Aunque la fecha ha pasado por el grupo de oración de este anuncio nos muestra muchos sitios sagrados que necesitan de nuestra protección y la oración. Puede ser bueno para enviar la oración al sitio más cercano a usted y se centran en esa área. A continuación, enviar sus oraciones a todos los otros lugares. Unidos somos fuertes ......... unidos somos fieles .... unidos creamos equilibrio ...... gracias, Miriam

THE MORNING STAR INSTITUTE
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Noticias Declaración Para publicación inmediata

16 a 24 jun 2012 SET PARA NACIONALES DE ORACIÓN LUGARES SAGRADOS DÍAS

Washington, DC (15/06/12)-Las celebraciones y ceremonias se llevarán a cabo por todo el país a partir de junio 16 a 24 de junio para conmemorar los 2012 Días Nacionales de Oración para la Protección de los Lugares Sagrados nativos americanos. La celebración en Washington, DC se llevará a cabo el miércoles, 20 de junio a las 8:30 am, en los Estados Unidos jardines del Capitolio, Zona Oeste Frente Grassy (ver detalle en el área de Washington, DC inclusión en la lista alfabética por el estado en las páginas siguientes ).

Descripciones de ciertos lugares sagrados y las amenazas que enfrentan, así como los tiempos y lugares para conmemoraciones públicas se enumeran a continuación. Algunos de los encuentros destacados en este comunicado de prensa son foros educativos no, ceremonias religiosas, y están abiertos al público en general. Otros son ceremoniales y puede llevarse a cabo en privado. Además de los enumerados a continuación, habrá celebraciones y oraciones ofrecidos en otros lugares sagrados que se encuentran amenazados y en peligro de extinción los que no en este momento.

"Los indígenas y no indígenas a nivel nacional se reúnen en este momento para las ceremonias del solsticio y para honrar a los lugares sagrados, pero todos podemos honrar a estas preciosas tierras y aguas en todo momento por simple respeto de ellos y la vida que albergan y no permitiendo que puedan verse perjudicados, ", dijo Suzan Se muestra Harjo (Cheyenne y Muscogee Hodulgee). Es presidenta de The Morning Star Institute, que organiza los Días Nacionales de Oración Lugares Sagrados. "Las ceremonias se llevan a cabo en la medida de muchos pueblos nativos americanos están comprometidos en las luchas legales con las agencias federales que del lado de los desarrolladores que pongan en peligro o destruir los lugares sagrados indígenas", dijo Harjo.

"Desde un fallo de la Corte Suprema de los EE.UU. en 1988 que no hay una causa constitucional o legal de acción para defender los lugares sagrados indígenas, los nativos americanos son los únicos pueblos en los Estados Unidos que no tienen una puerta a la corte para proteger los lugares sagrados o en el sitio específicos de ceremonias ", dijo Harjo. "Eso tiene que cambiar simplemente como una cuestión de justicia y equidad. Naciones nativos han sido improvisar protecciones basadas en las defensas destinadas a otros fines. Algunas agencias pueden permitir a un lugar en la mesa cuando el desarrollo se ha previsto, pero la mayoría no lo hacen y los pueblos nativos no son tomadas en serio por las agencias y desarrolladores saben que la Corte Suprema no parece dispuesto a escuchar las demandas que carecen de un derecho a la medida de acción ".

Durante su campaña presidencial en 2008, el entonces senador Obama abordó este tema como parte de su plataforma política americana nativa de la libertad religiosa, los derechos culturales y la protección de los lugares sagrados: "Nativos americanos lugares sagrados y ceremonias específicas del sitio se encuentran amenazados por el desarrollo, la contaminación y el vandalismo. Barack Obama apoya la protección legal para los lugares sagrados y las tradiciones culturales, incluidas las zonas de enterramiento antepasados ​​indígenas y de las iglesias. "

Muchos de los Pueblos Indígenas aprobada candidato Obama por su posición sobre los lugares sagrados indígenas, pero han perdido la esperanza en la creciente disparidad entre lo que el candidato apoyado y lo que la Administración del Presidente ha hecho en los lugares sagrados. El Servicio Forestal, la Oficina de Administración de Tierras, el Departamento de Justicia y otras agencias federales están activamente poniendo en peligro los lugares sagrados y la lucha contra los pueblos indígenas que están tratando de proteger los lugares sagrados en los procesos judiciales y administrativos.

El Congreso Nacional de Indios Americanos, la mayor y más antigua organización nacional de la India, ha pedido al Congreso a promulgar una ley que proporcionaría una causa de acción, para el Presidente de actualizar y reforzar la Orden Ejecutiva vigente sobre sitios sagrados indígenas y para el Bosque Servicio de utilizar las leyes y políticas para proteger los lugares sagrados indígenas americanos. Al mismo tiempo, el Servicio Forestal ha promocionado como un logro para los lugares sagrados de su proyecto de informe, que fue denunciado rotundamente en territorio indio, y un informe revisado se mantiene en secreto, en contra de la posición de la Administración en consulta con las tribus.

"El Presidente ha pedido directamente a un llamado al Congreso para crear un derecho de acción para que podamos defender nuestros lugares sagrados, para mejorar el Decreto para los sitios sagrados indígenas y detener el Servicio Forestal y otros organismos de continuar sus largas décadas de asalto contra los lugares sagrados indígenas ", dijo Harjo. "Sigo siendo optimista de que el Presidente puede y va a hacer estas cosas, incluso si el Congreso no está en condiciones de avanzar en este o en cualquier área. Una vez más, pedimos que este será el último año que se les niega la justicia por los poderes Ejecutivo, Legislativo y Judicial. "

El Relator Especial de la ONU sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas ha recomendado que los EE.UU. posibilidad de retirar el permiso federal que está permitiendo a una estación de esquí privada para utilizar las aguas residuales recicladas para fabricar nieve en la cima de los picos de San Francisco, que son sagrados para muchas naciones nativas en el suroeste. El Relator Especial también ha pedido a los EE.UU. para consultar y devolver lugares sagrados para los pueblos indígenas.

"Los pueblos nativos americanos alienta que el presidente cambió la posición de EE.UU. y aprobada Declaración de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas, y esperamos con interés su aplicación a la ley de EE.UU. y la práctica", dijo la Sra. Harjo.

La Declaración incluye las siguientes declaraciones con respecto a los lugares sagrados:

"El artículo 11, 1: Los pueblos indígenas tienen derecho a practicar y revitalizar sus tradiciones y costumbres culturales. Esto incluye el derecho a mantener, proteger y desarrollar las manifestaciones pasadas, presentes y futuras de sus culturas, como lugares arqueológicos e históricos, utensilios, diseños, ceremonias, tecnologías, artes visuales e interpretativas y literaturas.

"El artículo 11, 2: Los Estados proporcionarán reparación por medio de mecanismos eficaces, que podrán incluir la restitución, establecidos conjuntamente con los pueblos indígenas, respecto a los bienes culturales, intelectuales, religiosos y espirituales de que hayan sin su consentimiento libre, previo e informado o en violación de sus leyes, tradiciones y costumbres ".

"El artículo 12, 1: Los pueblos indígenas tienen derecho a manifestar, practicar, desarrollar y enseñar sus tradiciones espirituales y religiosas, costumbres y ceremonias, el derecho a mantener, proteger y tener acceso en privado a sus lugares religiosos y culturales, el derecho del a utilizar y vigilar sus objetos de culto,. así como el derecho a la repatriación de sus restos humanos "

"Artículo 25: Los pueblos indígenas tienen derecho a mantener y fortalecer su propia relación espiritual con las que tradicionalmente han poseído u ocupado y utilizado las tierras, territorios, aguas, mares costeros y otros recursos ya asumir sus responsabilidades para con las generaciones futuras en este ámbito."

El 2012 observancias son la décima parte de las Jornadas de Oración Nacional para la Protección de los Lugares Sagrados Indígenas Americanos. El primer Día Nacional de Oración se llevó a cabo el 20 de junio de 2003, en el recinto del Capitolio de EE.UU. y en todo el país para destacar la necesidad de que el Congreso apruebe una causa de acción para proteger los lugares sagrados indígenas. Que existe todavía la necesidad.

Las oraciones serán ofrecidas por los lugares sagrados siguientes, entre otros:

Antelope Hills. Apache Leap. Badger Two Medicine. Badlands. Bear Butte. Bear Lake. Oso Medicine Lodge. Black Hills. Negro Mesa. Blue Lake. Boboquivari Mountain. Bunchgrass Mountain. Cave Rock. Cliff Jefe. Tierras Costeras Chumash Sagradas en la costa Gaviota. Cocopah Entierro y ceremoniales. Coldwater Springs. Colorado River. Columbia River. Rocas Deer Medicina. Dzil Nchaa Si An (Mount Graham). Eagle Rock. Everglades.

Fajada Butte. Ganondagan. Gran Montículo (Abajo Mound). Golfo de México. Haleakala Crater. Hatchet Mountain. Hickory Ground. Holy Mountain. Nación Hualapai accidentes geográficos y los Cañones en Truxton báculo. Indian Pass. Kaho'olawe. Kasha-Katuwe. Katuktu. Kituwah. Klamath River. Kumeyaay vendas y ceremoniales. Lago Superior. Luiseno Paisaje origen ancestral. Mauna Kea. Laberinto. Medicina Bluff. Medicina Hole. Medicine Lake Highlands. Ruedas de Medicina. Migi zii wa pecado (Eagle Rock). Mokuhinia. Moku'ula. Mount Shasta. Mount Taylor. Monte Tenabo. Nine Mile Canyon.

Ocmulgee Old Fields y Monumento Nacional. Onondaga Lake. Palo Duro Canyon. Petroglifos Monumento Nacional. Pipestone National Monument. Puget Sound. Puvungna. Pyramid Lake Stone Madre. Quechan Entierro y ceremoniales. Rainbow Bridge. Rattlesnake Island. Río Grande. San Francisco Peaks. Serpent Mound. Snoqualmie Falls. Sweetgrass Hills. Sutter Buttes. Tse Whit Village zen. Tsi-Litch Semiahmah Village. Valle de los Jefes. Valmont Butte. Wakarusa Humedales. Caminando lugar de la mujer. Woodruff Butte. Wolf River. Yucca Mountain. Zuni Salt Lake. Los lugares sagrados de todas las naciones nativas eliminados. Todas las aguas y los humedales.

Arizona: Mount Graham, Dzil Nchaa Si un

Mount Graham es sagrado para las personas occidentales de Apache y se sabe que el Apache de San Carlos como Dzil Nchaa Si An. Es un paisaje sagrado donde Gaan o espíritus de la montaña residir y ancestral resto Apache. Es un lugar de ceremonias y las plantas medicinales, y el hogar de la ardilla en peligro el Monte Graham rojo. Las montañas Pinaleño o Graham Mount es un tesoro ecológico único. Es la montaña más alta en el sur de Arizona y abarca seis zonas de vida diferentes desde el fondo del valle a su pico a 10.720 pies Llamado un "Sky Island" los ecosistemas, los bosques primarios en la cumbre del Monte Graham, Arizona son el equivalente de las selvas tropicales. Los abundantes manantiales y prados de alta montaña han ofrecido sustento y una fuente de sanación para personas de Apache que viven en el desierto. Las características frescas y húmedas de la montaña han cultivado 18 plantas y animales únicas en el mundo.

En la década de 1980, la Universidad de Arizona y sus socios en el momento, incluyendo el Vaticano y la Institución Smithsonian, eligió el Monte Graham como el sitio para la construcción de un observatorio con siete telescopios de grandes dimensiones conocido como el Proyecto Columbus. A partir de 1988, la delegación del Congreso de Arizona logró obtener exenciones para el proyecto de especies en peligro de extinción, conservación ambiental, histórico y otras leyes. En 1989, la Universidad de Arizona se le concedió un permiso de 20 años de uso especial por el Bosque Nacional de Coronado y el Servicio Forestal de los EE.UU., y los jinetes apropiación mantuvo el proyecto a ras de beneficios públicos sin tener que cumplir con las leyes o reglamentos federales, incluyendo federal indio leyes destinadas a proteger la libertad religiosa, los cementerios y los bienes culturales. Voceros del Vaticano declaró que el Monte Graham no era un lugar religioso o sagrado. Empleados de la Universidad y grupos de presión intentó minar la reputación de los líderes religiosos y practicantes de Apache, y retuvo al menos un funcionario de San Carlos tribal a declarar que la montaña no era sagrado o significativo para los pueblos Apache.

Durante décadas, los pueblos de Apache, científicos, conservacionistas y estudiantes universitarios se han resistido a la Universidad de Arizona decisión de construir los telescopios en la cima de la Montaña. A pesar de la nubosidad frecuente hace telescopio visión marginal y el Monte Graham se clasificó 38 º en un estudio de los sitios astronómicos en los EE.UU., la delegación del Congreso de Arizona y la Universidad han persistido con el proyecto. Hoy en día, la construcción de telescopios y de cierre resultante federal de la parte superior de la Montaña están profanando la montaña y su relación con los pueblos insustituible Apache.

La lucha continúa para proteger el patrimonio natural y cultural del Monte Graham de la destrucción sienta un precedente aún siendo causado por la Universidad en la construcción de un observatorio en el Monte Graham. Los esfuerzos de protección cultural y las organizaciones ambientales y las tribus afectadas para proteger la santidad del Monte Graham continúan sin cesar.

La Universidad de Arizona está operando su observatorio sin un permiso de uso especial válida. Sus 20 años de permiso federal expiró el 19 de abril de 2009. La Universidad ha solicitado al Bosque Nacional de Coronado por un nuevo permiso, pero, a partir de junio de 2012, la decisión de conceder o no el permiso no se ha realizado todavía. El Servicio Forestal ha determinado que necesita para preparar una Declaración de Impacto Ambiental (EIA) para reunir información sobre las ventajas y desventajas de la concesión de un nuevo permiso. La Universidad se ha opuesto enérgicamente a un EIS nuevos. De la poca información que la Coalición Mount Graham y la Tribu Apache San Carlos ha aprendido, el Servicio Forestal de los abogados de la universidad están "en conversaciones" para determinar la forma final del proceso de renovación de permiso.

Hay una serie de razones para el Servicio Forestal de negar un permiso nuevo. El permiso caducado tenido una serie de términos y condiciones que fueron violados por la Universidad. Muchas de estas condiciones debería haber dado lugar a la revocación del permiso, pero no lo hizo. Todas estas violaciónes necesitan ser estudiados para determinar si la Universidad puede seguir las reglas de un nuevo permiso.

Las condiciones del Monte Graham han cambiado sustancialmente desde que el permiso fue concedido y el observatorio es aún menos compatible con la importancia religiosa y ecológica del Monte Graham. Dado que el permiso fue concedido, la "forma" del Monte Graham ha sido considerado elegible para la inclusión en la lista nacional de lugares históricos. Además, el Servicio Forestal reconoce ahora que el Monte Graham es un establecimiento tradicional Culturales a personas occidentales Apache y ha tomado medidas para consultar (aunque tiene un largo camino por recorrer) con Apache tradicional sobre la naturaleza sagrada de la montaña y cómo protegerse ella. La Universidad podrá ir al Congreso para una nueva exención a la libertad religiosa y las leyes ambientales y para forzar el Servicio Forestal de emitir un nuevo permiso. Los partidarios del Monte Graham sería el último en enterarse de cualquier presión a lo largo de estas líneas y deben estar siempre vigilantes para evitar que esto suceda.

Por estas y muchas otras razones, es importante para los partidarios de los pueblos Apache y el Monte Graham para instar al Servicio Forestal de la Universidad de negar un permiso nuevo y exigen que los telescopios existentes en el Monte Graham se retira.

Después de 20 años de construcción, el proyecto gran telescopio todavía no es completa y las preguntas siguen siendo muy graves acerca de su importancia, utilidad y función desde el punto de vista astronómico. Lo que no está en cuestión es la ofensa permanente a los pueblos occidentales de Apache. Igualmente claro es el estado peligroso de los nativos ardilla Mount Graham rojo. La encuesta más reciente llevada a cabo por los biólogos estiman que sólo 214 de esta especie única, que se encuentra ahora en qué otro lugar en la tierra, permanecen. Se ha identificado por los biólogos como uno de los mamíferos más probabilidades de extinguirse en los Estados Unidos en el futuro previsible.

Varios incendios devastaron la cima del Monte Graham en los últimos años. Se luchó para proteger los telescopios más que en el ecosistema y, en consecuencia, se ha hecho mucho daño a la Montaña que se podrían haber evitado. El Servicio Forestal ha decidido adelgazar el bosque y manipular el ecosistema para tratar de proteger lo que queda y restaurar lo que ha sido dañado. Los incendios actuales que queman en el este y sur de Arizona reforzar el peligro de que las nuevas medidas se tomarán proteger las estructuras sobre los valores de vida silvestre y espiritual.

Las oraciones y la diligencia son ahora más necesarios que nunca para Mount Graham. El ecosistema está seriamente amenazada por el cambio climático y otros patrones de destrucción, hay una oportunidad para el Servicio Forestal de negar un permiso nuevo para los telescopios y requieren ser removidos, y existe la posibilidad de proteger el ecosistema existente y restaurar algunos de lo que se ha perdido. Y, el carácter sagrado del Monte Graham sigue siendo cuestionada y, aunque la montaña es capaz de protegerse, los partidarios pueden ayudar a protegerlo.

Para obtener más información, póngase en contacto con la Coalición de Mount Graham, Roger Featherstone, Presidente, greenfire@featherstone.ws, o Bear Dinah, Secretario, en Bear6@verizon.net

Arizona: Picos de San Francisco

Los picos de San Francisco son sagrados para Apache, Hopi, Hualapai, Navajo, Yavapai y otras naciones nativas. Los picos de San Francisco son el hogar de muchos seres sagrados, lugares de medicina y sitios de origen. Myriad ceremonias se llevan a cabo allí durante la curación, así los ciclos de bienestar, el equilibrio, la conmemoración, pasajes y agua en el mundo y la vida.

Los picos de San Francisco se encuentran en tierras federales dentro del Bosque Nacional de Coconino. En efecto, el Servicio Forestal de los EE.UU. ha indicado que los picos de San Francisco son sagrados y santos a más de trece tribus en el suroeste de Estados Unidos.

No obstante lo anterior, el Servicio Forestal y el complejo de esquí Snowbowl de propiedad privada, que se encuentra en los Picos de San Francisco, tiene planes de ampliar la zona de esquí y de utilizar aguas residuales recicladas para fabricar nieve artificial. Los planes de expansión y las aguas residuales a la nieve podría tener un impacto desastroso en las religiones indígenas y las personas y en el agua y la salud de toda la región. El desarrollo rastrero recreo ha preocupado a los líderes espirituales indígenas y tribales durante décadas, pero los planes actuales superan con creces la pasada actividad en el complejo.

Planes Snowbowl PARA claros 74 acres de hábitat raro alpino que es el hogar de especies amenazadas, realice nuevas pistas de esquí y remontes, añadir más plazas de aparcamiento y construir un gasoducto millas 14,8 enterrado para transportar un máximo de 180 millones de galones (por temporada) de las aguas residuales para hacer nieve artificial en 205 acres. A pesar de las continuas protestas y huelgas de hambre, Snowbowl ha iniciado la construcción de su cartera de aguas residuales para la fabricación de nieve, con la aprobación y la protección por el Servicio Forestal y el Departamento de Agricultura de EE.UU..

Navajo Nation Comisión de Derechos Humanos Presidente H. Duane Yazzie declaró ante el Comité del Senado sobre Asuntos Indígenas 2011 "audiencia sobre la aplicación de EE.UU. de la Declaración de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas:" La integración de la Declaración en la legislación vigente se centrará sustancial en el valor de los lugares sagrados, en lugar de imponer una carga indebida en el procedimiento. Asimismo, la Declaración se hará hincapié en la política internacional en lugar de depender de la política interna solo. Legislativamente abordar jurisprudencia legislación de la India se compromete a reparar el despojo de los derechos de los nativos americanos a los lugares sagrados. "

El Relator Especial de Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas recomendó en 2011 que "el Gobierno de Estados Unidos realizar un examen exhaustivo de sus políticas y medidas pertinentes para garantizar que se encuentren en cumplimiento de las normas internacionales en relación con los Picos de San Francisco y otros nativos americanos lugares sagrados, y que adopte las medidas correctivas adecuadas .... el Gobierno debe reiniciar o continuar las consultas con las tribus cuyas religiones prácticas se ven afectados por las operaciones de esquí en los Picos de San Francisco y tratar de llegar a un acuerdo con ellos en el desarrollo de la zona de esquí. El Gobierno debería considerar seriamente la posibilidad de suspender la autorización para la modificación de Snowbowl hasta que dicho acuerdo puede ser alcanzado o hasta que, a falta de tal acuerdo, una resolución escrita hecha por una autoridad gubernamental competente que la decisión final sobre la estación de esquí modificación está en consonancia con las obligaciones de Estados Unidos de derechos humanos.

"El Relator Especial desea hacer hincapié en la necesidad de garantizar que las acciones o decisiones de las agencias del gobierno están de acuerdo con, no sólo el derecho interno, sino también las normas internacionales que protegen el derecho de los nativos americanos para practicar y mantener sus tradiciones religiosas. El Relator Especial es consciente de los programas gubernamentales y políticas existentes para consultar a los pueblos indígenas y tener en cuenta sus tradiciones religiosas en la toma de decisiones gubernamentales con respecto a los lugares sagrados. El Relator Especial insta al Gobierno a aprovechar estos programas y políticas que se ajusten a las normas internacionales y de este modo, establecer una buena práctica y convertirse en un líder mundial que pueda para proteger los derechos de los pueblos indígenas ".

Naciones Indígenas y organizaciones ecologistas han intentado proteger los Picos de San Francisco en la corte. El Tribunal de Distrito falló a favor del desarrollo en 2006. La Corte del Noveno Circuito de Apelaciones revocó la decisión del tribunal inferior en 2007 y gobernó durante la tribu Hopi, Navajo Nation y otros. Un panel de tres jueces del Noveno Circuito dictaminó que el Servicio Forestal violó la Ley de Restauración de la Libertad Religiosa y la Ley de Política Ambiental Nacional al permitir que la estación de Snowbowl de ampliar a más de 100 hectáreas de ecosistema alpino raro, que forma parte de la zona que es sagrado para los nativos Pueblos Indígenas.

El gobierno federal impugnó esta decisión y solicitó al Noveno Circuito de nueva audiencia en banc. Tales peticiones se conceden raramente, pero el Tribunal concedió esta. El caso fue discutido en la parte frontal del panel de 11 jueces en pleno del Noveno Circuito en Pasadena, en diciembre de 2007. El Noveno Circuito emitió la decisión del panel en banc el 8 de agosto de 2008, fallando a favor del desarrollo. Las Naciones Nativas presentó un recurso de certiorari por la Corte Suprema de los EE.UU.. El 8 de junio de 2009, la Corte Suprema se negó a revisar la decisión.

Las tribus trataron de llegar a algún tipo de alojamiento administrativa con la nueva administración, pero estos esfuerzos no han dado sus frutos. La Coalición Save the Peaks posteriormente presentó una demanda contra el gobierno federal en el tema NEPA que el Servicio Forestal no consideró adecuadamente la ingestión de aguas negras recuperadas. Se trata de la misma ley y los hechos que el anterior panel de tres jueces consideran al considerar que el Servicio Forestal no había cumplido con NEPA. El fallo anterior fue, sin embargo, se convierten en no-precedente por el tribunal en pleno, en el caso de Navajo. No obstante lo anterior razonamiento del Noveno Circuito, Juez de mayo de Murguía de la Corte de Distrito de EE.UU. falló en contra de la Coalición Save the Peaks en todos los aspectos. Poco después, su nombramiento por Obama para el Noveno Circuito confirmó. La Coalición Save the Peaks apeló el fallo.

Un abiertamente hostil panel de tres jueces del Noveno Circuito no sólo falló en contra de la Coalición, pero afirmó que la Coalición Save the Peaks y su abogado había abusado del proceso judicial - sin base de apoyo para sus acusaciones. Snowbowl está persiguiendo a los demandantes y sus abogados pro bono, personalmente, por daños y perjuicios por un monto de aproximadamente $ 280.000. Los mismos tres magistrados oír el movimiento de Snowbowl.

En el ínterin, Snowbowl está llevando a cabo el procesamiento de los manifestantes pacíficos y la búsqueda de "retribución" de ellos. Algunos miembros de la comunidad Flagstaff han iniciado una huelga de hambre. Como una cuestión jurídica y práctica, sin embargo, Snowbowl es ahora libre para profanar el Santo Picos de San Francisco con la impunidad.

Para obtener información adicional, comuníquese con: Howard M. Shanker, la firma de abogados Shanker, PLC, en Tempe y Flagstaff, Arizona, al (480) 838-9433 o howard@shankerlaw.net

California: río McCloud - Winnemem Wintu la tribu se prepara para Balas Chonos

El Winnemem Wintu tribu del norte de California se prepara para Balas Chonos, la ceremonia de llegada de la edad, a pesar de la oposición por el Servicio Forestal de los EE.UU.. La tribu ha pedido al Servicio Forestal para cerrar 400 metros del río McCloud a los navegantes de recreo a motor para los cuatro días de la ceremonia, junio 30-julio 03. El Servicio Forestal dice que está bloqueado por la Oficina de Asuntos Indígenas de la política de "reconocimiento federal y no se puede cerrar el río porque la Tribu no está reconocida a nivel federal.

La tribu dice que el reconocimiento federal es sólo una de las relaciones federales con los pueblos indígenas. En California, el 90% de las tribus no fueron incluidos en una lista muy corta de reconocimiento, que se publicó sin previo aviso durante la administración Reagan. Incluso aquellos con una larga relación histórica registrada como tribus con el gobierno de los EE.UU. - los que eran signatarios de los tratados no ratificados y las del legajo de la sentencia California, por ejemplo - fueron excluidos de esa lista reconocimiento. Unas 300.000 personas tradicionales y sus derechos humanos a la ceremonia se ven afectados por esta política. Bajo la Ley de Libertad Religiosa, todas las agencias federales tienen la obligación de proteger y preservar los nativos americanos lugares sagrados y ceremonias, y consultar con los nativos líderes religiosos tradicionales, independientemente de su estatus de reconocimiento federal o no federal.

El Winnemem Wintu tribu afirma su derecho a la ceremonia para las mujeres indígenas en virtud del artículo 11, 12 y 25 de la Declaración de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas. Winnemem Jefe Caleen Sisk está pidiendo el cierre obligatorio del río McCloud para la Venida de la Ceremonia de edad para Marisa Sisk, quien será el Jefe Winnemem siguiente. Aunque el Wintu Winnemem prefiere centrarse en el celebrante, la tribu dice que "debe seguir en el largo camino hacia la justicia, la educación del mundo como lo que es ser tradicional en los Estados Unidos".

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.

Granito quiere arruinar la montaña, hogar de la Kammalam (antepasados ​​en forma de rocas), por lo que puede producir agregado. La cantera podría operar durante 75 años y, aun después de la recuperación, seguiría siendo una cicatriz permanente en el paisaje sagrado. Asimismo, se encuentra en la cabecera del río Santa Margarita, el último río de flujo libre que queda para llegar al Océano Pacífico en el sur de California, y estar al lado de la Reserva Ecológica de Santa Margarita, que también incluye parte del paisaje Origen.

La cantera mataría a la montaña y para siempre perturbar la santidad de esta zona increíblemente hermoso y pintoresco, situado junto a la reserva y en la puerta de la ciudad de Temecula.

Además, la cantera también plantean riesgos ambientales para la Comunidad Pechanga: calidad del aire y el agua, visual y el impacto del ruido, el fuego y la respuesta de emergencia, así como cortar un enlace clave para la vida silvestre y de la reserva. La Tribu no ha sido consultado por el Condado de Riverside en estos impactos durante la revisión ambiental.

Pechanga solicita respetuosamente a la oración que:
1) Los esfuerzos para prevenir permanentemente minería en cualquier forma en este lugar son exitosos y que
2) los esfuerzos tribales para que esta Paisaje Origen formalmente reconocidos y protegidos tendrá éxito.

Para obtener más información sobre los esfuerzos para proteger el paisaje Luiseño origen ancestral de la cantera de la Libertad, comuníquese con Paul Macarro, Coordinadora Cultural Pechanga en: pmacarro@pechanga-nsn.gov o (951) 770.8102 o Jacob Mejía en: jmejia@pechanga.com o (951) 770.2595.

California: Redlands - California y el Pacífico Comisión de Ministerios Nativos Americanos de la Iglesia Metodista Unida de la Universidad de Redlands, sábado, 16 de junio a las 7:15 am

El Comité de California y el Pacífico sobre Native Ministerios Americanos (CONAM), de la Iglesia Metodista Unida tendrá oración por los lugares sagrados en el patio de la Universidad de Redlands en Redlands, California. El público es bienvenido a unirse el sábado, 16 de junio a las 7:15 am

Contacto: Suanne Ware-Díaz en soozware@yahoo.com 236-7274 o (571) para obtener más información.

California: Banda Viejas de indios Kumeyaay - Cementerios y Ceremonial -
Ceremonia tradicional duelo, el sábado, 23 de junio de Área Ocotillo, 7:00 pm

Desde hace más de dos años, la banda ha estado librando Viejas relaciones jurídicas, políticas públicas y lucha para salvar motivos tribales cementerios y sitios ceremoniales de la destrucción por las agencias locales y federales. Viejas tiene buenas noticias para informar sobre una noticia de primera y desgarrador para informar sobre otro.

Padre Presa:

Durante este último año, con su ayuda, hemos avanzado mucho hacia la protección y la repatriación de un cementerio y lugar ceremonial en la presa Padre Municipal Water District propiedad, que pretendía desarrollar un depósito y estación de bombeo en el sitio.

Solución de los litigios está a la mano en la que el sitio sería restaurado, protegido a perpetuidad y la tierra repatriados a la Tribu. Viejas está profundamente agradecida por el apoyo que ha recibido de la comunidad local, el gobernador de California, Native American Heritage Comisión y los tribunales, que han puesto de parte de la banda en muchos niveles diferentes.

Viejas respetuosamente solicita oración por:
1) Una ubicación alternativa apropiada para que el proyecto sea garantizado por el Distrito,
2) Los suelos previamente tomado fuera del sitio por el Distrito de ser devuelto a la propiedad en una forma tan suave como sea posible y lo más rápidamente posible, y
3) El perdón que el impacto ocurrió y que nunca volverá a suceder.

Ocotillo expreso Wind Farm:

Mientras tanto, Viejas y otras tribus se han visto obligados a defender a nuestros antepasados ​​de nuevos ataques y la destrucción potencial de los recursos culturales tribales, los lugares sagrados y cementerios por un número importante de energía renovable y otros proyectos de servicios públicos en las montañas de la zona y los desiertos que alterarían para siempre el Paisaje Cultural de la Nación Kumeyaay. Estos incluyen: la salida del sol Powerlink, Proyecto Tule Viento, viento Ocotillo expreso del Proyecto, Eco Station Project, Proyecto Imperial Solar y otros.

Apenas el mes pasado, más de las fuertes objeciones de Bandas Kumeyaay y los pueblos Cucapá y Quechan, miembros de las comunidades locales, grupos ecologistas, sindicatos, recreacionistas y simpatizantes State Park, el viento Ocotillo masivamente destructivo Servicio Express fue aprobado por el Condado de Imperial y el BLM . Ocotillo Express (Pattern Energy) no perdió el tiempo e inmediatamente comenzaron a limpiar, raspar y la destrucción de la zona y no estaría de acuerdo en esperar a realizar la construcción hasta una TRO se oía.

La llamada "refinado" Proyecto incluiría 112 de tamaño industrial torres de viento de hasta 460 metros de altura, 42 millas de nuevas carreteras, 81 kilómetros de cable de fibra óptica, undergrounded una subestación de 31 hectáreas y la construcción de subestaciones transformadoras, operación y mantenimiento y otras infraestructuras tales como estacionamiento, lagunas y zonas Laydown que no formaban parte de los documentos de NEPA y CEQA. 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.
Por favor, únete a nosotros! 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.

Actualizar:
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 se compone de cinco sitios en y alrededor de la ciudad de Chillicothe, Ohio, donde una vez se podía ver la mayor concentración de complejos movimientos de tierra en cualquier parte del mundo. 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