Selv om datoen er overskredet for gruppen bøn denne fortegnelse viser os mange hellige steder, der har brug for vores beskyttelse og bøn.
Det kan være godt at sende bøn til webstedet tættest på dig og fokusere på dette område.
Så send dine bønner til alle de andre steder.
United vi er stærke ......... united vi er sande ....
United vi skaber balance ...... tak, Miriam
The Morning Star INSTITUTE
611 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 547-5531
Nyheder Statement Til øjeblikkelig udsendelse
16-24 juni SET FOR 2012 NATIONALE hellige steder bøn DAGE
Washington, DC (6/15/12)-observances og ceremonier vil blive afholdt over hele landet fra juni 16 gennem 24. juni til markere de 2012 Nationale Days of Prayer for at beskytte indianske hellige steder.
Overholdelsen i Washington, DC vil blive afholdt den Onsdag, 20 juni kl 8:30, på USA Capitol Grounds, West Front Grassy Area (se nærmere under Washington, DC notering i den alfabetiske liste af staten på de følgende sider ).
Beskrivelser af visse hellige steder og trusler, de står over for, samt tider og steder for offentlige mindehøjtideligheder er listet nedenfor.
Nogle af de sammenkomster fremhævet i denne udgivelse er uddannelses fora, ikke religiøse ceremonier, og er åbne for offentligheden.
Andre er ceremoniel og kan udføres i privat.
Ud over de nedenfor anførte, vil der være observances og bønner tilbydes på andre hellige steder, der er truet, og på dem, der ikke fare på dette tidspunkt.
"Native og ikke-indfødte folk landsdækkende samles på dette tidspunkt for Solstice ceremonier og for at ære hellige steder, men alle kan ære disse dyrebare jord og farvande hele tiden blot ved at respektere dem, og det liv, de støtter og ikke giver dem mulighed for at blive skadet, "siger Suzan vist Harjo (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee).
Hun er formand for The Morning Star Institute, som organiserer de nationale helligsteder Prayer Days.
"Ceremonier bliver gennemført som alt for mange indianske folk er engageret i juridiske kampe med føderale agenturer den side med udviklere, som truer eller ødelægger Native hellige steder," sagde Ms Harjo.
"Da en amerikansk højesteretsdom i 1988, at der ikke er nogen forfatningsmæssig eller lovbestemt årsag til handling for at forsvare Native hellige steder, er indfødte amerikanere de eneste folk i USA, som ikke har en dør til retsbygningen for at beskytte hellige steder eller et websted -bestemte ceremonier, "sagde Ms Harjo.
"Det må simpelthen ændre som et spørgsmål om retfærdighed og lighed.
Native Nations har været flikke sammen beskyttelse baseret på forsvar, der er bestemt til andre formål.
Nogle agenturer kan tillade en plads ved bordet, når udviklingen er ved at blive overvejet, men de fleste gør ikke og indfødte folk ikke tages alvorligt, fordi de agenturer og udviklere ved, at Højesteret ikke vises tilbøjelig til at høre retssager, der mangler et skræddersyet til højre af handling. "
Under sin præsidentkampagne i 2008, talte den daværende senator Obama dette spørgsmål som en del af hans indianske politisk platform for religiøs frihed, kulturelle rettigheder og hellige steder beskyttelse: "Indianske hellige steder og stedspecifikke ceremonier er truet af udviklingen, forurening , og hærværk.
Barack Obama støtter retsbeskyttelsen for hellige steder og kulturelle traditioner, herunder Native forfædres gravsteder og kirker. "
Mange Native Peoples godkendte Candidate Obama på grund af hans holdning til Native hellige steder, men har fortvivlet over den stigende ulighed mellem, hvad ansøgeren støttede og hvad præsidentens administration har gjort på hellige steder.
Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, er det amerikanske justitsministerium og andre føderale agenturer aktivt bringes i fare, hellige steder og kæmper indfødte folk, der forsøger at beskytte hellige steder i retslige og administrative processer.
The National Congress of American Indians, den ældste og største nationale indiske organisation, har opfordret til Kongressen til at vedtage en statut, der ville give en årsag til handling, for præsidenten at opdatere og styrke den nuværende bekendtgørelse om indiske hellige steder og til Forest Tjeneste at udnytte eksisterende love og politikker til beskyttelse af indianske hellige steder.
Samtidig har Forest Service udråbt som en bedrift for hellige steder sit udkast til betænkning, som blev skarpt fordømt i indianernes land, og en revideret rapport, som den holder hemmeligt, imod administrationens holdning til tribal høring.
"Præsidenten er blevet spurgt direkte at opfordre Kongressen til at skabe en ret til indgreb, så vi kan forsvare vores hellige steder, for at forbedre bekendtgørelsen for indiske hellige steder og at stoppe Forest Service og andre organer i at fortsætte deres årtier lange overgreb mod Native hellige steder, "sagde Ms Harjo.
"Jeg er stadig optimistisk, at formanden kan og vil gøre disse ting, selvom Kongressen ikke er i stand til at gøre fremskridt på dette eller ethvert område.
Igen, vi beder til, at dette vil være det sidste år, vi bliver nægtet retfærdighed ved den udøvende, lovgivende og dømmende magt. "
FNs særlige rapportør om Oprindelige Folks Rettigheder har anbefalet, at USA overveje at trække den føderale tilladelse, der giver mulighed for en privat ski resort at bruge genbrugspapir kloakvandet til at gøre sne på toppen af San Francisco Peaks, som er helligt for mange indfødte Nations i sydvest.
Den særlige rapportør har også opfordret USA til at rådføre sig med og vende tilbage hellige steder til indfødte folk.
"Native American Peoples er opmuntret over, at præsidenten ændrede den amerikanske holdning og tilsluttede sig FNs erklæring om oprindelige folks rettigheder, og ser frem til dens anvendelse til amerikansk lovgivning og praksis," sagde Ms Harjo.
Erklæringen indeholder følgende udsagn om hellige steder:
"Artikel 11, 1: Oprindelige folk har ret til at praktisere og forny deres kulturelle traditioner og skikke.
Dette omfatter retten til at opretholde, beskytte og udvikle de tidligere, nuværende og fremtidige manifestationer af deres kulturer, såsom arkæologiske og historiske steder, artefakter, mønstre, ceremonier, teknologier og visuelle og udøvende kunstarter og litteratur.
"Artikel 11, 2: Stater skal give oprejsning via effektive mekanismer, der kan omfatte tilbageføring, udviklet i samarbejde med oprindelige folk, med hensyn til deres kulturelle, intellektuelle, religiøse og åndelige ejendom berøvet dem uden deres frie, forudgående og informerede samtykke eller i strid af deres love, traditioner og skikke. "
"Artikel 12, 1: Oprindelige folk har ret til at manifestere, praktisere, udvikle og undervise deres åndelige og religiøse traditioner, skikke og ceremonier, ret til at opretholde, beskytte og have adgang til personlige oplysninger til deres religiøse og kulturelle steder, ret til anvendelse og kontrol af deres ceremonielle genstande. og retten til repatriering af deres jordiske rester "
"Artikel 25: Oprindelige folk har ret til at opretholde og styrke deres særegne åndelige forhold til deres traditionelt ejede eller på anden måde beboede og anvendte landområder, territorier, vand og kystområder og andre ressourcer og til at vedligeholde deres ansvar for fremtidige generationer i denne sammenhæng."
De 2012 observances er den tiende af de nationale Prayer dage for at beskytte indianske hellige steder.
Den første nationale Bededag blev gennemført den 20. juni 2003, om de amerikanske Capitol Grounds og landsdækkende for at understrege behovet for Kongressen til at vedtage en årsag til handling for at beskytte Native hellige steder.
Dette behov eksisterer stadig.
Bønner vil blive tilbudt for følgende hellige steder, bl.a.:
Antelope Hills.
Apache Leap.
Badger Two Medicine.
Badlands.
Bjørn Butte.
Bear Lake.
Bjørn Medicine Lodge.
Black Hills.
Black Mesa.
Blue Lake.
Boboquivari Mountain.
Bunchgrass Mountain.
Cave Rock.
Chief Cliff.
Coastal Chumash Sacred Lands i Gaviota Coast.
Cocopah Begravelse og ceremoniel Grounds.
Coldwater Springs.
Colorado River.
Columbia River.
Deer Medicine Rocks.
Dzil Nchaa Si An (Mount Graham).
Eagle Rock.
Everglades.
Fajada Butte.
Ganondagan.
Store Mound (Mound Bund).
Gulf of Mexico.
Haleakala Crater.
Hatchet Mountain.
Hickory Ground.
Holy Mountain.
Hualapai Nation landskabsformer i Truxton og Crozier Canyons.
Indian Pass.
Kaho'olawe.
Kasha-Katuwe.
Katuktu.
Kituwah.
Klamath River.
Kumeyaay Bands Burial og ceremoniel grunde.
Lake Superior.
Luiseno Ancestral Origin Landskab.
Mauna Kea.
Maze.
Medicine Bluff.
Medicin Hole.
Medicine Lake Highlands.
Medicin hjul.
Migi Zii wa sin (Eagle Rock).
Mokuhinia.
Moku'ula.
Mount Shasta.
Mount Taylor.
Mount Tenabo.
Nine Mile Canyon.
Ocmulgee Gamle Fields og National Monument.
Onondaga Lake.
Palo Duro Canyon.
Petroglyphs National Monument.
Pipestone National Monument.
Puget Sound.
Puvungna.
Pyramid Lake Stone mor.
Quechan Begravelse og ceremoniel Grounds.
Rainbow Bridge.
Rattlesnake Island.
Rio Grande River.
San Francisco Peaks.
Serpent Mound.
Snoqualmie Falls.
Sweetgrass Hills.
Sutter Buttes.
Tse Whit Zen Village.
Tsi-Litch Semiahmah Village.
Valley of Chiefs.
Valmont Butte.
Wakarusa vådområder.
Gåture Woman Place.
Woodruff Butte.
Wolf River.
Yucca Mountain.
Zuni Salt Lake.
Hellige steder for alle fjernede Native Nations.
Alle Waters og vådområder.
Arizona: Mount Graham, Dzil Nchaa Si An
Mount Graham er helligt for de vestlige Apache folk og er kendt af San Carlos Apache som Dzil Nchaa Si An.
Det er et helligt landskab, hvor gaan eller Mountain Spirits bopæl, og fædrene Apache hvile.
Det er et sted for ceremonier og medicin planter, og hjem til den truede Mount Graham røde egern.
Den Pinaleño Mountains eller Mount Graham er en unik økologisk skat.
Det er det højeste bjerg i det sydlige Arizona og omfatter seks forskellige liv zoner fra dalen gulvet til sit højdepunkt ved 10.720 ft kaldes en "Sky Island" økosystem, de gamle vækst skove på Mount Graham topmøde er Arizona svarer til regnskove.
De rigelige kilder og højtliggende enge har tilbudt næring og en kilde til helbredelse til Apache mennesker, der bor i ørkenen.
Den kølige fugtige karakteristika Mountain har næret 18 forskellige planter og dyr findes andre steder i verden.
I 1980'erne, University of Arizona og dets partnere på det tidspunkt, herunder Vatikanet og Smithsonian Institution valgte Mount Graham som stedet at konstruere et observatorium med syv store teleskoper kendt som Columbus Project.
Begyndende i 1988, lykkedes det Arizona Kongressen med at få undtagelser for projektet fra truede arter, miljø, bevarelse af historiske bygninger og andre love.
I 1989 blev University of Arizona bevilget en 20-årig særlig anvendelse tilladelse fra Coronado National Forest og den amerikanske Forest Service, og bevilling ryttere holdt projektet flugter med offentlige ydelser uden at skulle overholde føderale love eller bestemmelser, herunder føderale Indian love, der skal beskytte religionsfriheden, gravsteder og kulturelle egenskaber.
Vatikanets talsmænd udtalte, at Mount Graham ikke var en religiøs eller helligt sted.
University medarbejdere og lobbyister har forsøgt at underminere omdømme Apache religiøse ledere og praktikere, og opbevares mindst én San Carlos tribal embedsmand til at vidne, at Mountain ikke var hellig eller signifikant til Apache folk.
I årtier har Apache Peoples, videnskabsfolk, miljøforkæmpere og universitetsstuderende modstået University of Arizona har besluttet at bygge teleskoper på bjerget topmødet.
Selvom hyppig skydække gør teleskop visning marginal og Mount Graham var rangeret 38:e i en undersøgelse af astronomiske steder i USA, har Arizona Kongressen og universitetet fortsatte med projektet.
I dag er bygningen af teleskoper og deraf følgende føderale lukning af bjergets top vanhellige Mountain og dens uerstattelige forhold til Apache Peoples.
Kampen fortsætter med at beskytte natur-og kulturarv af Mount Graham fra præcedens ødelæggelse stadig være forårsaget af universitetet i at opbygge sin observatorium på Mount Graham.
De bestræbelser på kulturel beskyttelse og miljøorganisationer og de berørte Tribes at beskytte hellighed Mount Graham fortsætter med uformindsket styrke.
The University of Arizona er nu drive sin observatorium uden en gyldig særlig anvendelse tilladelse.
Dens 20-årige føderal tilladelse udløb den 19. april 2009.
Universitetet har bedt Coronado National Forest om en ny opholdstilladelse, men som af juni 2012, har en beslutning om, hvorvidt udstede tilladelsen endnu ikke er foretaget.
The Forest Service har besluttet, at det skal forberede en Miljødeklaration (EIS) indsamle oplysninger om de fordele og ulemper ved at give en ny tilladelse.
Universitetet har gjort indsigelse ihærdigt på en ny VVM.
Fra hvad lidt information Mount Graham koalitionen og San Carlos Apache Tribe har lært, er Forest Service-og universitetets jurister "i diskussioner" for at bestemme den endelige form af tilladelsen fornyelsesproces.
Der er en række årsager til Forest Service til at nægte en ny tilladelse.
Den bortfaldet tilladelse havde en række vilkår og betingelser, der blev krænket af universitetet.
Mange af disse betingelser bør have ført til inddragelse af tilladelsen, men gjorde det ikke.
Alle disse overtrædelser skal undersøges for at afgøre, om universitetet kan følge reglerne i en ny opholdstilladelse.
Betingelserne for Mount Graham har ændret sig væsentligt, siden tilladelsen blev givet, og observatoriet er endnu mindre foreneligt med den religiøse og økologiske betydning af Mount Graham.
Da tilladelsen blev givet, har "formen" af Mount Graham anset berettiget til placering på den nationale liste over historiske steder.
Hertil kommer, nu Forest Service erkender, at Mount Graham er en traditionel kulturel ejendom til vestlige Apache mennesker og har taget skridt til at høre (selvom det har en lang vej at gå) med traditionel Apache om den hellige natur af bjerget og hvordan man beskytter den.
Universitetet kan gå til Kongressen for endnu en dispensation til religionsfrihed og miljølove og at tvinge Forest Service at udstede en ny tilladelse.
Tilhængere af Mount Graham ville være den sidste til at høre om nogen lobbyvirksomhed langs disse linjer og skal altid på vagt for at forhindre, at det sker.
Af disse og mange andre grunde, er det vigtigt for tilhængere af Apache folk og Mount Graham at opfordre Forest Service at benægte universitetet en ny tilladelse, og kræver, at de eksisterende teleskoper på Mount Graham fjernes.
Efter 20 års byggeri, er det store teleskop-projektet endnu ikke er afsluttet, og meget alvorlige spørgsmål er stadig om dens betydning, nytteværdi og funktion fra et astronomisk perspektiv.
Hvad er IKKE er tale om en fortsat forbrydelse til de vestlige Apache Peoples.
Lige så klart er det farefulde status native Mount Graham røde egern.
Den seneste undersøgelse foretaget af biologer vurderet, at kun cirka 214 af denne unikke arter, fandt nu hvor ellers på jorden, tilbage.
Det er blevet identificeret af biologer som en af de pattedyr mest sandsynligt, at uddø i USA i den nærmeste fremtid.
Flere brande hærgede i toppen af Mount Graham i de forløbne år.
De blev kæmpet for at beskytte teleskoper mere end økosystemet, og som følge heraf blev meget skaderne på bjerget, der kunne have været undgået.
Forest Service har besluttet at tynde skoven og på anden måde manipulere økosystemet at forsøge at beskytte hvad der er tilbage, og at genoprette hvad der er blevet beskadiget.
De nuværende brande i det østlige og sydlige Arizona styrke fare for, at yderligere tiltag vil blive taget beskytte strukturer i løbet af dyreliv og åndelige værdier.
Bønner og flid er behov for nu mere end nogensinde for Mount Graham.
Økosystemet er under alvorlig trussel fra klimaændringerne og andre mønstre for destruktion, og der er en mulighed for Forest Service til at nægte en ny tilladelse til teleskoper og kræve de fjernes, og der er en mulighed for at beskytte det eksisterende økosystem og genskabe nogle af det tabte.
Og hellighed Mount Graham fortsætter med at blive udfordret, og mens Mountain er i stand til at beskytte sig selv, kan supportere med til at beskytte den.
For yderligere information, kontakt Mount Graham Coalition, Roger Featherstone, formand, greenfire@featherstone.ws, eller Dinah Bear, sekretær, på Bear6@verizon.net
Arizona: San Francisco Peaks
San Francisco Peaks er helligt for Apache, Hopi, Hualapai, navajo, Yavapai og andre indfødte Nationer.
San Francisco Peaks er hjemsted for mange hellige væsener, medicin steder og oprindelse sites.
Myriad ceremonier udføres der for helbredelse, velvære, balance, højtideligholdelse, passager og verdens vand-og livscyklus.
San Francisco Peaks er på føderal jord i Coconino National Forest.
Faktisk har den amerikanske Forest Service viste, at de San Francisco Peaks er hellig for over tretten stammer i det sydvestlige USA.
Uanset ovenstående Forest Service og det privatejede Snowbowl ski resort, som ligger på San Francisco Peaks, planlægger at udvide skiområdet og at bruge genbrugspapir spildevand til at foretage kunstig sne.
Udvidelsen og spildevand-til-sne planer kunne have en katastrofal indvirkning på de indfødte religioner og mennesker og om vand og sundhed i hele regionen.
Den krybende rekreative udvikling har bekymret Native åndelige ledere og stammeledere embedsmænd i årtier, men de nuværende planer langt overstiger den tidligere aktivitet på resort.
Snowbowl planer om at klare 74 hektar af sjældne alpine naturtype, der er hjemsted for truede arter, få nye skiløjper og lifter, tilføje flere parkeringspladser og bygge en 14,8 miles begravet rørledning til transport op til 180 millioner gallons (per sæson) af spildevand at gøre kunstig sne på 205 acres.
Trods den stadige protester og sultestrejker, har Snowbowl påbegyndt opførelsen af sit spildevand rørledning til snowmaking, med godkendelse af og beskyttelse af Forest Service og US Department of Agriculture.
Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission formand Duane H. Yazzie vidnede før Senatets udvalg for indiske anliggender 2011 høring om den amerikanske gennemførelse af De Forenede Nationers Deklaration om Oprindelige Folks Rettigheder: "Integration erklæringen gældende ret, vil fokusere væsentligt på værdien af hellige steder i stedet for at lægge en urimelig byrde på proceduren.
Desuden vil den erklæring understrege international politik i stedet for at stole på indenrigspolitikken alene.
Lovgivningsmæssigt fat indisk ret retslære vil reparere på fordrivelsen af indianske rettigheder til hellige steder. "
De Forenede Nationers særlige rapportør om oprindelige folks rettigheder anbefalede i 2011, at "amerikanske regering at indlede en omfattende gennemgang af de relevante politikker og foranstaltninger til at sikre, at de er i overensstemmelse med internationale standarder i forbindelse med de San Francisco Peaks og andre Indianske hellige steder, og at den træffe passende afhjælpende foranstaltninger .... regeringen bør reinitiere eller fortsætte konsultationerne med stammerne, hvis religioner praksis påvirkes af ski operationer på San Francisco Peaks og bestræber sig på at nå til enighed med dem om udviklingen af den skiområde.
Regeringen bør alvorligt overveje at suspendere tilladelsen til ændringerne af Snowbowl indtil en sådan aftale kan opnås, eller indtil, i mangel af en sådan aftale, er en skriftlig afgørelse, der træffes af en kompetent offentlig myndighed, at den endelige beslutning om skiområdet modifikationer er i overensstemmelse med USAs internationale forpligtelser på menneskerettighedsområdet.
"Den særlige rapportør ønsker at understrege behovet for at sikre, at handlinger eller beslutninger af regeringskontorer er i overensstemmelse med, ikke bare national ret, men også internationale standarder, som beskytter retten til indianske at praktisere og vedligeholde deres religiøse traditioner.
Den særlige rapportør er bekendt med de eksisterende statslige programmer og politikker at rådføre sig med oprindelige folk og tage hensyn til deres religiøse traditioner i regeringens beslutningsproces med hensyn til hellige steder.
Den særlige rapportør opfordrer indtrængende regeringen til at bygge videre på disse programmer og politikker for at opfylde de internationale standarder og derved at skabe en god praksis og blive en af verdens førende, at det kan i at beskytte rettighederne for oprindelige folk. "
Native Nations og miljøorganisationer har forsøgt at beskytte de San Francisco Peaks i retten.
Byretten fastslog for udviklingen i 2006.
Den niende Circuit Court of Appeals omstødte den lavere domstols afgørelse i 2007 og regerede i Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation og andre.
En tre-dommer panel af den niende Circuit fastslået, at Forest Service krænket Religious Freedom Restoration Act og National Environmental Policy Act i at tillade Snowbowl Resort at ekspandere over 100 acres af sjældne alpine økosystem, en del af det område, der er helligt for Native Peoples.
Den føderale regering anfægtet denne beslutning og bønfaldt den niende Circuit for domsforhandling en banc.
Sådanne andragender er sjældent givet, men Retten imødekom denne ene.
Sagen blev fremført foran 11-dommer en banc panel af den niende Circuit i Pasadena i december 2007.
The Ninth Circuit traf afgørelsen af en banc panel den 8. august 2008, kendelse til fordel for udviklingen.
De indfødte Nationer indsendt en stævning af certiorari for den amerikanske højesteret.
Den 8. juni 2009 afviste Højesteret at revidere beslutningen.
The Tribes attempted to reach some sort of administrative accommodation with the new Administration, but such efforts have not borne fruit. The Save the Peaks Coalition subsequently filed suit against the federal government on the NEPA issue that the Forest Service failed to adequately consider the ingestion of reclaimed sewer water. These were the same law and facts that the prior three judge panel considered in finding that the Forest Service had failed to comply with NEPA. The prior ruling was, however, rendered non-precedential by the en banc court in the Navajo case. Notwithstanding the Ninth Circuit's prior reasoning, Judge May Murguia of the US District Court ruled against the Save the Peaks Coalition on all counts. Shortly thereafter, her appointment by Obama to the Ninth Circuit was confirmed. The Save the Peaks Coalition appealed the ruling.
An openly hostile three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit not only ruled against the Coalition, but stated that the Save the Peaks Coalition and their attorney had abused the judicial process – with no basis of support for their accusations. Snowbowl is currently going after the plaintiffs and their pro bono lawyer, personally, for damages in the amount of approximately $280,000. The same three judges hear Snowbowl's motion.
In the interim, Snowbowl is pursuing the prosecution of peaceful protestors and seeking “retribution” from them. Some members of the Flagstaff community have begun a hunger strike. As a legal and practical matter, however, Snowbowl is now free to desecrate the Holy San Francisco Peaks with impunity.
For additional information, contact: Howard M. Shanker, The Shanker Law Firm, PLC, in Tempe and Flagstaff, Arizona, at (480) 838-9433 or howard@shankerlaw.net
California: McCloud River – Winnemem Wintu Tribe Prepares for Balas Chonos
The Winnemem Wintu Tribe of Northern California prepares for Balas Chonos, the Coming of Age Ceremony, despite opposition by the US Forest Service. The Tribe has asked the Forest Service to close 400 yards of the McCloud River to recreational motor boaters for the four days of the Ceremony, June 30-July 3. The Forest Service claims that it is stymied by the Bureau of Indian Affairs' federal recognition policy and cannot close the River because the Tribe is not federally recognized.
The Tribe says that federal recognition is only one of the federal relationships with tribal peoples. In California, 90% of the tribes were not included on a very short recognition list, which was issued without warning during the Reagan Administration. Even those with a long recorded historical relationship as tribes with the US government – those that were signatories to the unratified treaties and those on the California Judgment Roll, for example — were excluded from that recognition list. Some 300,000 traditional people and their human rights to ceremony are affected because of this policy. Under the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, all federal agencies have an obligation to protect and preserve Native American sacred places and ceremonies, and to consult with Native traditional religious leaders, irrespective of their federal or non-federal recognition status.
The Winnemem Wintu Tribe asserts its right to ceremony for Indigenous women under Article 11, 12 and 25 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Winnemem Chief Caleen Sisk is asking for the mandatory closure of the McCloud River for the Coming of Age Ceremony for Marisa Sisk, who will be the next Winnemem Chief. Although the Winnemem Wintu would prefer to focus on the celebrant, the Tribe says it “must continue on the long road to justice, educating the world as about what it is to be traditional in the United States.”
After unsatisfactory meetings with Forest Service officials, Chief Sisk called for a War Dance, or H'up Chonos, a ceremony conducted when there is nothing that can be done except to pray. Over 200 people came from as far north as Olympia, Washington, and as far south as Los Angeles to support the Winnemem with a non-violent closure, communicating with boaters about the fact there was a ceremony and asking them to respect that. One hundred percent of the recreational boaters respectfully turned around.
The Tribe said that the “only interference to this non-violent ceremony was the US Forest Rangers, who daily came through in two vehicles, one being a canine unit, and buzzed us with their boats, backed by the auxiliary Coast Guards; on the third day (the Forest Service) summarily shut down our closure efforts.”
The Winnemem say that the Forest Service denies the closure, even though it has: 1) clear evidence of racial harassment, interference and health and safety endangerment by drunken, speeding boaters who ignore the Forest Service's “voluntary closure”; 2) the Farm Bill that gives authority to close areas and rivers for ceremony; 3) the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; 4) the California AJR 39 joint resolution, which asserts that the state of California recognizes the Winnemem Wintu and urges the US Congress to recognize the Tribe; 5) an informal poll by the local Redding newspaper, which shows that the public supports honoring the right to ceremony, as well as overwhelming internet support; and 6) resolutions of support from Indigenous leaders at the 2012 UN Permanent Forum on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Tribe calls the show of force and the federal recognition issue “smoke and mirrors, and when the smoke clears, the Tribe suspects that the US Forest Service under the influence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs may be acting on behalf of special interests — the Bureau of Reclamation and Westlands Water, the largest water corporation in the world, which owns the area that is sacred to the Winnemem.” Westlands wants the Shasta Lake Dam Project, which will raise the dam by several feet. The Tribe says the project “will drown all of the sacred places which currently come out of the water for a few weeks each year, such as the Women's Healing Place and the Puberty Rock, and they will be lost forever.”
Chief Sisk says the Winnemem plan to “go forward with a dignified Ceremony, shored up by the War Dance prayers and backed by the promise of 300 – 400 supporters returning June 29 to close the 400 yards of the McCloud for four days for Marisa's Coming of Age. It is important for Marisa to know what she needs to do in these difficult times as a leader. The times are not peaceful, so a peaceful and dignified ceremony cannot be a lost goal. The goal is to do the best one can and never give up being Winnemem.
“The Winnemem Wintu ask for the prayers of all the good people gathered for National Prayers for Sacred Lands for the human right to ceremony without distinction between federally recognized and unrecognized, and specifically for the right for tribal women to ceremony. Women are the sacred center of life. We ask for prayers that the Shasta Lake Dam will not be further raised and for protection of our sacred Winnemem River, the sacred women's doctoring places, the Puberty Rock and the Children's Rock, as well as the safe return of the Tribe's salmon from New Zealand to their home waters above the dam. We ask for prayers that the Winnemem way of life will continue on. Hee Chala Bes-ken!”
Contact: Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk at caleenwintu@gmail.com or Misa Joo at misa@misajoo.com
California: Medicine Lake Highlands and Hatchet and Bunchgrass Mountains
Medicine Lake Highlands is a critically important tribal region located northeast of Mount Shasta in the mountains of northern California. The Pit River, Modoc, Shasta, Karuk, Wintu and other Tribes revere the area for its natural healing powers and for its connections to their Tribes' longstanding histories. For example, the Pit River Tribe believes that the Creator and his son bathed in Medicine Lake after they created the earth, and the Creator imparted his spirit to the waters. Because of the Lake's sacredness, Tribes from the coast of California to the Rocky Mountains use the surrounding area as a training ground for medicine people. The Highlands is also sought after by geothermal energy companies that have applied for development permits from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the US Forest Service (USFS), which manage the area.
Since the 1990s, the Pit River Tribe, Stanford Environmental Law Clinic and other supporters of the protection of the sacred Medicine Lake Highlands in northeastern California have been challenging the BLM and USFS failure to undertake adequate environmental review and tribal consultation for industrial-scale energy development in the Highlands. On November 6, 2006, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the BLM and USFS original extension of Calpine Corporation's geothermal leases in the Highlands violated both the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). The agencies should have prepared an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) before renewing the leases and should have included a “no action” alternative. Because the agencies violated NEPA and NHPA, both the five-year lease extensions and the subsequent 40-year extensions were undone. The Court also said that BLM and USFS violated their fiduciary duty to the Pit River Tribe by failing to complete an EIS before extending the Calpine leases.
When the case was sent back to the trial court to implement the Ninth Circuit's decision, the trial judge ruled that, notwithstanding the invalidation of the lease extensions, the 1988 leases were still intact. In response, Stanford Environmental Law Clinic (SELC) filed an appeal challenging the lower court's interpretation, which went directly against the original Ninth Circuit ruling. At the new hearing on March 10, 2010, the SELC attorneys maintained that the leases, originally issued in 1988 for a duration of five years, and renewed once, expired by their own terms when the 1998 renewals for 40 years were declared null and void by the Ninth Circuit judges.
In August 2010, the Ninth Circuit Court Order indicated that while the Fourmile Hill lease extensions and the project decision remain unacceptable, the underlying leases themselves, granted to Calpine in 1988, continue to be in force. The Federal Agencies (Forest Service and BLM) will need to do a new Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) involving more environmental review and consultations with the Tribe in order to evaluate whether or not these leases should be extended.
The court ruled that the agencies retain full discretion regarding the Fourmile Hill lease extensions. Therefore, all parties, the Pit River Tribe, BLM, United States Department of Justice and Cal Pine Energy Corporation continue negotiations on how a new EIS will look.
The culturally-important Hatchet and Bunchgrass Mountains and the surrounding lands in Traditional Pit River Indian Territory are in jeopardy of being destroyed, due to a plan to build 49 monolithic windmill energy turbines and related roads and ancillary, interconnections, operations and maintenance facilities in the heart of this region. Hatchet Ridge Wind Company, an affiliate of RES America Developments and Renewable Resources, is initiating its windmill construction project. The project would significantly and negatively alter over 100 acres of this natural region and include up to 49 turbines on steel towers with a height of up to 503 feet. Ancillary facilities would include a substation, an overhead transmission circuit, a switching/interconnection facility and a control room/operations and maintenance building. Access roads would be built, including 6.5 miles of 20-foot-wide permanent roads, and one mile of additional roads.
The project would have severe negative impact on sacred and cultural places, as well as on the winged and four-legged beings. Native people could no longer access particular ceremonial plants on Hatchet Mountain as part of their cultural practices and they do not support the project. The visual impact of the towers on the ridge destroys the integrity of the setting of this sacred area. Birds traditionally important to the local tribal culture, such as eagles, ospreys, ducks and geese, cross the ridge and would be shredded by the blades. Migration routes of deer across the ridge could be disrupted. Sound quality issues would also affect the serenity and isolation of the ridge, disrupting human experiences in the area.
Bunchgrass Mountain is just north of the area impacted by the project. An ancient trail runs along the top of the ridge top, connecting the Pit River to Goose Valley and sites downriver; in addition to regular travel, this trail is used to reach remote areas during vision quests and such quests continue among some young men. Clearly, the proposed windmill project will have severe negative impacts on the natural world, as well as the well being and cultural rights of Native peoples. Although these turbines have been built and are up and running, we are firm that this project is in violation of federal law and the Advocates for the Protection of Sacred Sites and their allies have protested against the project, will continue to do so and will not sit idly by and allow the destruction of important sacred and cultural regions to take place.
For more information on the efforts to protect the sacred Medicine Lake Highlands and Hatchet and Bunchgrass Mountains from the building of massive energy power facilities, contact the Advocates for the Protection of Sacred Sites: Radley Davis, Pit River Nation, 530-917-6064; Mark LeBeau, Pit River Nation, 916-801-4422; and James Hayward, Sr., Redding Rancheria, 530-410-2875
California: Needles – Ft. Mojave Indian Tribe, at the Topock Maze area
Saturday, June 23, 2012, at 6:00 am
The Ft. Mojave Indian Tribe remains in urgent need of prayer to protect the Maze and surrounding sacred areas along the Lower Colorado River. The Maze is both a physical manifestation and a spiritual pathway for the afterlife. It has always been, and will always be, an integral and significant part of the Mojave way of life, beliefs, traditions, culture and religion. The Mojave will observe the Prayer Day at the Topock Maze site.
Pacific Gas & Electric, by its ownership and operation of the Topock Natural Gas Compressor Station near Needles, California over the last 50 years, has polluted the groundwater under and around the Maze with hexavalent chromium, a toxic chemical that can cause numerous human and ecological health problems. PG&E, BLM and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control proceeded with Interim Measures to contain and investigate the contamination, which included the construction of a new Treatment Plant within the Maze area and the drilling of about 150 wells in California and Arizona, on either side of the Colorado River.
These, taken together, create continuing cumulative adverse impacts to the Mojave people, its sacred landscape and tribal religious beliefs.
In 2005, Ft. Mojave filed a state lawsuit seeking the removal of the plant, total restoration of the sacred area, an environmental baseline of prior to the plant's construction and any other actions that could serve to remedy the desecration. Settlement negotiations concluded in November 2006 aimed to achieve each of these goals and secure other remedies including repatriation of portions of the sacred area to tribal ownership, sensitivity training for PG&E employees and contractors, a written public apology and reimbursement of past and future Tribal costs.
In 2011, during selection of the Final Groundwater Remedy, DTSC made a finding that the Topock Cultural Area is an historic resource under state law and the BLM determined that a Traditional Cultural Property (TCP) or property of traditional religious and cultural significance within a 1,600 acre Area of Potential Effect is eligible for listing on the National Register under Criterion A, as part of what tribes have identified as a larger area of traditional and cultural importance.
Yet, DTSC and BLM failed to consult with the Tribe on the final mitigation measures, assuming they knew what was best for all the Tribal Governments along the Lower Colorado River and how the sacred area could be best protected. DTSC's failure to complete a legally adequate environment document, and failure to live up to certain terms in its settlement agreement with the Tribe, is the subject of a second lawsuit brought by the Tribe under state environmental laws. In its approval of the Final Groundwater Remedy, BLM has continued to put off dealing with mitigation for the continued impacts of up to 170 new wells and related infrastructure into the Tribe's sacred area, putting the sustainability of the Tribe's cultural and spiritual practices of the Tribe at further risk for decades to come.
Prayer is needed:
1) for DTSC and PG&E to swiftly bring to conclusion their settlements with the Tribe, and recognize the sovereignty of the tribal government and the agency's public policy goals of truly inclusive and transparent decision making,
2) for BLM and DOI to follow through on promises to require meaningful mitigation for tribal cultural concerns during groundwater and soils remedy design and to improve its management of the area,
3) for additional sacred land in this area to be repatriated to the Tribe and
4) to ask for forgiveness for any continuing desecration that may occur until the offending facilities, including the interim measure treatment plant, are finally removed and until other required restoration of the landscape occurs.
This issue is national in scope: the Maze has been officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978 and is formally recognized as nationally significant. Moreover, the failure of state and federal agencies to fully consider direct, indirect and cumulative impacts to Native Sacred Places during pollution remediation activities remains a national problem requiring Congressional Oversight. Pray that this oversight occurs at the highest levels.
Contact: Nora McDowell-Antone, Tribal Topock Project Manager, at (928) 768-4475, NoraMcDowell-Antone@fortmojave.com, or Courtney Ann Coyle, Tribal Attorney, at (858) 454-8687, CourtCoyle@aol.com
California: Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, Luiseño Ancestral Origin Landscape
Pechanga is in need of urgent prayer to continue to assist it in protecting the Luiseño Ancestral Origin Landscape from the Granite Construction Company's proposed Liberty Quarry. The proposed quarry would be located on a sacred mountain within the Luiseño People's sacred place of origin. Parts of this Origin Landscape have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973 as the Murrieta Creek Archaeological Area (exva Temeeku) and are also listed in the state's Sacred Lands File Inventory.
After many public hearings before the Riverside County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors, the quarry was DENIED this year! However, the Board on a 3:2 margin voted to APPROVE the inadequate environmental document under CEQA, potentially laying the groundwork for Granite to come back in the near future with a revised application to mine. This unusual turn of events means that the Origin Area is still at risk.
Granite wants to blast out the mountain, home to the Kammalam (ancestors in the form of rocks), so that it can produce aggregate. The quarry could operate for 75 years and, even after reclamation, would remain a permanent scar within the sacred landscape. It would also be located at the headwaters of the Santa Margarita River, the last remaining free flowing river to reach the Pacific Ocean in southern California, and be adjacent to the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve, which also includes part of the Origin Landscape.
The quarry would kill the mountain and forever disturb the sanctity of this incredibly beautiful and scenic area, located next to the reservation and at the doorstep of the City of Temecula.
In addition, the quarry would also pose environmental hazards to the Pechanga Community: air and water quality, visual and noise impacts, fire and emergency response, as well as sever a key wildlife linkage to and from the reservation. The Tribe was not consulted by the County of Riverside on these impacts during environmental review.
Pechanga respectfully requests prayer that:
1) Efforts to permanently prevent mining in any form at this location are successful and that
2) Tribal efforts to have this Origin Landscape formally recognized and protected will be successful.
For more information on the efforts to protect the Luiseño Ancestral Origin Landscape from the Liberty Quarry, contact Paul Macarro, Pechanga Cultural Coordinator at: pmacarro@pechanga-nsn.gov or (951) 770.8102 or Jacob Mejia at: jmejia@pechanga.com or (951) 770.2595.
California: Redlands – California-Pacific Committee on Native American Ministries of The United Methodist Church at the University of Redlands, Saturday, June 16, at 7:15 am
The California-Pacific Committee on Native American Ministries (CONAM) of The United Methodist Church will have prayer for sacred places on the Quad at the University of Redlands in Redlands, California. The public is welcome to join on Saturday, June 16, at 7:15 am
Contact: Suanne Ware-Diaz at soozware@yahoo.com or (571) 236-7274 for more information.
California: Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians – Burial & Ceremonial Grounds –
Traditional Mourning Ceremony, Saturday, June 23, Ocotillo Area, 7:00 pm
For over two years, the Viejas Band has been waging legal, political and public relations battles to save tribal burial grounds and ceremonial sites from destruction by local and federal agencies. Viejas has positive news to report one on front and heartbreaking news to report on another.
Padre Dam Site:
Over this last year, with your help, we made much progress towards protection and repatriation of a burial ground and ceremonial site on Padre Dam Municipal Water District property, which sought to develop a reservoir and pumping station on the site.
Settlement of the litigation is close at hand in which the site would be restored, protected in perpetuity and the land repatriated to the Tribe. Viejas is deeply grateful for the support it has received from the local community, Governor of California, Native American Heritage Commission and the Courts, which have sided with the Band on many different levels.
Viejas respectfully requests prayer for:
1) An appropriate alternative location for the project to be secured by the District,
2) The soils previously taken off site by the District to be returned to the property in as gentle a manner as possible and as quickly as possible, and
3) Forgiveness that the impacts occurred and that they will never happen again.
Ocotillo Express Wind Farm:
Meanwhile, Viejas and other tribes have been forced to defend our ancestors from further attacks and potential destruction of tribal cultural resources, sacred places and burial grounds by a number of major renewable energy and other utility projects in the local mountains and deserts that would forever alter the Cultural Landscape of the Kumeyaay Nation. These include: the Sunrise Powerlink Project, Tule Wind Project, Ocotillo Wind Express Project, Eco Station Project, Imperial Solar Project and others.
Just last month, over the strong objections of Kumeyaay Bands and the Quechan and Cocopah Peoples, local community members, environmental groups, unions, recreationists and state park supporters, the massively destructive Ocotillo Wind Express Facility was approved by the County of Imperial and the BLM. Ocotillo Express (Pattern Energy) wasted no time and immediately began clearing, scraping and destroying the area and would not agree to hold off on construction until a TRO could be heard.
The so called “Refined” Project would include 112 industrial-sized wind towers up to 460 feet high, 42 miles of new roads, 81 miles of undergrounded fiber optic cable, a 31-acre substation and switchyard, operation and maintenance building and other infrastructure such as parking, ponds and laydown areas that were not part of the NEPA and CEQA documents. The project Right of Way is across about 12,000 acres of federal public land and is surrounded by designated wilderness, Cultural Preserves, Areas of Critical Environmental Concern and shares a 5-mile border with Anza Borrego Desert State Park.
The project is within a valley that slopes from the mountains to the desert, and is mostly undeveloped Class L (Limited Use) lands. One ceremonial site, the Spoked Wheel Geoglyph, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2003, long before any wind project was proposed, and includes the whole viewscape from the site. The valley is ringed with sacred mountains — Coyote, Signal, Sombrero and Pinyon — and is used as a teaching area for tribal youth. Over 35,000 person hours were spent surveying and recording the massive amount of physical archaeology present at the site. The BLM relied solely on archeological values during the survey and only at the end of the NHPA Section 106 process acknowledged that the project area is a TCP within a larger TCP. Tribal Values considerations were an afterthought in the environmental documents and consultation was severely rushed due to arbitrary deadlines set by BLM to meet federal wind subsidy deadlines currently set for the end of 2012.
On June 23, Viejas and other Kumeyaay Bands will be holding a traditional Mourning Ceremony in the Ocotillo Area. The ceremony will begin at 7:00 pm and continue through the morning. The tribes will grieve for what has been lost and bring attention to efforts to save what is left of the area where the ancestors are laid to rest.
Viejas respectfully requests prayer that:
1) Preliminary Injunctions will issue to halt the destruction,
2) The BLM accepts historic human remains detection dog teams as a legitimate tool for identifying and avoiding ancestral cremation areas,
3) Subsidies and loans from federal and other entities are NOT granted for the project,
4) The Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) is NOT extended by Congress, and
5) That something good for the Tribal Peoples of our region comes out of this experience in the form of UNITY, DOCUMENTATION and RESPECT for traditional religious practices.
For more information, please contact: Robert Scheid, Viejas Public Relations Director, at (619) 659-2316 or by email at: rscheid@viejas-nsn.gov
Colorado: Boulder – Native American Rights Fund – Sunrise Ceremony, Wednesday, June 20
Please join us for a Sunrise Ceremony beginning at 7:00 am, on Wednesday, June 20, on the front lawn of the Native American Rights Fund, 1506 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado. The program and prayer service will last about one hour, followed by a potluck breakfast. Community members have been invited to speak, as well as other NARF staff. Speakers will be followed by a moment of silence to show concern for the sacred places that are being damaged and destroyed today.
In the United States, Native Americans are more closely tied to the land than any other group, yet the increasing exploitation of natural resources and population expansion has caused previously undisturbed tribal sacred places to become vulnerable to destruction. As part of its mission, the Native American Rights Fund has long advocated for sacred site protection, religious freedom efforts and cultural rights. Recently, NARF's Board of Directors has asked us to expand our efforts to protect lands that are sacred and precious to Native Americans.
Please show your solidarity for the protection of sacred places by joining us for the June 20 program. We ask you to bring food and/or beverages to share at the completion of the program.
Please join us! If you have any questions please contact Rose Cuny at 303-447-8760.
Kansas: Lawrence – Wakarusa Wetlands, Haskell Medicine Wheel – Open to the Public
Wednesday, June 20, at SUNRISE
Haskell Wetland Preservation Organization (WPO) and Save the Wakarusa Wetlands will observe National Prayer Day at SUNRISE, June 20th, beside the Wakarusa Wetlands at the Haskell Medicine Wheel, south of Lawrence, Kansas. Haskell WPO is a Native student organization. Save the Wakarusa Wetlands, Inc., is an association of local supporters, including Haskell Indian Nations University, Washburn University and Baker University alumni, students and supporters from all parts of the Lawrence community.
The ceremony will be held at the medicine wheel, where participants will erect a lodge pole at sunrise to mark the exact position of the Summer Solstice.
The event is open to all who wish to add their prayers to save this sacred place from the highway builders. Participants will ask for the protection of the Wakarusa Wetlands (aka, Haskell-Baker Wetlands), threatened by an eight-to-ten lane highway project approved by the Army Corps of Engineers, but delayed by a federal law suit filed by WPO and a consortium of supporter groups, including Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, Jayhawk Audubon, Kansas University Environs, Save the Wakarusa Wetlands, Kansas Sierra Club and KU EcoJustice.
Update:
On January 20, 2012 a panel of federal appeals court judges heard oral arguments challenging the state's efforts to construct 8-10 lanes of traffic across wetlands that once served as the primary refuge for Native children resisting cultural genocide. The written opinion could come at any time, but may not be released before mid-summer. For more than two decades, Haskell students and their allies have managed to block efforts to pave this sacred place, which was “surplussed” away from Haskell during the Eisenhower termination era. More than two thirds of Haskell's campus was “given away” by BIA officials at the time.
Last year, Republican Governor Sam Brownback announced that $192 million in Kansas taxpayer funds was being allocated for completion of the South Lawrence Trafficway. The SLT began as a scheme to help local developers turn the southern edge of Lawrence into a regional shopping mecca. In recent years, the SLT project has been hijacked by trucking interests that dream of turning two nearby closed military bases into national hubs for NAFTA product distribution. Thus, the SLT has mushroomed into an eight-to-ten lane behemoth promoted as key infrastructure. This latest version of the old frontier booster fable that the metro area is destined to be “the next Chicago” has all the officials of nearby towns clamoring for completion of the SLT.
Ironically, while in Congress, then-Senator Brownback sponsored a US apology to Native Americans for past egregious actions, but it specifically prohibited Native Peoples from taking any legal action that would provide redress or remedy for any of the actions, causing many Native people to call it a “hollow apology.”
About 600 acres of the Wakarusa Wetlands were located directly south of the dorms at Haskell Institute, the nation's largest and most tribally diverse federal off-reservation boarding school. This last major remnant of the wetlands was a crucial refuge where Native children from all across the country survived sustained government efforts to exterminate their cultures. Indian students took refuge in the Wakarusa Wetlands refuge — where they could speak their languages, sing their sacred songs and conduct ceremonies and dances that were federally punishable with starvation and jail time — and refused to let school authorities “kill the Indian” in them.
Parents and other tribal leaders camped, sometimes for weeks or months, beside these wetlands on the north bank of the Wakarusa. They were awaiting permission from school officials to let them reclaim or at least visit their children. These elders used the Wakarusa Wetlands as an outdoor classroom to pass on final lessons about healing and other traditional knowledge.
The wetlands quickly became the most essential place where Haskell students could get news about family and friends. The wetlands was where they heard about what was happening back home in the crucial era of allotments and the “surplussing” of their homelands. The wetlands also provided the least censored opportunity to send messages home whenever someone speaking a related language arrived in camp. Otherwise, the children had to learn enough English to send a letter home by way of school censors, and then further screened by the Indian agent when it reached their reservation, and again modified when the interpreter read their message to parents who often could neither read nor speak English. This place is soaked in Indian history, layered with the stories of Native elders and is the last resting place of some who came to Haskell in its darkest days. Spirit release ceremonies and clandestine burials took place in these wetlands. The disappeared and runaways are remembered here.
This sacred wetland, a place between land and water, is the largest intact trace of the original Wakarusa Bottoms, an 18,000-acre prairie wetland environment. It existed for thousands of years before white school officials obtained federal funds to drain it. Before Haskell opened, this place supplied Native Peoples of the region with valuable medicinal plants, important ceremonial items, waterfowl, furbearers and other relatives central to their ways of life.
Elders have said the Creator caused the course of the Wakarusa River to go directly east toward the rising sun, in sharp contrast to the other rivers in the region, as a sign of the abundant gifts to be found there.
Despite massive efforts to drain the wetlands in the early twentieth century — and Haskell's loss of all but a few acres of this property during the termination era — the Wakarusa Wetlands, like Haskell Indian Nations University itself, has survived and flourished. The entire historic Haskell campus, including the Wetlands, is being considered for designation as a National Historic Heritage area, but should have been declared a Traditional Cultural Property long ago.
Contact: Cleta Labrie cletalabrie@gmail.com President of Haskell Wetlands Preservation Organization (WPO); Dr. Dan Wildcat (WPO faculty adviser) at dwildcat@sunflower.com; or Michael Caron at (785) 842-6293 or by email at mcaron@sunflower.com with Save the Wakarusa Wetlands, Inc. Friend the Wetlands Preservation Organization on FACEBOOK.
Nebraska: Lincoln – National Congress of American Indians, Mid-Year Session
Nebraska State Capitol Grounds, North Plaza
Tuesday, June 19, Sunrise Ceremony
The National Congress of American Indians will sponsor a Sunrise Ceremony on Tuesday morning, June 19, at the Nebraska State Capitol grounds on the North Plaza. The NCAI is conducting its 2012 Mid-Year Session in Lincoln, Nebraska, June 17-20.
The NCAI Sunrise Ceremony will be held as a part of the observances and ceremonies during the National Days of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Places, from June 16 through June 24.
The public is invited to attend NCAI's respectful observance to honor sacred places, sacred beings and sacred waters, and all those who care for them and protect them from harm. Participants are asked to arrive no later than 7:00 am
For information about NCAI's Sunrise Ceremony, contact NCAI Deputy Director Robert Holden, 202.466.7767, email: rholden@ncai.org
New York: Ganondagan State Historic Site, at the Great White Pine Tree of Peace
Wednesday, June 20, at Noon
At Ganondagan State Historic Site in New York, there will be a Gahnonyoh (Thanksgiving), starting at Noon, on Wednesday, June 20, to protect sacred places and to promote world peace. “We invite spiritual leaders and the general public to join us on that day as we offer words of Thanksgiving or Gahnonyoh in Seneca,” says G. Peter Jemison (Seneca), who is the Caretaker of Ganondagan.
“We will gather before noon near the Great White Pine at the head of the Trail of Peace to offer words of Thanksgiving to the Creator,” says Jemison. “The event is open to the general public and all are welcome, but no photography, please.”
Ganondagan is the site of the seventeenth century town, once the capitol of the Seneca Nation, which was destroyed by the French in 1687. Today, it is the only historic site in New York dedicated to a Native American theme. Ganondagan is sacred to the Seneca People because nearby are the remains of Jikonhsaseh the Mother of Nations, who was the first person to accept the message of Peace brought by the Peacemaker, who united the Haudenosaunee or Five Nations: Seneca Nation, Cayuga Nation, Onondaga Nation, Oneida Nation and Mohawk Nation.
Contact: G. Peter Jemison at (585) 924-5848 or by e-mail at mailto:pjemison@rochester.rr.com
New York: New York City – Prayer of Remembrance for Sacred Places
Thursday, June 21, 1:00 pm
Hudson River at Bethune & West Streets
A Prayer of Remembrance for Sacred Places will take place on Thursday, June 21, at 1:00 pm The group will gather at the Hudson River in New York City at Bethune and West Streets.
The event is sponsored by Spiderwoman Theater, The Silvercloud Singers and the American Indian Community House.
Contact: Murial Borst-Tarrant at mborst1@msn.com or 551-208-3536.
Ohio: Peebles – Serpent Mound, Wednesday, June 20, 10:00 am – 9:00 pm
Newark – Newark Earthworks, Great Circle entryway, Thursday, June 21, 6:00 am/8:00 pm
Chillicothe – Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Mound City
Thursday, June 21, 7:00 pm
Oregonia – Fort Ancient Earthworks, Saturday, June 23, 5:30 am
In Ohio, there will be gatherings at the four major remaining earthworks sites to honor the brilliant achievements of the Indigenous Peoples who lived in the Ohio Valley 2,000 years ago and built enormous earthen architecture. Gatherings will occur near Peebles, in Newark, near Chillicothe and near Oregonia to acknowledge the original landscape, what has been lost and all that continues into the future. The public is invited to observe the National Day of Prayer to Protect Sacred Places at these places.
Two thousand years ago, Indigenous Peoples built more than 600 groups of earthworks, each group consisting of several large earthen geometric shapes with specific purposes. The earthworks were built by design, near creeks and rivers. Many of the earthworks are enormous, measuring from 20 to more than 50 acres in area, with walls varying from 3 to 30 feet tall and connected by walled earthen roadways; the design guided the Peoples through the earthworks along a ceremonial road. Large circles with entryways facing the east, squares with rounded corners and entryways, octagons with eight entryways, huge rectangular flat-topped or oval mounds, tall conical mounds and ceremonial roadways mark the Ohio Valley as a sacred landscape. In addition to using geometric forms to convey meaning and purpose, the builders used a standard unit of measure and other mathematical consistencies in the spacing of the earthworks. Distances between earthworks at Newark can be measured in multiples of 1,054 feet.
The Newark Earthworks consisted of four large earthworks built 2,000 years ago over a four-square mile area by the Peoples of the Hopewell Culture. Two remain preserved. The Octagon Earthworks is an astronomical calendar tracking the 18.6-year lunar cycle, marking the lunar standstills in spectacular moonrises. It was built in the shape of a circle and an octagon connected by a walled ceremonial road. The nearby Great Circle is itself nearly 1,200 feet in diameter and possibly had many uses, as a ceremonial center, for formal games such as stickball and as places of gathering. The Ellipse was a walled cemetery with many burial mounds and contained a number of earthen circles open to the east before it was excavated to clear the land for canals, railroads and heavy industry. The Wright Square stood between the Great Circle and the Ellipse cemetery, but has been destroyed by development.
Of the four major remaining sections of the Newark Earthworks, all but one have been acknowledged as sacred places and have become state parks/monuments. However, the Octagon Earthworks are leased to a private country club and open to the public only four days per year. The Ellipse cemetery is owned privately and currently being prepared for sale as an industrial park.
Serpent Mound is one of two effigy mounds in Ohio, and one of the largest anywhere in the world. Its iconic aerial outline is known far beyond the borders of this state. Nearly a quarter of a mile long, the undulating coils made of three foot tall earthen walls curve from a spiral tail to a head pointing across the Brush Creek valley at the point on the southwestern horizon where the sun sets on the summer solstice. Recent scholarly work points to a construction of this unique mound at about 1070 CE, later than many of the more geometric enclosures around Ohio. The landscape is also marked by geological interest. A “crypto-explosion” crater cradles the arc of the valley where Serpent Mound lays on a bluff; the result of a meteorite that folded the crust of the earth when it struck 250 million years ago. This bluff of sandstone also has interest, as a visitor may walk down to creek side and look back up at the point where the “serpent's head” ends, and see a snake headed prow of stone poke out over the water below.
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park is made up of five sites in and around the city of Chillicothe, Ohio, where once could be seen the largest concentration of earthworks complexes anywhere in the world. Mound City is the name for the central enclosure, a rounded-cornered square that was one of the ancient cemeteries alongside the Scioto River where the National Park Service has its visitor center. Almost entirely destroyed during World War I by the construction of training camps and industry to support the war effort, it was rebuilt from the original foundations and above surviving parts of mounds during the 1930s and in another major effort during the 1960s and 1970s. An alignment along three of these reconstructed mounds, pointing towards a southwestern corner gateway of Mound City, is a dramatic view, and casts the entire complex into vivid contrast. The possible astronomical alignments for this and other units, such as the Hopewell Mound Group west of the city, are still being studied, using both old maps and surveys, and non-intrusive studies that can trace where walls and their associated clays still can be seen.
Fort Ancient is a vast, irregular enclosure with three miles of wall atop a pair of plateaus next to the Little Miami River valley. Military language was attributed to this location by early European occupants, who named features “North Fort” and “South Fort,” but later studies show that combat and conflict seem to have been entirely absent from this sacred site. Fort Ancient is the archaeological label used for a later cultural phase in Ohio, but much of the site was built around the same time as Newark and Chillicothe. Reflecting pools of water were built into the site to create a sense of place – world above, world below. More recent surveys have shown that four compass aligned stone mounds in the “North Fort,” were built alongside the traces of a circle, perhaps a “woodhenge” where posts in a circle aided in astronomical calculation and prediction. Fires were built on top of stone mounds into the historic era. From one of those stone mounds, on mornings near the summer solstice, a particular entryway to the northeast pours a path of light across the leveled plaza, until it paints the surface of the mound.
Many of the major earthworks in Ohio are now under consideration for designation as World Heritage Sites by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and a proposal is being prepared. For additional information about the Earthworks, see: http://whc.unesco. org/en/tentative lists/5243/. For more information about Solstice events see: www.AncientOhioTrail.org
Tennessee: Muscogee “Creek” Citizens Gathering, The Great Mound of Mound Bottom, Saturday, June 23, 10:00 am
Sellars Farm State Archaeological Area, Lebanon, Wilson County
Sunday, June 24, 2:00 pm
A Muscogee “Creek” Citizens Gathering will take place on Saturday, June 23, at 10:00 am, at The Great Mound, Mound Bottom archaeological site, in observance of the National Sacred Places Prayer Days. “This gathering will be ceremonial to honor and lift up the Mound,” said Melba Checote-Eads (Muscogee), who is organizing the gathering. “We will observe a day of prayer, singing, gifting and feasting at Mound Bottom, as is Muscogee tradition. Water will be furnished by Muscogee Citizens.”
Ms. Checote-Eads asks people to reserve a space by calling her at 615-765-5854, to bring a bag lunch and beverage, to wear hiking boots and to meet in the picnic area: “We will meet at the picnic area near the Harpeth River beside the Mound. We will walk one mile to the Mound and transportation will be provided for those unable to make the walk.” The group will tour the Mound at 10:00 am with Ranger Gary Patterson.
Mound Bottom is located in Cheatham County along the horseshoe bend of the Harpeth River. Mound Bottom is approximately one mile north of the point where US Route 70 crosses the Harpeth River, on the outskirts of Kingston Springs, Tennessee. The site is managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation as part of Harpeth River State Park. The Great Mound of Mound Bottom dates to the Mississippian era (900 AD-1300). Mound Bottom is about 100 acres and is nearly surrounded by the Harpeth River.
The flat-topped embankment that dominates the view from Mace Bluff is the largest of at least 14 Mounds that remain. The Great Mound stands 25 feet tall and 47 square feet in area; the remains of an earthen ramp leading from the plaza to the top of this Mound can still be seen. The entire complex, which is believed to have included hundreds of houses, was surrounded by an earthen wall topped with a palisade of upright logs. Mound Bottom likely began as a ceremonial meeting place around 950 AD and grew to become a fortified city with a population numbering in the thousands. Mound Bottom was part of a vast trade network that extended to Native Peoples in the Great Lakes area, Gulf Coast region and the Appalachian Mountains.
There also will be a gathering at the Sellars Farm on the following day, Sunday, June 24, at 2:00 pm The Sellars Farm State Archaeological Area is located in Wilson County: off Hwy-70 left at Poplar Rd., in Lebanon, Tennessee. The group will tour the Mound area and walk the path around the Mound, which is near Spring Creek, a tributary of the Cumberland River. Participants are asked to bring a bag lunch.
Ms. Checote-Eads describes the Mound site as covered with trees, grasses and wild flowers. It was a large village and trade area during the Mississippian Period. In 1939, a farmer dug up four statues, which were made between 600 and 800 years ago. Two of the statues are in the McClung Museum at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and have been featured on a US postage stamp.
For additional information, contact: Melba Checote Eads at melbaceads@dtccom.net or 615 765-5854.
Washington, DC: United States Capitol, West Front Grassy Area
June 20, Wednesday, at 8:30 am
The observance in Washington, DC, will take place at the US Capitol on the West Front Grassy Area on Wednesday, June 20, at 8:30 am The public is invited to attend this respectful observance to honor sacred places, sacred beings and sacred waters, and all those who care for them and protect them from harm. The observance will take the form of a talking circle.
All are welcome to offer good words, songs or a moment of silence for all sacred places, beings and waters, especially for those that are being threatened, desecrated or damaged at this time.
This observance is organized by The Morning Star Institute, a national Native rights organization founded in 1984 and dedicated to Native Peoples' cultural and traditional rights, including religious freedom and sacred places protection. The observance will be conducted by Mary Phillips (Omaha & Laguna Pueblo).
Contact: The Morning Star Institute at (202) 547-5531, Suzan Shown Harjo at suzan_harjo@yahoo.com or Mary Phillips at trumpetnative@aol.com or 510-205-4501.
Washington: Snoqualmie Falls, at the Cedar Tree, Friday, June 22, 11:30 am
Water is universally a Sacred Being, part of sacred ceremonies in all faiths and religions.
Snoqualmie Falls in Washington State is a place recognized as Sacred for thousands of years. For the Snoqualmie and other Tribes of the Puget Sound region, this is the Transformer's gift to the People.
It is a 268-foot waterfall listed on the Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property. Over two million people come from all over the world to visit Snoqualmie Falls annually. Puget Sound Energy owns and operates a hydroelectric facility there. Snoqualmie Falls is impacted and desecrated by diversion of a significant portion of the water from the river by a hydroelectric facility before it can complete the Sacred Cycle of reaching the base of the falls and creating a healing connection by its transformation to legendary mists that connect worlds, carry prayers, and deliver blessings.
Puget Sound Energy, a public utility, owns and operates a public park located there. A popular hiking trail down to the viewing area near the base of the falls continues to be closed to visitors until sometime in 2013. Access to the base of the Falls, specifically a spiritually powerful location, is blocked.
On Friday, June 22nd, at 11:30 am, there will be a gathering, rain or shine, at Snoqualmie Falls.
We welcome anyone who would like to respectfully join together in Spirit for observance of our Sacred Places across the globe that are in need. Join us and others that are gathering to pray, each in our own way for their protection.
“When one is uplifted, we all are uplifted”.
“We give thanks for the teachings of the Sacred. We give thanks that we are still here. We give thanks for the breath of the Spirit”.
We pray for one another.
In the Spirit of Snoqualmie Falls, Lois Sweet Dorman.
Contact: Lois Sweet Dorman, Snoqualmie, at nightfishes@qwest.net.
World Peace & Prayer Days – Gray Horn Butte (Devil's Tower), June 16
Medicine Wheel, June 17
Grand Tetons, June 18 – 21
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 21
Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe: “Once again I am sending my voice to all Nations upon Mother Earth, those who can hear my sincerity with their hearts – - unite together at our Sacred Sites creating an energy shift of a great healing on this June 21st. We need to see and listen to the wamakas'ka (the animals) who are more than ever now showing their sacred color of white, there are so many. This color represents the direction of when physical life now goes into the spirit journey. They are trying to warn us to pay attention to our responsibilities as a Global Nation. In order to protect the remaining sacredness that is trying to survive upon Mother Earth, which includes even our own children, we now have no choice but to unify and make positive decisions together.
“To honor the birthplace of World Peace and Prayer Day/Honoring Sacred Sites where it all began in 1996, we will gather at Gray Horn Butte, aka “Devils Tower” on June 16th. Peace Riders who made the '96 journey from Canada to
Gray Horn on horse back, will join us and offer prayers as well and plant a Peace Pole reading “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in 4 different languages. We will do the same offering on June 17th at Medicine Wheel. On June 18th we will gather at the Grand Tetons to begin one of the many events of WPPD throughout the world. The Grand Tetons will be the beginning of a four day event to bring attention for the need to protect the last of the true wild Buffalo (bison) that exist in Yellow Stone National Park, they are in constant danger of being massacred when caught off park property.
“On June 21st I will pray with thousands of People at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development or Rio+20 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As part of the various gatherings and celebrations that will be held as part of the Sacred Earth Gathering in Aldeia Nova Terra during the month of June parallel to the conference, there will be a very special ceremony to celebrate World Peace and Prayer Day/Honoring Sacred Sites along with various representatives of the Brazilian indigenous tribes and spiritual leaders from different nations. The intent is to honor this day not only in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil but to also invite the participation of other WPPD activities worldwide to join though simultaneous acts of prayer and song so as to be united spiritually on this June 21st to celebrate the 2012 World Peace and Prayer Day/Honoring Sacred Sites. Onipiktec'a (that we shall live).”
Contact: Paula Horne-Mullen, Wolakota.org http://wppd2012.com/
The Morning Star Institute, 611 Pennsylvania Ave., SE #377, Washington, DC 20003 (202) 547-5531
