Anche se la data è passata per la preghiera di gruppo di questo elenco ci mostra molti luoghi sacri che hanno bisogno della nostra protezione e la preghiera.
Può essere buono per inviare la preghiera al sito più vicino a te e concentrarsi su quella zona.
Poi invia le tue preghiere per tutte le altre posizioni.
Uniti siamo forti ......... uniti ci sono vere ....
uniti creiamo equilibrio ...... grazie, Miriam
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16-24 giugno SET per il 2012 NAZIONALI SACRI GIORNI DI PREGHIERA LUOGHI
Washington, DC (6/15/12)-osservanze e le cerimonie si svolgeranno in tutto il paese dal 16 giugno attraverso il 24 giugno al marcare il 2012 Giornate Nazionali di Preghiera per la protezione dei nativi americani Luoghi Sacri.
Il rispetto di Washington, DC si terrà Mercoledì 20 giugno alle ore 8.30, gli Stati Uniti Motivi Campidoglio, Front Area Ovest Grassy (vedi dettagli sotto la, quotazione Washington DC nell'elenco alfabetico per stato nelle pagine seguenti ).
Le descrizioni di alcuni luoghi sacri e le minacce che devono affrontare, nonché i tempi ei luoghi per le commemorazioni pubbliche sono elencati di seguito.
Alcuni degli incontri evidenziati nel presente comunicato sono forum educativi non, cerimonie religiose, e sono aperti al pubblico.
Altri sono cerimoniale e possono essere effettuate in privato.
Oltre a quelli elencati di seguito, ci saranno riti e le preghiere fatte in altri luoghi sacri che sono sotto minaccia e di quelli non in pericolo in questo momento.
"I nativi e non nativi a livello nazionale si riuniscono in questo periodo per le cerimonie Solstice e per onorare luoghi sacri, ma tutti possono onorare queste terre preziose e le acque per tutto il tempo, semplicemente rispettando loro e la vita che supporta e non permettendo loro di essere lesi, "ha dichiarato Suzan mostrato Harjo (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee).
Lei è presidente di The Morning Istituto Stella, che organizza il National Prayer Luoghi Sacri giorni.
"Cerimonie sono in corso da troppi popoli nativi americani sono impegnati in battaglie legali con le agenzie federali che a fianco con gli sviluppatori che mettono in pericolo o distruggere i nativi luoghi sacri", ha detto la signora Harjo.
"Dal momento che una sentenza della Corte Suprema degli Stati Uniti nel 1988, che non vi è alcun motivo costituzionale o legale di azione per difendere i luoghi sacri indiani, i nativi americani sono i soli popoli degli Stati Uniti che non hanno una porta in tribunale per proteggere i luoghi sacri o sito specifici per cerimonie, "ha detto la signora Harjo.
"Questo deve cambiare semplicemente per una questione di correttezza ed equità.
Nazioni Native sono state improvvisando protezioni basato su difese destinati ad altri scopi.
Alcune agenzie possono autorizzare un posto a tavola quando lo sviluppo sono presi in considerazione, ma la maggior parte non lo fanno e popoli nativi non sono presi sul serio, perché le agenzie e gli sviluppatori sanno che la Corte Suprema non sembra incline a sentire cause che non hanno un diritto su misura di azione. "
Durante la sua campagna presidenziale nel 2008, l'allora senatore Obama ha affrontato la questione, come parte della sua piattaforma nativa politica americana per la libertà religiosa, i diritti culturali e sacra protezione posti: "Nativi americani luoghi sacri e site-specific cerimonie sono minacciati dallo sviluppo, l'inquinamento , e atti vandalici.
Barack Obama sostiene protezioni legali per i luoghi sacri e delle tradizioni culturali, comprese le zone di sepoltura antenati nativi »e chiese."
Molti popoli nativi approvato candidato Obama a causa della sua posizione su Native luoghi sacri, ma hanno disperato alla crescente disparità tra ciò che il candidato sostenuto e ciò che l'amministrazione del presidente ha fatto in luoghi sacri.
Il Forest Service, il Bureau of Land Management, il Dipartimento di Giustizia e altre agenzie federali stanno attivamente mettendo in pericolo luoghi sacri e la lotta dei Popoli nativi che stanno cercando di proteggere i luoghi sacri nei procedimenti giudiziari e amministrativi.
Il Congresso Nazionale degli Indiani d'America, la più antica e la più grande organizzazione nazionale indiano, ha chiesto al Congresso di approvare uno statuto che avrebbe fornito una causa di azione, per il Presidente di aggiornare e rafforzare l'ordine esistente esecutivo su Luoghi sacri indiani e per la Foresta Servizio di utilizzare leggi e politiche per proteggere luoghi nativi americani sacri.
Allo stesso tempo, il Servizio Forestale ha pubblicizzato come un risultato per i luoghi sacri suo progetto di relazione, che è stato sonoramente denunciato in territorio indiano, e una relazione modificata è tenuta segreta, in contrasto con la posizione dell'Amministrazione sulla consultazione tribale.
"Il presidente è stato chiesto di chiamare direttamente il Congresso per creare un diritto di azione in modo da poter difendere i nostri luoghi santi, per migliorare l'ordine esecutivo per i siti sacri indiani e per arrestare il Servizio Forestale e di altre agenzie di continuare la loro pluridecennale assalto Native contro luoghi sacri ", ha detto la signora Harjo.
"Sono ancora ottimista sul fatto che il presidente può e vuole fare queste cose, anche se il Congresso non è in grado di compiere progressi in questo o in qualsiasi area.
Ancora una volta, noi preghiamo che questo sarà l'ultimo anno ci viene negata giustizia, il potere esecutivo, legislativo e giudiziario. "
Il relatore speciale delle Nazioni Unite sui diritti dei popoli indigeni ha raccomandato che gli Stati Uniti valuta se revocare l'autorizzazione federale che sta permettendo una stazione sciistica privata da utilizzare acqua riciclata di depurazione per fare la neve sopra i San Francisco Peaks, che sono sacri per molte Nazioni Native nel sud-ovest.
Il Relatore Speciale ha anche chiesto agli Stati Uniti di consultare e tornare luoghi sacri ai popoli indigeni.
"Popoli nativi americani sono incoraggiati dal fatto che il presidente ha cambiato la posizione degli Stati Uniti e delle Nazioni Unite ha approvato la 'Dichiarazione sui diritti dei popoli indigeni, e attendo con ansia la sua applicazione alla legge degli Stati Uniti e la pratica", ha detto la signora Harjo.
La dichiarazione comprende le seguenti affermazioni riguardanti luoghi sacri:
"Articolo 11, 1: I popoli indigeni hanno il diritto di praticare e rivitalizzare le loro tradizioni culturali e costumi.
Ciò include il diritto di mantenere, proteggere e sviluppare le manifestazioni passate, presenti e future delle loro culture, come i siti archeologici e storici, manufatti, disegni, cerimonie, le tecnologie e le arti visive e dello spettacolo e la letteratura.
"Articolo 11, 2: Gli Stati devono risarcire attraverso meccanismi efficaci, che possono includere la restituzione, sviluppato in collaborazione con i popoli indigeni, per quanto riguarda la loro proprietà culturale, intellettuale, religiosa e spirituale presa senza il loro libero, prioritario e informato consenso o in violazione delle loro leggi, tradizioni e costumi. "
"Articolo 12, 1: I popoli indigeni hanno il diritto di manifestare, praticare, sviluppare ed insegnare le loro tradizioni spirituali e religiose, i costumi e le cerimonie, il diritto di mantenere, proteggere, ed avere accesso in privato ai propri siti religiosi e culturali, diritto per l'uso e il controllo dei loro oggetti cerimoniali;. e il diritto al rimpatrio dei loro resti umani "
"Articolo 25 I popoli indigeni hanno il diritto di mantenere e rafforzare il loro rapporto spirituale con il loro caratteristico tradizionalmente posseduto o altrimenti occupato e utilizzato terre, territori, acque, mari ed altre risorse e di sostenere le loro responsabilità nei confronti delle generazioni future in questo senso."
I 2012 osservanze sono la decima delle Giornate nazionali di preghiera per la protezione dei nativi americani Luoghi Sacri.
La prima Giornata nazionale di preghiera si è svolta il 20 giugno 2003, nel Quartiere Campidoglio degli Stati Uniti a livello nazionale e per sottolineare la necessità per il Congresso di mettere in atto una causa per proteggere i luoghi sacri dei nativi.
Tale necessità esiste ancora.
Le preghiere saranno offerti per le seguenti sedi sacri, tra gli altri:
Antelope Hills.
Apache Leap.
Badger Two Medicine.
Badlands.
Bear Butte.
Bear Lake.
Orso Medicine Lodge.
Black Hills.
Black Mesa.
Blue Lake.
Boboquivari Mountain.
Bunchgrass Mountain.
Cave Rock.
Cliff capo.
Coastal Lands Chumash Sacre della Costa Gaviota.
Cocopah Burial Grounds e cerimoniali.
Coldwater Springs.
Colorado River.
Columbia River.
Deer Medicina Rocks.
Dzil Nchaa Si An (Mount Graham).
Eagle Rock.
Everglades.
Fajada Butte.
Ganondagan.
Mound Grande (basso Mound).
Golfo del Messico.
Haleakala Crater.
Hatchet Mountain.
Hickory terra.
Holy Mountain.
Nazione Hualapai morfologie a Truxton e Canyons Crozier.
Indian Pass.
Kaho'olawe.
Kasha-Katuwe.
Katuktu.
Kituwah.
Klamath River.
Kumeyaay bende e Grounds cerimoniali.
Lago Superiore.
Luiseno Paesaggio origine ancestrale.
Mauna Kea.
Maze.
Medicina Bluff.
Medicina Hole.
Medicine Lake Highlands.
Medicina Ruote.
Migi zii wa peccato (Eagle Rock).
Mokuhinia.
Moku'ula.
Mount Shasta.
Mount Taylor.
Montare Tenabo.
Nine Mile Canyon.
Ocmulgee Campi Antiche e National Monument.
Onondaga Lake.
Palo Duro Canyon.
Petroglyphs National Monument.
Pipestone National Monument.
Puget Sound.
Puvungna.
Pyramid Lake Pietra Madre.
Quechan Burial Grounds e cerimoniali.
Rainbow Bridge.
Rattlesnake Island.
Rio Grande Fiume.
San Francisco Peaks.
Serpent Mound.
Snoqualmie Falls.
Sweetgrass Hills.
Sutter Buttes.
Tse Pentecoste Village Zen.
Tsi-Litch Semiahmah Village.
Valle dei capi.
Valmont Butte.
Wakarusa Wetlands.
Camminare il posto della donna.
Woodruff Butte.
Wolf River.
Yucca Mountain.
Zuni Salt Lake.
I luoghi sacri di tutte le Nazioni Native rimossi.
Tutte le acque e le zone umide.
Arizona: Mount Graham, Dzil Nchaa Si An
Mount Graham è sacro per gli occidentali Apache ed è noto per la San Carlos Apache come Dzil Nchaa Si An.
Si tratta di un paesaggio sacro dove Gaan o spiriti della montagna risiedono e ancestrale resto Apache.
E 'un luogo di cerimonie e piante medicinali, e la casa al Monte Graham in via di estinzione scoiattolo rosso.
Le montagne Pinaleño o sul Monte Graham è un tesoro unico ecologico.
E 'la montagna più alta nel sud dell'Arizona e comprende sei zone di vita diverse dal fondovalle al suo picco a 10720 ft chiamato "Island Sky" degli ecosistemi, le foreste secolari sulla cima del Monte Graham, Arizona sono l'equivalente delle foreste pluviali.
Le abbondanti sorgenti e prati d'alta quota hanno offerto sostegno e una fonte di guarigione per le persone Apache che vivono nel deserto.
Le caratteristiche fredde umide del Monte hanno coltivato 18 piante e animali si trovano in nessun'altra parte del mondo.
Nel 1980, l'Università dell'Arizona e dei suoi partner, al momento, tra il Vaticano e la Smithsonian Institution, Mount Graham ha scelto come sede per la costruzione di un osservatorio con sette grandi telescopi noto come il Progetto Columbus.
A partire dal 1988, la delegazione del Congresso Arizona riuscì ad ottenere deroghe per il progetto da specie in via di estinzione, ambientale, conservazione storica e altre leggi.
Nel 1989, l'Università di Arizona è stato concesso un permesso di 20 anni di utilizzo da parte speciale foresta nazionale del Colorado e il Servizio Forestale degli Stati Uniti, i piloti e appropriazione mantenuto il progetto a filo con i benefici pubblici senza dover rispettare le leggi o regolamenti federali, tra cui federale indiano leggi mira a tutelare la libertà religiosa, cimiteri e beni culturali.
Portavoce del Vaticano ha dichiarato che Mount Graham non era un luogo religioso o sacro.
Dipendenti universitari e lobbisti tentato di minare la reputazione di leader Apache religiosi e praticanti, e conservati almeno un ufficiale San Carlos tribale a testimoniare che la montagna non era sacro o significativo per il popolo Apache.
Per decenni, Popoli Apache, scienziati, ambientalisti e studenti universitari hanno resistito alla University of Arizona decisione di costruire i telescopi sulla vetta del monte.
Anche se la copertura nuvolosa frequente rende telescopio visualizzazione marginale e sul Monte Graham si è classificata 38a in uno studio di siti astronomici negli Stati Uniti, la delegazione del Congresso dell'Arizona e l'Università hanno continuato con il progetto.
Oggi, la costruzione di telescopi e conseguente chiusura federale cima della montagna sono dissacrare la Montagna e il suo rapporto con le popolazioni insostituibile Apache.
La lotta continua a proteggere il patrimonio naturale e culturale del Monte Graham dal precedente di impostazione distruzione ancora causata dal l'Università nella costruzione del proprio osservatorio sul Monte Graham.
Gli sforzi di protezione culturale e le organizzazioni ambientali e tribù interessati per proteggere la sacralità del Monte Graham continuano senza sosta.
L'Università di Arizona, è ora operativo il suo osservatorio, senza un valido permesso di uso speciale.
Il suo 20 anni di permesso federale è scaduto il 19 aprile 2009.
L'Università ha chiesto la Foresta Coronado nazionale per un nuovo permesso, ma, a partire dal giugno del 2012, una decisione in merito alla concessione del permesso non è ancora stata fatta.
Il Servizio Forestale ha determinato che è necessario preparare una Dichiarazione di Impatto Ambientale (SIA) per raccogliere informazioni circa i pro ei contro del rilascio di una nuova autorizzazione.
L'Università si sono opposti strenuamente per una nuova dichiarazione.
Da quel po 'di informazioni Coalizione Mount Graham e la San Carlos Apache Tribe hanno imparato, Corpo Forestale e gli avvocati di Ateneo sono "in discussione" per determinare la forma finale del processo di rinnovo del permesso.
Ci sono una serie di motivi per il Servizio Forestale di negare un nuovo permesso.
Il permesso decade avuto una serie di termini e le condizioni che sono state violate dall'Università.
Molte di queste condizioni avrebbe dovuto portare alla revoca del permesso, ma non lo fece.
Tutte queste violazioni devono essere studiati per determinare se l'Università può seguire le regole di un nuovo permesso.
Le condizioni di Mount Graham sono cambiati sostanzialmente da quando l'autorizzazione è stata concessa e l'osservatorio è ancora meno compatibile con l'importanza religiosa ed ecologica del Monte Graham.
Dal momento che il permesso è stato concesso, la "forma" di Mount Graham è stato ritenuto idoneo per il posizionamento nell'elenco nazionale dei luoghi storici.
Inoltre, il Servizio Forestale riconosce ora che il Monte Graham è una tradizionale struttura culturale a occidentali popolo Apache e ha provveduto a consultare (anche se ha una lunga strada da percorrere) con Apache tradizionale sulla natura sacra della Montagna e come proteggersi esso.
L'Università può andare al Congresso per l'ennesima deroga alla libertà religiosa e le leggi ambientali e di forzare il Servizio Forestale di rilasciare una nuova autorizzazione.
I sostenitori di Mount Graham sarebbe stato l'ultimo a conoscere di qualsiasi attività di lobbying in tal senso e devono essere sempre vigili per evitare che questo succeda.
Per queste e molte altre ragioni, è importante per i tifosi dei popoli Apache e il Monte Graham per sollecitare il Servizio Forestale di negare l'Università un nuovo permesso e richiedono che i telescopi esistenti sul Monte Graham essere rimossi.
Dopo 20 anni di lavori, il progetto grande telescopio non è ancora completo e questioni molto gravi rimangono circa la sua importanza, l'utilità e la funzione dal punto di vista astronomico.
Cosa NON è in questione è il reato continuato ai popoli Apache occidentali.
Altrettanto chiaro è lo stato pericoloso del nativo scoiattolo rosso Mount Graham.
L'indagine più recente condotta da biologi stima che solo circa 214 di questa specie unica, che si trova ora dove altro sulla terra, rimangono.
E 'stato identificato dai biologi come uno dei mammiferi più probabilità di estinguersi negli Stati Uniti nel prossimo futuro.
Diversi incendi ha devastato la cima del monte Graham negli anni passati.
Esse sono state combattute per proteggere i telescopi più che l'ecosistema e, di conseguenza, il danno è stato fatto molto per la montagna che avrebbe potuto essere evitato.
Il Forest Service ha deciso di assottigliare la foresta e manipolare l'ecosistema per cercare di proteggere ciò che rimane e per ripristinare ciò che è stato danneggiato.
Gli incendi che bruciano attuali nella parte orientale e meridionale dell'Arizona rafforzare il rischio che ulteriori azioni saranno prese proteggere le strutture rispetto ai valori naturali e spirituali.
Preghiere e diligenza sono necessari ora più che mai per Mount Graham.
L'ecosistema è seriamente minacciata dal cambiamento climatico e di altri modelli di distruzione, vi è la possibilità per il Servizio Forestale di negare un nuovo permesso per i telescopi e richiedono che fossero rimossi, e non vi è la possibilità di proteggere l'ecosistema esistente e ripristinare alcuni di ciò che è stato perduto.
E, la sacralità del Monte Graham continua ad essere messo in discussione e, mentre la montagna è in grado di proteggere se stesso, i tifosi possono contribuire a proteggerlo.
Per ulteriori informazioni, contattare la Coalizione Mount Graham, Roger Featherstone, Presidente, a greenfire@featherstone.ws o Dinah Orso, segretario, a Bear6@verizon.net
Arizona: San Francisco Peaks
I San Francisco Peaks sono sacri ad Apache, Hopi, Hualapai, Navajo, Yavapai e altre Nazioni Native.
I San Francisco Peaks sono la patria di molti esseri sacri, luoghi di medicina e siti di origine.
Una miriade di cerimonie sono svolte lì per la guarigione, anche cicli di benessere, equilibrio, commemorazione, passaggi e l'acqua del mondo e della vita.
I San Francisco Peaks si trovano sul terreno federale all'interno della Foresta Nazionale di Coconino.
In effetti, il Servizio Forestale degli Stati Uniti ha indicato che i San Francisco Peaks sono sacre e sante per più di tredici tribù degli Stati Uniti sud-occidentali.
Fermo restando quanto sopra, il Servizio Foreste e la proprietà privata Snowbowl stazione sciistica, che si trova sui San Francisco Peaks, in programma di espandere l'area di sci e di utilizzare acque reflue riciclate per fare neve artificiale.
L'espansione e la depurazione a neve piani potrebbero avere un impatto disastroso sulle religioni indigene e persone e l'acqua e la salute di tutta la regione.
Lo sviluppo strisciante da diporto ha riguardato nativi leader spirituali e funzionari tribali per decenni, ma i piani attuali superano di gran lunga l'attività passata al villaggio.
Snowbowl I piani a chiare 74 acri di rara habitat alpino che ospita specie minacciate, fare piste e nuovi impianti di risalita, aggiungere parcheggi più e costruire un 14,8 oleodotto miglia sepolto per il trasporto fino a 180 milioni di galloni (per stagione) di acque reflue per fare neve artificiale su 205 ettari.
Nonostante le continue proteste e scioperi della fame, Snowbowl ha iniziato la costruzione della propria pipeline di acque reflue per l'innevamento, con l'approvazione e la protezione da parte del Servizio Foreste e il Dipartimento dell'Agricoltura degli Stati Uniti.
Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission presidente Duane H. Yazzie testimoniato davanti alla Commissione del Senato per il 2011 un'audizione Affari Indiani 'sull'attuazione degli Stati Uniti della Dichiarazione delle Nazioni Unite sui diritti dei popoli indigeni: "Integrare la Dichiarazione nella legislazione vigente si concentrerà sul valore sostanziale di luoghi sacri, invece di imposizione di oneri eccessivi sulla procedura.
Inoltre, la dichiarazione di politica internazionale metterà in risalto, invece di basarsi sulla politica interna da solo.
Legislativamente affrontare giurisprudenza indiana legge riparerà l'espropriazione dei diritti dei nativi americani ai luoghi sacri ".
Il relatore speciale delle Nazioni Unite sui Diritti dei Popoli Indigeni raccomandato nel 2011 che il "Governo degli Stati Uniti intraprendere un riesame globale delle sue politiche e delle azioni per garantire che siano conformi alle norme internazionali in relazione ai San Francisco Peaks e altri Native siti americani sacri, e che adottare le opportune azioni correttive .... il governo dovrebbe ricominciare o proseguire le consultazioni con le tribù cui religioni pratiche sono influenzati dalle operazioni di sci sui San Francisco Peaks e cercare di raggiungere un accordo con loro per lo sviluppo del sciistica.
Il governo dovrebbe prendere seriamente in considerazione la sospensione del permesso per le modifiche di Snowbowl fino a tale accordo può essere raggiunto o fino a quando, in mancanza di tale accordo, una determinazione scritta è fatta da un organismo governativo competente che la decisione finale circa la zona sciistica modifica è in linea con gli obblighi internazionali degli Stati Uniti 'dei diritti umani.
"Il Relatore Speciale desidera sottolineare la necessità di garantire che le azioni o decisioni di enti governativi sono conformi, non solo diritto interno, ma anche le norme internazionali che tutelano il diritto dei nativi americani di praticare e mantenere le loro tradizioni religiose.
Il Relatore Speciale è a conoscenza dei programmi di governo e delle politiche esistenti di consultarsi con le popolazioni indigene e tener conto delle loro tradizioni religiose in decisionali pubblici rispetto ai siti sacri.
Il Relatore Speciale invita il governo a costruire su tali programmi e politiche per conformarsi agli standard internazionali e, così facendo, di creare una buona pratica e diventare un leader mondiale che possa nella tutela dei diritti delle popolazioni indigene ".
Nazioni Native e le organizzazioni ambientali hanno cercato di proteggere i San Francisco Peaks in tribunale.
La Corte Distrettuale ha stabilito per lo sviluppo nel 2006.
La Nona Corte d'Appello annullato la decisione del tribunale di grado inferiore nel 2007 e governò per la tribù Hopi, Navajo Nation e altri.
A tre giudici del Nono Circuito ha stabilito che il Servizio Forestale ha violato la legge religiosa Restaurazione libertà e la National Environmental Policy Act nel permettere il Resort Snowbowl di espandersi oltre 100 ettari di rara dell'ecosistema alpino, parte della zona che è sacro per Nativo Popoli.
Il governo federale impugnare tale decisione e chiesto al Nono Circuito di riesame en banc.
Tali petizioni sono raramente concessi, ma il Tribunale ha accolto questo.
Il caso è stato sostenuto davanti al giudice 11-pannello en banc del Nono Circuito di Pasadena nel dicembre 2007.
Il Nono Circuito ha emesso la decisione della banc en pannello in data 8 agosto 2008, sentenza a favore dello sviluppo.
Le Nazioni Native ha presentato un atto di certiorari per la Corte Suprema degli Stati Uniti.
L'8 giugno 2009, la Corte Suprema ha rifiutato di riesaminare la decisione.
Le tribù tentato di raggiungere una sorta di sistemazione amministrativa con la nuova amministrazione, ma questi sforzi non hanno dato i loro frutti.
Il Save the Peaks Coalition successivamente intentato una causa contro il governo federale sulla questione NEPA che il Servizio Forestale ha omesso di considerare adeguatamente l'ingestione di acqua di fogna bonificata.
Questi erano la stessa legge e fatti che il priore tre pannelli giudice ha ritenuto nel ritenere che il Servizio Forestale non aveva rispettato con NEPA.
La sentenza precedente è stata, però, resi non precedential dal banc en giudice nel caso Navajo.
Nonostante il ragionamento prima della Nona, il giudice può Murguia della US District Court ha condannato Save the Peaks Coalition su tutti i fronti. 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.
Unitevi a noi! 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.
Aggiornamento:
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
