.S. Forest Service land) to shut down. The Court ruled there is no “compelling governmental interest” in having artificial snow on the San Francisco Peaks. The judges found that the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act requires government agencies to use the “least restrictive” means of interfering with any religious practice. This overruling of a district court decision is one of the most important in recent years under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Judge William Fletcher wrote that, even assuming the federal religious protection law did not apply, the Forest Service improperly approved the permit. He said the Service did not consider whether there would be any danger to skiers who ingested snow made entirely from treated sewage water. The ruling states:
“The record in this case establishes the religious importance of the Peaks to the Appellant tribes who live around it. From time immemorial, they have relied on the Peaks, and the purity of the Peaks’ water, as an integral part of their religious beliefs. The Forest Service and the Snowbowl now propose to put treated sewage effluent on the Peaks. To get some sense of equivalence, it may be useful to imagine the effect on Christian beliefs and practices — and the imposition that Christians would experience — if the government were to require that baptisms be carried out with ‘reclaimed water.’”
Read the entire opinion, and our report on San Francisco Peaks. Read the Arizona Republic’s front page story.
February 7, 2007
Hopi and Navajo Communities Breathe Relief at Black Mesa
Facing strong opposition from Hopi and Navajo activists, the Salt River Project has dropped their plan to re-open the shuttered Mohave power plant, which would have also re-opened Peabody Coal’s Black Mesa stripmine and the destructive slurryline that transported the coal using huge quantities of precious, pristine underground water.
Thanks to everyone who wrote comment letters on the Black Mesa draft Environmental Impact Statement. Public concern and vigilance paid off once again. See the Salt River Project press release.
February 2, 2007
New Bridge at Ancient Incan Citadel and World Heritage Site to be Inaugurated This Month Amid Controversy
A new bridge threatens to bring more tourists and magnify the impact on the ancient Peruvian fortress of Machu Picchu. The underhanded nature of its construction has sparked protests from environmental groups and public opposition from the Peruvian national government.
Fedia Castro, the mayor of La Convencion province, forced the construction of the new bridge despite a court order prohibiting development around the site. The 80-metre long Carrilluchayoc bridge spans the Vilcanota River at the base of Machu Picchu and will connect the village of Santa Teresa with the road up the peak, lessening the time it wil take tourists to reach the World Heritage site.
With in excess of 2,000 visitors per day, many people believe there are already too many tourists at the ruins. UNESCO, the UN’s educational and cultural division, will inspect the site this year to determine if it will be placed on the World Heritage Sites In Danger list. The mayor claims the village of Santa Teresa needs the bridge to bring commerce and tourism. To read more, see the BBC article “Bridge stirs the waters in Machu Picchu.”
January 29, 2007
Controversy Near Mt. Shasta Hits the Front Pages Again
In a political power play intended to strengthen the government’s push to raise the height of Shasta Dam, the infamous Westlands Water District has reached far to the north to purchase privately owned land south of Mt. Shasta that includes 7 miles of the McCloud River. The Bollibokka fishing club land was sold for $35 million, and it contains 26 Winnemem Wintu ancestral villages, burial grounds and several important sacred sites. Read the front page article from the San Francisco Chronicle (Jan 28).
Read a report from the Redding Record Searchlight (February 19, 2007), “Shasta Dam expansion plan: Flood of concerns - Anglers, Wintu fear Shasta Dam raising will drown treasured sites.”
The Winnemem Wintu have asked their supporters to send letters to Senator Barbara Boxer urging the Senator to introduce legislation reinstating federal recognition of the Winnemem Wintu. Follow this link for a sample letter.
January 28, 2007
Department of Defense Ignores Court Ruling and Pushes for Construction of the Massive Pan-Starrs Telescope
In defiance of the Third Circuit court ruling on January 17, 2007 that prohibits piece-meal development in the Conservation District of Mauna Kea, Hawai'i’s Institute for Astronomy (UHIFA) is going ahead with its plans to build another astronomical telescope facility known as the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) on Mauna Kea.
The University of Hawai'i at Hilo and the Department of Defense (Air Force), which administer UHIFA, hope the Pan-STARRS telescope will have potential military applications, such as identifying “Killer Asterroids” and other “Near Earth Objects.” NASA had already planned to build a complex of Outrigger Telescopes atop Mauna Kea in 2004, but Native Hawaiian and Environmental groups appealed the State of Hawai'i’s permit to the Third Circuit Court. The court finally ruled earlier this year that state law requires the summit of Mauna Kea to be conserved and repealed the state’s permits to NASA. The court placed a moratorium on construction in the conservation district until a comprehensive management plan that includes consultation with Native Hawaiians is created and approved.
However, the Department of Defense and the university are holding public hearings on the new Pan-STARRS plan. Environmental groups and Native Hawaiians are calling for DOD and UH to cease and desist from holding hearings and considering proposals until the management plan is in place.
Please see the recent Press Release from Jim Albertini of Malu `Aina (Land of Peace or Peace Land). See the Honolulu Advertiser article and Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, The Royal Order of Kamehameha I, and Clarence Ching’s Testimony in Opposition to Pan-STARRS submitted at the public hearing on January 25, 2007.
To comment on the Pan-STARRS public hearings or plans, please contact:
Juventino Garcia, Director, Office of Public Affairs
Air Force Research Laboratory
3550 Aberdeen Ave. SE
Kirtland AFB, NM 87117-5576
For more information or to inquire about other ways to help, please contact Ms. Kealoha Pisciotta, President, Mauna Kea Anaina Hou.
January 9, 2007
Peabody Energy and the Office of Surface Mining are still thirsty for precious aquifer water
The federal agency in charge of regulating mining in the United States may allow coal giant Peabody Energy to once again drain the precious aquifers of northern Arizona, sacred waters to the Hopi and Navajo and lifeblood of the region’s fragile environment. Your comment letters are needed by February 6.
The Office of Surface Mining (OSM) has issued a 758-page Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that assesses the impact of mining on the Coconino and Navajo Aquifers on Arizona’s Black Mesa, in the heart of the Hopi and Navajo Nations. OSM’s recommendations would pave the way for Peabody to reopen its Black Mesa Mine and with it the destructive coal slurry line that had dramatically drained the Navajo Aquifer for 30 years. What’s at stake is a fragile ecosystem in the midst of drought, the drinking water for thousands of residents in the growing towns around the Colorado Plateau, and the cultural heritage of the Hopi and Navajo peoples.
The Black Mesa Project targets pristine groundwater in northern Arizona to slurry coal to the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada – a practice that the community opposed for three decades and succeeded in stopping last year. Despite the closure of the air-polluting Mohave power plant, and with no viable plans for reopening it, Peabody Energy and Salt River Project are moving forward with plans to re-start these destructive practices. This time, Peabody Energy and Salt River Project want to tap into the Coconino Aquifer (south of Black Mesa, between Flagstaff and Winslow) while also increasing access to the Navajo Aquifer, so that they can reopen the controversial coal slurry line from the Black Mesa Mine to the Mohave power plant in Laughlin, Nevada (273 miles to the west).
The Office of Surface Mining has fast-tracked public hearings immediately after the holiday season, and community organizations are working to ensure public participation. Activists are holding a press conference on January 11. The EIS public comment deadline is February 6.
Peabody’s plan to use the Navajo and Coconino Aquifers to slurry coal to the Mohave Power Station is “Alternative A” (or most preferred) in OSM’s EIS. Peabody’s plan would mean that mining would expand into undeveloped areas, tap further into the Coconino and Navajo Aquifers, and force the relocation of at least 17 Black Mesa residents and 55 residents in the Leupp area, south of Black Mesa. The Navajo Aquifer has already been devastated, with 7 local springs and several wells down by approximately 30%. If Alternative A is approved, Peabody could pump up to 6,000 acre feet per year from the Navajo Aquifer until 2026, a 33% increase over what they extracted from 1970 to 2005. Meanwhile, Peabody has not taken the steps mandated by federal law to reduce its hydrological impact at the Kayenta mine, another mine it currently operates on Black Mesa.
Most critically, the OSM is considering issuing a “Life of Mine” permit to Peabody, which would mean that Peabody could mine coal at Black Mesa until 2026. (The controversial mine was allowed to operate with a temporary permit for 30 years!)
If the plan to allow Peabody to restart its Black Mesa Mine goes ahead, the cultural implications will be dramatic. The Hopi and Navajo’s ability to grow traditional foods and herbal medicines, as well as access ceremonial sites and perform rituals, will all be affected, once again. Also, the Hopi are now in the most important phase of their ceremonial calendar, when the elders have entered the kivas, and so they are outraged that the OSM has chosen to release the EIS at a time when the Hopi people are unable to fully consider it — and organize to protest it.
The Trustees and Advisors of Black Mesa Trust (BMT) have asked that the federal government postpone its scheduled hearings on the EIS. They also want the OSM to consider a “No Water Alternative” which would transition the Mohave Generating Station into a solar thermal plant and the Black Mesa Mine into a solar and wind farm. Black Mesa Trust points to Southern California Edison’s “Mohave Alternatives Study” for evaluation of such an alternative. BMT is preparing to file an injunction should the OSM move forward with its recommendations.
Public hearings are being held by the OSM through January 11. If you cannot attend a hearing, you can also write, e-mail or call in your comments to the OSM before the February 6th deadline. For more information (including talking points):
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 61st 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:
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:
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 federal