Selv om datoen er passert for gruppen bønn denne oppføringen viser oss mange hellige steder som trenger vår beskyttelse og bønn. Det kan være godt å sende bønn til nettstedet nærmest deg og fokusere på det området. Da kan du sende dine bønner til alle de andre stedene. Forent vi er sterke ......... united vi er sant .... united vi skape balanse ...... takk, Miriam

The Morning Star INSTITUTE
611 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE
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Nyheter Statement For umiddelbar utløsning

16 til 24 juni SET FOR 2012 NASJONALE hellige steder bønn DAGER

Washington, DC (6/15/12)-skikker og seremonier vil bli holdt over hele landet fra 16. juni til juni 24 til markere 2012 Nasjonale Days of Prayer for å beskytte indianar hellige steder. Overholdelse i Washington, DC vil bli avholdt onsdag 20. juni kl 08:30, på USA Capitol Grounds, Vestfronten gressletter området (se detaljer under Washington, DC oppføring i den alfabetiske listen av staten på de følgende sidene ).

Beskrivelser av visse hellige steder og trusler de står overfor, samt ganger og steder for felles markeringer er listet opp nedenfor. Noen av samlingene markerte i denne pressemeldingen er pedagogiske fora, ikke religiøse seremonier, og er åpne for allmennheten. Andre er seremoniell og kan utføres i privat. I tillegg til de som er nevnt nedenfor, vil det være skikker og bønner tilbys på andre hellige steder som er truet, og at de ikke er utrydningstruet på dette tidspunktet.

"Native og ikke-innfødte landsdekkende samles på denne tiden for Solstice seremonier og hedre hellige steder, men alle kan respektere disse dyrebare land og vann hele tiden ved å respektere dem og livet de støtter og ikke tillater dem å bli skadet, "sier Suzan vist Harjo (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee). Hun er president i The Morning Star Institute, som organiserer de nasjonale hellige steder Prayer dager. "Seremonier blir gjennomført som altfor mange indianske folkeslag er engasjert i juridiske kamper med føderale byråer som side med utviklere som setter eller ødelegge Native hellige steder," sier Ms Harjo.

"Siden en amerikansk høyesterettsdom i 1988 at det ikke er konstitusjonelt eller lovbestemt søksmål for å forsvare Native hellige steder, indianere er de eneste folkene i USA som ikke har en dør til tinghuset for å beskytte hellige steder eller reiser -spesifikke seremonier, "sier Ms Harjo. "Det bare må endre seg som et spørsmål om rettferdighet og egenkapital. Native Nations har lappa sammen beskyttelse basert på forsvar beregnet til andre formål. Noen byråer kan tillate en plass ved bordet når utviklingen blir overveid, men de fleste gjør ikke og Native Peoples blir ikke tatt på alvor fordi etatene og utviklere vet at Høyesterett ikke vises tilbøyelig til å høre søksmål som mangler et skreddersydd rett av handling. "

Under valgkampen i 2008, adressert daværende senator Obama dette problemet som en del av hans Native American politiske plattform for religiøs frihet, kulturelle rettigheter og hellige steder beskyttelse: "Native American hellige steder og stedsspesifikke seremonier trues av utbygging, forurensing og hærverk. Barack Obama støtter juridiske beskyttelse for hellige steder og kulturelle tradisjoner, inkludert Native forfedres gravplasser og kirker. "

Mange urfolk sluttet Candidate Obama på grunn av hans posisjon på Native hellige steder, men har fortvilet på den økende misforhold mellom hva kandidaten støttet og hva presidentens administrasjon har gjort på hellige steder. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, er Justisdepartementet og andre føderale etater aktivt fare hellige steder og slåss Native Peoples som prøver å beskytte hellige steder i rettslige og administrative prosesser.

The National Congress of American Indians, den eldste og største nasjonale indisk organisasjon, har kalt for Kongressen til å vedta en lov som ville gi et søksmål, for presidenten å oppdatere og styrke eksisterende Executive Order på indisk hellige steder og for Forest Service for å utnytte eksisterende lover og retningslinjer for å beskytte indianar hellige steder. Samtidig har Forest Service spioneringen som en bragd for hellige steder sitt utkast rapport, som ble blitt grundig kritisert i indisk landet, og en revidert rapport det er å holde hemmelig, i strid med administrasjonens posisjon på tribal konsultasjon.

"Presidenten har blitt spurt direkte for å be Kongressen om å lage en rett handling, slik at vi kan forsvare våre hellige steder, for å forbedre Executive Order for indiske hellige steder og for å stoppe Forest Service og andre etater i å fortsette sin langvarige overgrep mot Native hellige steder, "sier Ms Harjo. "Jeg er fortsatt optimistisk på at presidenten kan og vil gjøre disse tingene, selv om Kongressen er i stand til å gjøre fremskritt i dette eller hvilket som helst område. Igjen, vi ber om at dette vil være det siste året vi nektes rettferdighet ved den utøvende, lovgivende og dømmende grener. "

FNs spesialrapportør om urfolks rettigheter har anbefalt at USA overveie å trekke den føderale tillatelse som er slik at en privat skianlegg å bruke resirkulert kloakk vann for å lage snø på toppen av San Francisco Peaks, som er hellig for mange Native Nations i sørvest. Spesialrapportøren har også oppfordret USA til å rådføre seg med og returnere hellige steder å Native Peoples.

"Native American Peoples oppfordres at presidenten endret USAs posisjon og sluttet seg til FNs erklæring om urfolks rettigheter, og ser frem til sin søknad til amerikansk lov og praksis," sier Ms Harjo.

Erklæringen omfatter følgende uttalelser om hellige steder:

"Artikkel 11 1: Urfolk har rett til å praktisere og revitalisere sine kulturelle tradisjoner og skikker. Dette inkluderer rett til å opprettholde, beskytte og utvikle fortid, nåtid og fremtid manifestasjoner av sine kulturer, for eksempel arkeologiske og historiske steder, gjenstander, design, seremonier, teknologier og visuell og utøvende kunst og litteratur.

"Artikkel 11, 2: Stater skal gi oppreisning gjennom effektive mekanismer, som kan omfatte restitusjon, utviklet i samarbeid med urfolk, med hensyn til deres kulturelle, intellektuelle, religiøse og åndelige eiendom tatt uten deres frie og informert samtykke eller i strid av sine lover, tradisjoner og skikker. "

"12 artikkel 1: Urfolk har rett til å manifestere, praksis, utvikle og lære sine åndelige og religiøse tradisjoner, skikker og seremonier, retten til å opprettholde, beskytte og ha tilgang på personvernet deres religiøse og kulturelle steder, retten til bruk og kontroll av sine seremonielle gjenstander,., og rett til tilbakeføring av sine menneskelige levninger "

"Artikkel 25: Urfolk har rett til å opprettholde og styrke sin karakteristiske åndelige forhold til deres tradisjonelt eid eller på annen måte okkupert og brukt landområder, vann og kystfarvann og andre ressurser, og for å opprettholde sitt ansvar til fremtidige generasjoner i denne forbindelse."

I 2012 skikker er den tiende av National Prayer dager for å beskytte indianar hellige steder. Den første nasjonale Bededag ble gjennomført den 20. juni 2003, på den amerikanske Capitol Grounds og landsomfattende å understreke behovet for Kongressen til å vedta et søksmål for å beskytte Native hellige steder. At behovet eksisterer fortsatt.

Bønner vil bli tilbudt for følgende hellige steder, blant annet:

Antelope Hills. Apache Leap. Grevling Two Medicine. Badlands. Bear Butte. Bear Lake. Bjørn Medicine Lodge. Black Hills. Black Mesa. Blue Lake. Boboquivari Mountain. Bunchgrass Mountain. Cave Rock. Chief Cliff. Kystnære Chumash Sacred Lands i Gaviota kysten. Cocopah Burial og seremonielle Grounds. Coldwater Springs. Colorado River. Columbia River. Hjort Medisin Rocks. Dzil Nchaa Si An (Mount Graham). Eagle Rock. Everglades.

Fajada Butte. Ganondagan. Stor Mound (Mound Bottom). Gulf of Mexico. Haleakala Crater. Stridsøksen Mountain. Hickory Ground. Holy Mountain. Hualapai Nation landformene i Truxton og Crozier Canyons. Indian Pass. Kaho'olawe. Kasha-Katuwe. Katuktu. Kituwah. Klamath River. Kumeyaay Bands Burial og seremonielle Grounds. Lake Superior. Luiseno Ancestral Origin Landskap. Mauna Kea. Maze. Medisin Bluff. Medisin Hole. Medicine Lake Highlands. Medisin Wheels. Migi zii wa sin (Eagle Rock). Mokuhinia. Moku'ula. Mount Shasta. Mount Taylor. Montere Tenabo. Nine Mile Canyon.

Ocmulgee Old Fields og National Monument. Onondaga Lake. Palo Duro Canyon. Petroglyphs National Monument. Pipestone National Monument. Puget Sound. Puvungna. Pyramid Lake Stone mor. Quechan Burial og seremonielle Grounds. Rainbow Bridge. Rattlesnake Island. Rio Grande River. San Francisco Peaks. Serpent Mound. Snoqualmie Falls. Sweetgrass Hills. Sutter Buttes. Tse Whit Zen Village. Tsi-Litch Semiahmah Village. Valley of Chiefs. Valmont Butte. Wakarusa Wetlands. Walking Woman Place. Woodruff Butte. Wolf River. Yucca Mountain. Zuni Salt Lake. Hellige steder av alle fjernede Native Nations. Alle Waters og våtmark.

Arizona: Mount Graham, Dzil Nchaa Si An

Mount Graham er hellig for de vestlige Apache mennesker og er kjent for San Carlos Apache som Dzil Nchaa Si An. Det er en hellig landskap der Gaan eller Mountain Spirits bor og forfedrenes Apache resten. Det er et sted for seremonier og medisin planter, og hjem til den truede Mount Graham Red Squirrel. Den Pinaleño Mountains eller Mount Graham er en unik økologisk skatt. Det er det høyeste fjellet i Sør-Arizona, og omfatter seks ulike økologiske sonene fra dalbunnen til sin topp på 10 720 ft Kalles en "Sky Island" økosystem, den gamle vekst skog på Mount Graham toppmøte er Arizona tilsvarende regnskog. De rike fjærer og stor høyde enger har tilbudt næring og en kilde til helbredelse Apache folk som bor i ørkenen. De kule fuktige egenskaper Mountain har pleiet 18 ulike planter og dyr finnes noe annet sted i verden.

På 1980-tallet, University of Arizona og dets partnere på den tiden, inkludert Vatikanet og Smithsonian Institution, valgte Mount Graham som stedet å konstruere et observatorium med sju store teleskoper kjent som Columbus Project. Starten i 1988, Arizona Kongressens delegasjon lyktes i å få fritak for prosjektet fra truede arter, miljø, historisk bevaring og andre lover. I 1989 ble Universitetet i Arizona innvilget en 20-årig spesiell tillatelse til bruk av Coronado National Forest og US Forest Service, og bevilgningsforslag ryttere holdt prosjektet flush med offentlige ytelser uten å overholde føderale lover eller forskrifter, inkludert føderal Indian lover som skal beskytte religionsfriheten, gravplasser og kulturelle egenskaper. Vatikanet talsmenn uttalt at Mount Graham var ikke en religiøs eller hellig sted. Universitetsansatte og lobbyister forsøkte å undergrave omdømme Apache religiøse ledere og utøvere, og beholdt minst en San Carlos tribal offisielle å vitne om at fjellet var ikke hellig eller betydning for Apache folkeslag.

I flere tiår har Apache Peoples, forskere, naturvernere og studenter motstått University of Arizona beslutning om å bygge teleskoper på fjellet toppmøte. Selv om hyppige skydekke gjør teleskopet viser marginal og Mount Graham ble rangert 38nde i en studie av astronomiske steder i USA, har Arizona Kongressens delegasjon og universitetet vedvarte med prosjektet. I dag, er bygging av teleskoper og resulterer føderale nedleggelse av fjellet topp vanhellige Mountain med uerstattelig forhold til Apache Peoples.

Kampen fortsetter å beskytte natur-og kulturarv Mount Graham fra presedens-innstillingen ødeleggelse fortsatt være forårsaket av Universitetet i bygge sin observatorium på Mount Graham. Innsatsen til kulturvern og miljøorganisasjoner og berørte stammene å beskytte hellighet Mount Graham fortsetter med uforminsket styrke.

University of Arizona opererer nå sin observatorium uten gyldig spesiell tillatelse til bruk. Sin 20-års føderale tillatelse utløp 19. april 2009. Universitetet har bedt Coronado National Forest for en ny tillatelse, men som av juni 2012, har en beslutning om å gi tillatelse ennå ikke blitt gjort. Forest Service har fastslått at det er behov for å utarbeide en Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for å samle informasjon om fordeler og ulemper med å gi ny tillatelse. Universitetet har protestert iherdig til en ny EIS. Fra det lille informasjonen Mount Graham Coalition og San Carlos Apache Tribe har lært, Forest Service-og universitetets advokater er "i diskusjoner" for å avgjøre den endelige formen av tillatelsen fornyelse.

Det finnes en rekke grunner for Forest Service å nekte en ny tillatelse. Den bortfalt tillatelse hadde en rekke vilkår som ble brutt av universitetet. Mange av disse forholdene burde ha ført til tilbakekall av tillatelsen, men gjorde det ikke. Alle disse bruddene må undersøkes for å fastslå om universitetet kan følge reglene i en ny tillatelse.

Betingelsene for Mount Graham har endret seg vesentlig siden tillatelsen ble gitt, og observatoriet er enda mindre forenlig med det religiøse og økologiske betydningen av Mount Graham. Siden tillatelsen ble gitt, har "form" av Mount Graham vært ansett kvalifisert for plassering på den nasjonale listen over historiske steder. I tillegg erkjenner Forest Service nå som Mount Graham er en tradisjonell kulturarv til vestlige Apache folk og har tatt skritt for å konsultere (selv om det har en lang vei å gå) med tradisjonell Apache om den hellige natur Mountain og hvordan du kan beskytte det. Universitetet kan gå til Kongressen for enda en dispensasjon til religiøs frihet og miljølover og tvinge Forest Service til å utstede ny tillatelse. Tilhengere av Mount Graham ville være den siste til å høre av noen lobbyvirksomhet langs disse linjene og må stadig årvåken for å hindre at dette skjer.

For disse og mange andre grunner, er det viktig for tilhengere av Apache folk og Mount Graham å oppfordre Forest Service å nekte Universitetet ny tillatelse og krever at de eksisterende teleskoper på Mount Graham fjernes.

Etter 20 år med bygging, er det store teleskopet prosjektet fortsatt ikke komplett og meget alvorlige spørsmål gjenstår om dens betydning, nytte og funksjon fra et astronomisk perspektiv. Hva er ikke i spørsmålet er fortsatt krenkelser til de vestlige Apache Peoples. Like klart er det farlig status av de innfødte Mount Graham Red Squirrel. Den siste undersøkelsen utført av biologer anslått at bare ca 214 av disse unike arter, fant nå andre steder på jorden, forblir. Det har blitt identifisert av biologer som en av de pattedyr som mest sannsynlig gå utryddet i USA i overskuelig fremtid.

Flere branner herjet på toppen av Mount Graham i tidligere år. De ble utkjempet for å beskytte teleskoper mer enn økosystemet, og som et resultat ble mye skade gjort til Mountain som kunne vært unngått. Forest Service har besluttet å tynne skogen og ellers manipulere økosystemet for å prøve å beskytte det som er igjen og å gjenopprette det som har blitt skadet. Den nåværende brannene brenner i østlige og sørlige Arizona forsterke faren for at ytterligere tiltak vil bli tatt beskytte strukturer i dyreliv og åndelige verdier.

Bønner og diligence er nødvendig nå mer enn noen gang for Mount Graham. Økosystemet er under alvorlig trussel fra klimaendringer og andre mønstre av ødeleggelse, og det er en mulighet for Forest Service å nekte en ny tillatelse for teleskoper og krever de bli fjernet, og det er en sjanse til å beskytte eksisterende økosystemet og gjenopprette noen av hva som har gått tapt. Og fortsetter hellig Mount Graham å bli utfordret, og mens fjellet er i stand til å beskytte seg selv, kan supporterne bidra til å beskytte den.

For mer informasjon, ta kontakt med Mount Graham Coalition, Roger Featherstone, President, at greenfire@featherstone.ws eller Dinah Bear, sekretær, på Bear6@verizon.net

Arizona: San Francisco Peaks

San Francisco Peaks er hellig for Apache, Hopi, Hualapai, Navajo, Yavapai og andre Native Nations. San Francisco Peaks er hjem til mange hellige vesener, medisin steder og opprinnelse nettsteder. Myriad seremonier er gjennomført der for healing, velvære, balanse, markeringen, passasjer og verdens vann og liv sykluser.

San Francisco Peaks er på offentlig land innenfor Coconino National Forest. Faktisk har den amerikanske Forest Service viste at San Francisco Peaks er hellig og hellig til over tretten stammer i det sørvestlige USA.

Uavhengig av det foregående, Forest Service og privateide Snowbowl skianlegg, som ligger på San Francisco Peaks, planlegger å utvide skianlegget og å bruke resirkulert kloakk å gjøre kunstig snø. Utvidelsen og kloakk til snø planer kan ha en katastrofal effekt på de innfødte religioner og mennesker og på vannet og helsen til hele regionen. Den krypende rekreasjons utviklingen har opptatt Native åndelige ledere og stammeledere tjenestemenn i flere tiår, men gjeldende planer langt overstige tidligere aktivitet på feriestedet.

Snowbowl planer om å klare 74 dekar av sjeldne alpine habitat som er hjem til truede arter, få nye skiløyper og heiser, legge til flere parkeringsplasser og bygge en 14,8 kilometer nedgravd rørledning for transport opp til 180 millioner liter (per sesong) av avløpsvann å lage kunstig snø på 205 dekar. Til tross for pågående protester og sultestreiker, har Snowbowl begynt byggingen av sitt avløpsvann rørledning for snøproduksjon, med godkjenning av og beskyttelse av Forest Service og US Department of Agriculture.

Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission leder Duane H. Yazzie vitnet før Senatet komité for Indian Affairs '2011 høring om den amerikanske gjennomføringen av FNs erklæring om urfolks rettigheter: "Integrering av erklæringen til gjeldende rett vil fokusere hovedsak på verdien av hellige steder i stedet for å plassere en uforholdsmessig byrde på prosedyren. Dessuten vil erklæringen legge vekt internasjonal politikk i stedet for å stole på innenrikspolitikk alene. Legislatively adressering indisk lov rettsvitenskap vil reparere dispossession av indiansk rettigheter til hellige steder. "

FNs spesialrapportør om urfolks rettigheter anbefalte i 2011 at "United States Government engasjere seg i en omfattende gjennomgang av de relevante retningslinjer og tiltak for å sikre at de er i samsvar med internasjonale standarder i forhold til San Francisco Peaks og andre Native American hellige steder, og at det tar nødvendige utbedringstiltak .... regjeringen bør gjenoppta eller fortsette konsultasjoner med stammene som religioner praksis påvirkes av ski operasjoner på San Francisco Peaks og forsøke å komme til enighet med dem om utvikling av skiområde. Regjeringen bør gi alvorlige hensyn til suspendere tillatelsen for endringer av Snowbowl til en slik avtale kan oppnås eller til, i mangel av en slik avtale, er en skriftlig beslutning gjort av en kompetent statlig myndighet at den endelige avgjørelsen om skiområdet modifikasjoner er i samsvar med USAs internasjonale menneskerettighetsforpliktelser.

"Spesialrapportøren ønsker å understreke behovet for å sikre at handlinger eller avgjørelser av statlige etater er i samsvar med, ikke bare nasjonal lovgivning, men også internasjonale standarder som beskytter retten til indiansk å øve og vedlikeholde sine religiøse tradisjoner. Spesialrapportøren er klar over eksisterende offentlige programmer og politikk for å rådføre seg med urfolk og ta hensyn til deres religiøse tradisjoner i regjeringen beslutningsprosesser med hensyn til hellige steder. Spesialrapportøren oppfordrer regjeringen til å bygge videre på disse programmene og politikk for å samsvare med internasjonale standarder og ved å gjøre det for å etablere en god praksis og bli verdensledende på at det kan beskytte rettighetene til urfolk. "

Native Nations og miljøorganisasjoner har forsøkt å beskytte San Francisco Peaks i retten. Tingrettens styrte for utviklingen i 2006. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals veltet den lavere domstol avgjørelse i 2007 og regjerte til Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation og andre. En tre-dommer panel av Ninth Circuit avgjort at Forest Service brøt Religious Freedom Restoration Act og National Environmental Policy Act i å tillate Snowbowl Resort å utvide over 100 dekar av sjeldne alpine økosystem, en del av det området som er hellig for Native Peoples.

Den føderale regjeringen utfordret den beslutningen og begjærte Ninth Circuit for rehearing en banc. Slike bønner er sjelden gitt, men retten gitt denne. Saken ble argumentert foran 11-dommer banc panel av Ninth Circuit i Pasadena i desember 2007. The Ninth Circuit utstedt avgjørelse banc panel 8. august 2008, avgjørelse i favør av utviklingen. De innfødte Nations inngitt stevning av certiorari for USAs høyesterett. Den 8. juni 2009, avslo Høyesterett å vurdere vedtaket.

Stammene forsøkte å nå en slags administrativ innkvartering med den nye administrasjonen, men slik innsats har ikke båret frukter. Redd Peaks Coalition senere anlagt sak mot den føderale regjeringen på NEPA problemet at Forest Service ikke klarte å tilstrekkelig vurdere inntak av gjenvunnet kloakk vann. Disse var den samme loven og fakta at den tidligere tre dommer panel vurderes i å finne at Forest Service hadde mislyktes i å overholde NEPA. Den tidligere kjennelse ble imidlertid gjort ikke-precedential av en banc domstol i Navajo saken. Uavhengig av det niende Circuit forutgående resonnement, styrte Dommer May Murguia av US District Court mot Redd Peaks Coalition på alle punkter. Kort tid etter ble hennes utnevnelse av Obama til den niende Circuit bekreftet. Redd Peaks Coalition anket dommen.

Et åpent fiendtlig tre-dommer panel av Ninth Circuit ikke bare styrt mot Coalition, men uttalte at Redd Peaks Coalition og deres advokat hadde misbrukt den juridiske prosessen - uten grunnlag av støtte for sine anklager. Snowbowl tiden går etter saksøkerne og deres pro bono advokat, personlig, for skader i mengden av ca $ 280.000. De samme tre dommere hører Snowbowl forslag.

I mellomtiden er Snowbowl forfølge straffeforfølgelse av fredelige demonstranter og søker "gjengjeldelse" fra dem. Noen medlemmer av Flagstaff samfunnet har begynt en sultestreik. Som en juridisk og praktisk sak, men er Snowbowl nå fritt til å skjende hellige San Francisco Peaks ustraffet.

For ytterligere informasjon, kontakt: Howard M. Shanker, The Shanker Law Firm, PLC, i Tempe og Flagstaff, Arizona, på (480) 838-9433 eller howard@shankerlaw.net

California: McCloud River - Winnemem Wintu Tribe Forbereder for Balas Chonos

Den Winnemem Wintu Tribe of Northern California forbereder seg Balas Chonos, Coming of Age Ceremony, til tross for motstand fra den amerikanske Forest Service. Stamme har bedt Forest Service for å lukke 400 meter av McCloud River til fritidsaktiviteter motoriske båtfolk for de fire dagene av seremonien, 30 juni-3 juli. Forest Service hevder at det er hindret av Bureau of Indian Affairs 'føderale anerkjennelse politikk og kan ikke lukke elven fordi Tribe ikke er statlig anerkjent.

Stamme sier at føderale anerkjennelse er bare ett av de føderale relasjoner med stammefolk. I California ble 90% av stammene som ikke omfattes av en svært kort anerkjennelse liste, som ble offentliggjort uten advarsel under Reagan-administrasjonen. Selv de med lang innspilt historiske forholdet som stammer med den amerikanske regjeringen - de som var undertegnet de unratified traktater og de på California dom Roll, for eksempel - ble ekskludert fra at anerkjennelse listen. Rundt 300.000 tradisjonelle mennesker og deres menneskerettigheter til seremonien er berørt på grunn av denne politikken. Under den amerikanske Indian Religious Freedom Act, alle føderale byråer har en plikt til å beskytte og bevare indianar hellige steder og seremonier, og å rådføre seg med Native tradisjonelle religiøse ledere, uavhengig av deres føderalt eller ikke-føderale anerkjennelse status.

Den Winnemem Wintu Tribe hevder sin rett til å seremoni for Indigenous kvinner under artikkel 11, 12 og 25 i FNs erklæring om urfolks rettigheter. Winnemem Chief Caleen Sisk ber om obligatorisk nedleggelsen av McCloud River for Coming of Age Ceremony for Marisa Sisk, som vil bli den neste Winnemem Chief. Selv om Winnemem Wintu foretrekker å fokusere på de feirende, sier Tribe det "må fortsette på den lange veien til rettferdighet, utdanning verden som om hva det er å være tradisjonell i USA."

Etter utilfredsstillende møter med Forest Service tjenestemenn, heter Chief Sisk for en War Dance, eller H'up Chonos, en seremoni utført når det er ingenting som kan gjøres annet enn å be. Over 200 personer kom fra så langt nord som Olympia, Washington, og så langt sør som Los Angeles for å støtte Winnemem med en ikke-voldelig nedleggelse, kommunisere med båtfolk om faktum det var en seremoni og ber dem om å respektere det. Ett hundre prosent av rekreasjons båtfolk respektfullt snudde.

Stamme sa at "bare forstyrrelser i denne ikke-voldelige seremonien var den amerikanske Forest Rangers, som daglig kom gjennom i to biler, en å være en hjørnetann enhet, og buzzed oss ​​med sine båter, støttet av hjelpesystemer Coast Guards, på den tredje dag (Forest Service) summarisk stenge ned våre nedleggelse innsats. "

Den Winnemem si at Forest Service avviser nedleggelsen, selv om det har: 1) klare bevis for rasistisk trakassering, interferens og helse og sikkerhet utrydningstruet av drunken, fartsovertredelse båtfolk som ignorerer Forest Service er "frivillig nedleggelse", 2) Farm Bill som gir myndighet til å lukke områder og elver for seremonien, 3) FNs erklæring om urfolks rettigheter, 4) California AJR 39 felles resolusjon, som hevder at staten California anerkjenner Winnemem Wintu og oppfordrer den amerikanske kongressen til å gjenkjenne stamme, 5) en uformell avstemning av den lokale Redding avisen, som viser at det offentlige støtter hedre retten til seremonien, samt overveldende internett støtte, og 6) vedtak av støtte fra Urfolksledere på 2012 FNs permanente forum for den urfolks rettigheter.

Stamme kaller showet av makt og den føderale anerkjennelse problemet "røyk og speil, og når røyken forsvinner, mistenker stamme som den amerikanske Forest Service under påvirkning av Bureau of Indian Affairs kan handle på vegne av særinteresser - den Bureau of Reclamation og Westlands Water, den største vannet selskap i verden, som eier området som er hellig for Winnemem. "Westlands ønsker Shasta Lake Dam Project, som vil heve dammen ved flere meter. Stamme sier at prosjektet "vil drukne alle de hellige stedene som i dag kommer ut av vannet for et par uker hvert år, slik som kvinner Healing Place og Pubertet Rock, og de vil være tapt for alltid."

Chief Sisk sier Winnemem plan for å "gå videre med en verdig seremoni, shored opp av War Dance bønner og støttet av løftet om 300-400 supportere tilbake 29. juni lukke de 400 meter av McCloud for fire dager for Marisa er Coming of alder. Det er viktig for Marisa å vite hva hun trenger å gjøre i disse vanskelige tider som en leder. Klokken er ikke fredelig, så en fredelig og verdig seremoni ikke kan være en tapt mål. Målet er å gjøre det beste man kan og aldri gi opp som Winnemem.

"The Winnemem Wintu be bønner alle gode mennesker samlet for nasjonale Prayers for Sacred Lands for menneskets rett til seremoni uten skille mellom statlig anerkjent og ukjente, og spesielt for retten for tribal kvinner til seremonien. Kvinner er den hellige sentrum av livet. Vi ber om forbønn for at Shasta Lake Dam ikke vil bli ytterligere hevet og for beskyttelse av vår hellige Winnemem River, de hellige kvinners doctoring steder, den Pubertet Rock og Barnas Rock, samt trygg retur av Tribe laks fra New Zealand til sine hjemlige farvann over dammen. Vi ber om forbønn for at Winnemem levemåte vil fortsette på. Hee Chala Bes-ken! "

Kontakt: Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk på caleenwintu@gmail.com eller Misa Joo på misa@misajoo.com

California: Medicine Lake Highlands og Hatchet og Bunchgrass Mountains

Medicine Lake Highlands er en kritisk viktig tribal regionen som ligger nordøst for Mount Shasta i fjellene i Nord-California. The Pit River, Modoc, Shasta, Karuk, Wintu og andre Tribes hedre området for sine naturlige helbredende krefter, og for sine forbindelser til sine Stammer 'mangeårige historie. For eksempel mener Eidsbotn Tribe at Skaperen og hans sønn badet i Medicine Lake etter at de skapte jorden, og Skaperen formidles hans ånd til vannet. På grunn av innsjøens hellighet, Tribes fra kysten av California til Rocky Mountains bruker området som treningsarena for medisin folk. The Highlands er også ettertraktet av geotermisk energi selskaper som har søkt om utbygging tillatelser fra Bureau of Land Management (BLM) og den amerikanske Forest Service (USFS), som administrerer området.

Siden 1990-tallet har den Eidsbotn Tribe, Stanford Environmental Law Clinic og andre tilhengere av vern av den hellige Medicine Lake Highlands i det nordøstlige California vært utfordrende BLM og USFS unnlatelse av å foreta tilstrekkelig miljøgjennomgang og tribal konsultasjon for industriell skala energi utvikling i det skotske høylandet. 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.

Disse, som skaper vedvarende kumulative negative effekter til Mojave mennesker, dens hellige landskap og tribal religiøse tro.

I 2005 Ft. Mojave filed a state lawsuit seeking the removal of the plant, total restoration of the sacred area, an environmental baseline of prior to the plant's construction and any other actions that could serve to remedy the desecration. Settlement negotiations concluded in November 2006 aimed to achieve each of these goals and secure other remedies including repatriation of portions of the sacred area to tribal ownership, sensitivity training for PG&E employees and contractors, a written public apology and reimbursement of past and future Tribal costs.

In 2011, during selection of the Final Groundwater Remedy, DTSC made a finding that the Topock Cultural Area is an historic resource under state law and the BLM determined that a Traditional Cultural Property (TCP) or property of traditional religious and cultural significance within a 1,600 acre Area of Potential Effect is eligible for listing on the National Register under Criterion A, as part of what tribes have identified as a larger area of traditional and cultural importance.

Yet, DTSC and BLM failed to consult with the Tribe on the final mitigation measures, assuming they knew what was best for all the Tribal Governments along the Lower Colorado River and how the sacred area could be best protected. DTSC's failure to complete a legally adequate environment document, and failure to live up to certain terms in its settlement agreement with the Tribe, is the subject of a second lawsuit brought by the Tribe under state environmental laws. In its approval of the Final Groundwater Remedy, BLM has continued to put off dealing with mitigation for the continued impacts of up to 170 new wells and related infrastructure into the Tribe's sacred area, putting the sustainability of the Tribe's cultural and spiritual practices of the Tribe at further risk for decades to come.

Prayer is needed:
1) for DTSC and PG&E to swiftly bring to conclusion their settlements with the Tribe, and recognize the sovereignty of the tribal government and the agency's public policy goals of truly inclusive and transparent decision making,
2) for BLM and DOI to follow through on promises to require meaningful mitigation for tribal cultural concerns during groundwater and soils remedy design and to improve its management of the area,
3) for additional sacred land in this area to be repatriated to the Tribe and
4) to ask for forgiveness for any continuing desecration that may occur until the offending facilities, including the interim measure treatment plant, are finally removed and until other required restoration of the landscape occurs.

This issue is national in scope: the Maze has been officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978 and is formally recognized as nationally significant. Moreover, the failure of state and federal agencies to fully consider direct, indirect and cumulative impacts to Native Sacred Places during pollution remediation activities remains a national problem requiring Congressional Oversight. Pray that this oversight occurs at the highest levels.

Contact: Nora McDowell-Antone, Tribal Topock Project Manager, at (928) 768-4475, NoraMcDowell-Antone@fortmojave.com, or Courtney Ann Coyle, Tribal Attorney, at (858) 454-8687, CourtCoyle@aol.com

California: Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, Luiseño Ancestral Origin Landscape

Pechanga is in need of urgent prayer to continue to assist it in protecting the Luiseño Ancestral Origin Landscape from the Granite Construction Company's proposed Liberty Quarry. The proposed quarry would be located on a sacred mountain within the Luiseño People's sacred place of origin. Parts of this Origin Landscape have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973 as the Murrieta Creek Archaeological Area (exva Temeeku) and are also listed in the state's Sacred Lands File Inventory.

After many public hearings before the Riverside County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors, the quarry was DENIED this year! However, the Board on a 3:2 margin voted to APPROVE the inadequate environmental document under CEQA, potentially laying the groundwork for Granite to come back in the near future with a revised application to mine. This unusual turn of events means that the Origin Area is still at risk.

Granite wants to blast out the mountain, home to the Kammalam (ancestors in the form of rocks), so that it can produce aggregate. The quarry could operate for 75 years and, even after reclamation, would remain a permanent scar within the sacred landscape. It would also be located at the headwaters of the Santa Margarita River, the last remaining free flowing river to reach the Pacific Ocean in southern California, and be adjacent to the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve, which also includes part of the Origin Landscape.

The quarry would kill the mountain and forever disturb the sanctity of this incredibly beautiful and scenic area, located next to the reservation and at the doorstep of the City of Temecula.

In addition, the quarry would also pose environmental hazards to the Pechanga Community: air and water quality, visual and noise impacts, fire and emergency response, as well as sever a key wildlife linkage to and from the reservation. The Tribe was not consulted by the County of Riverside on these impacts during environmental review.

Pechanga respectfully requests prayer that:
1) Efforts to permanently prevent mining in any form at this location are successful and that
2) Tribal efforts to have this Origin Landscape formally recognized and protected will be successful.

For more information on the efforts to protect the Luiseño Ancestral Origin Landscape from the Liberty Quarry, contact Paul Macarro, Pechanga Cultural Coordinator at: pmacarro@pechanga-nsn.gov or (951) 770.8102 or Jacob Mejia at: jmejia@pechanga.com or (951) 770.2595.

California: Redlands – California-Pacific Committee on Native American Ministries of The United Methodist Church at the University of Redlands, Saturday, June 16, at 7:15 am

The California-Pacific Committee on Native American Ministries (CONAM) of The United Methodist Church will have prayer for sacred places on the Quad at the University of Redlands in Redlands, California. The public is welcome to join on Saturday, June 16, at 7:15 am

Contact: Suanne Ware-Diaz at soozware@yahoo.com or (571) 236-7274 for more information.

California: Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians – Burial & Ceremonial Grounds –
Traditional Mourning Ceremony, Saturday, June 23, Ocotillo Area, 7:00 pm

For over two years, the Viejas Band has been waging legal, political and public relations battles to save tribal burial grounds and ceremonial sites from destruction by local and federal agencies. Viejas has positive news to report one on front and heartbreaking news to report on another.

Padre Dam Site:

Over this last year, with your help, we made much progress towards protection and repatriation of a burial ground and ceremonial site on Padre Dam Municipal Water District property, which sought to develop a reservoir and pumping station on the site.

Settlement of the litigation is close at hand in which the site would be restored, protected in perpetuity and the land repatriated to the Tribe. Viejas is deeply grateful for the support it has received from the local community, Governor of California, Native American Heritage Commission and the Courts, which have sided with the Band on many different levels.

Viejas respectfully requests prayer for:
1) An appropriate alternative location for the project to be secured by the District,
2) The soils previously taken off site by the District to be returned to the property in as gentle a manner as possible and as quickly as possible, and
3) Forgiveness that the impacts occurred and that they will never happen again.

Ocotillo Express Wind Farm:

Meanwhile, Viejas and other tribes have been forced to defend our ancestors from further attacks and potential destruction of tribal cultural resources, sacred places and burial grounds by a number of major renewable energy and other utility projects in the local mountains and deserts that would forever alter the Cultural Landscape of the Kumeyaay Nation. These include: the Sunrise Powerlink Project, Tule Wind Project, Ocotillo Wind Express Project, Eco Station Project, Imperial Solar Project and others.

Just last month, over the strong objections of Kumeyaay Bands and the Quechan and Cocopah Peoples, local community members, environmental groups, unions, recreationists and state park supporters, the massively destructive Ocotillo Wind Express Facility was approved by the County of Imperial and the BLM. Ocotillo Express (Pattern Energy) wasted no time and immediately began clearing, scraping and destroying the area and would not agree to hold off on construction until a TRO could be heard.

The so called “Refined” Project would include 112 industrial-sized wind towers up to 460 feet high, 42 miles of new roads, 81 miles of undergrounded fiber optic cable, a 31-acre substation and switchyard, operation and maintenance building and other infrastructure such as parking, ponds and laydown areas that were not part of the NEPA and CEQA documents. The project Right of Way is across about 12,000 acres of federal public land and is surrounded by designated wilderness, Cultural Preserves, Areas of Critical Environmental Concern and shares a 5-mile border with Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

The project is within a valley that slopes from the mountains to the desert, and is mostly undeveloped Class L (Limited Use) lands. One ceremonial site, the Spoked Wheel Geoglyph, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2003, long before any wind project was proposed, and includes the whole viewscape from the site. The valley is ringed with sacred mountains — Coyote, Signal, Sombrero and Pinyon — and is used as a teaching area for tribal youth. Over 35,000 person hours were spent surveying and recording the massive amount of physical archaeology present at the site. The BLM relied solely on archeological values during the survey and only at the end of the NHPA Section 106 process acknowledged that the project area is a TCP within a larger TCP. Tribal Values considerations were an afterthought in the environmental documents and consultation was severely rushed due to arbitrary deadlines set by BLM to meet federal wind subsidy deadlines currently set for the end of 2012.

On June 23, Viejas and other Kumeyaay Bands will be holding a traditional Mourning Ceremony in the Ocotillo Area. The ceremony will begin at 7:00 pm and continue through the morning. The tribes will grieve for what has been lost and bring attention to efforts to save what is left of the area where the ancestors are laid to rest.

Viejas respectfully requests prayer that:
1) Preliminary Injunctions will issue to halt the destruction,
2) The BLM accepts historic human remains detection dog teams as a legitimate tool for identifying and avoiding ancestral cremation areas,
3) Subsidies and loans from federal and other entities are NOT granted for the project,
4) The Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) is NOT extended by Congress, and
5) That something good for the Tribal Peoples of our region comes out of this experience in the form of UNITY, DOCUMENTATION and RESPECT for traditional religious practices.

For more information, please contact: Robert Scheid, Viejas Public Relations Director, at (619) 659-2316 or by email at: rscheid@viejas-nsn.gov

Colorado: Boulder – Native American Rights Fund – Sunrise Ceremony, Wednesday, June 20
Please join us for a Sunrise Ceremony beginning at 7:00 am, on Wednesday, June 20, on the front lawn of the Native American Rights Fund, 1506 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado. The program and prayer service will last about one hour, followed by a potluck breakfast. Community members have been invited to speak, as well as other NARF staff. Speakers will be followed by a moment of silence to show concern for the sacred places that are being damaged and destroyed today.
In the United States, Native Americans are more closely tied to the land than any other group, yet the increasing exploitation of natural resources and population expansion has caused previously undisturbed tribal sacred places to become vulnerable to destruction. As part of its mission, the Native American Rights Fund has long advocated for sacred site protection, religious freedom efforts and cultural rights. Recently, NARF's Board of Directors has asked us to expand our efforts to protect lands that are sacred and precious to Native Americans.
Please show your solidarity for the protection of sacred places by joining us for the June 20 program. We ask you to bring food and/or beverages to share at the completion of the program.
Please join us! If you have any questions please contact Rose Cuny at 303-447-8760.

Kansas: Lawrence – Wakarusa Wetlands, Haskell Medicine Wheel – Open to the Public
Wednesday, June 20, at SUNRISE

Haskell Wetland Preservation Organization (WPO) and Save the Wakarusa Wetlands will observe National Prayer Day at SUNRISE, June 20th, beside the Wakarusa Wetlands at the Haskell Medicine Wheel, south of Lawrence, Kansas. Haskell WPO is a Native student organization. Save the Wakarusa Wetlands, Inc., is an association of local supporters, including Haskell Indian Nations University, Washburn University and Baker University alumni, students and supporters from all parts of the Lawrence community.

The ceremony will be held at the medicine wheel, where participants will erect a lodge pole at sunrise to mark the exact position of the Summer Solstice.

The event is open to all who wish to add their prayers to save this sacred place from the highway builders. Participants will ask for the protection of the Wakarusa Wetlands (aka, Haskell-Baker Wetlands), threatened by an eight-to-ten lane highway project approved by the Army Corps of Engineers, but delayed by a federal law suit filed by WPO and a consortium of supporter groups, including Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, Jayhawk Audubon, Kansas University Environs, Save the Wakarusa Wetlands, Kansas Sierra Club and KU EcoJustice.

Update:
On January 20, 2012 a panel of federal appeals court judges heard oral arguments challenging the state's efforts to construct 8-10 lanes of traffic across wetlands that once served as the primary refuge for Native children resisting cultural genocide. The written opinion could come at any time, but may not be released before mid-summer. For more than two decades, Haskell students and their allies have managed to block efforts to pave this sacred place, which was “surplussed” away from Haskell during the Eisenhower termination era. More than two thirds of Haskell's campus was “given away” by BIA officials at the time.
Last year, Republican Governor Sam Brownback announced that $192 million in Kansas taxpayer funds was being allocated for completion of the South Lawrence Trafficway. The SLT began as a scheme to help local developers turn the southern edge of Lawrence into a regional shopping mecca. In recent years, the SLT project has been hijacked by trucking interests that dream of turning two nearby closed military bases into national hubs for NAFTA product distribution. Thus, the SLT has mushroomed into an eight-to-ten lane behemoth promoted as key infrastructure. This latest version of the old frontier booster fable that the metro area is destined to be “the next Chicago” has all the officials of nearby towns clamoring for completion of the SLT.

Ironically, while in Congress, then-Senator Brownback sponsored a US apology to Native Americans for past egregious actions, but it specifically prohibited Native Peoples from taking any legal action that would provide redress or remedy for any of the actions, causing many Native people to call it a “hollow apology.”

About 600 acres of the Wakarusa Wetlands were located directly south of the dorms at Haskell Institute, the nation's largest and most tribally diverse federal off-reservation boarding school. This last major remnant of the wetlands was a crucial refuge where Native children from all across the country survived sustained government efforts to exterminate their cultures. Indian students took refuge in the Wakarusa Wetlands refuge — where they could speak their languages, sing their sacred songs and conduct ceremonies and dances that were federally punishable with starvation and jail time — and refused to let school authorities “kill the Indian” in them.

Parents and other tribal leaders camped, sometimes for weeks or months, beside these wetlands on the north bank of the Wakarusa. They were awaiting permission from school officials to let them reclaim or at least visit their children. These elders used the Wakarusa Wetlands as an outdoor classroom to pass on final lessons about healing and other traditional knowledge.

The wetlands quickly became the most essential place where Haskell students could get news about family and friends. The wetlands was where they heard about what was happening back home in the crucial era of allotments and the “surplussing” of their homelands. The wetlands also provided the least censored opportunity to send messages home whenever someone speaking a related language arrived in camp. Otherwise, the children had to learn enough English to send a letter home by way of school censors, and then further screened by the Indian agent when it reached their reservation, and again modified when the interpreter read their message to parents who often could neither read nor speak English. This place is soaked in Indian history, layered with the stories of Native elders and is the last resting place of some who came to Haskell in its darkest days. Spirit release ceremonies and clandestine burials took place in these wetlands. The disappeared and runaways are remembered here.

This sacred wetland, a place between land and water, is the largest intact trace of the original Wakarusa Bottoms, an 18,000-acre prairie wetland environment. It existed for thousands of years before white school officials obtained federal funds to drain it. Before Haskell opened, this place supplied Native Peoples of the region with valuable medicinal plants, important ceremonial items, waterfowl, furbearers and other relatives central to their ways of life.

Elders have said the Creator caused the course of the Wakarusa River to go directly east toward the rising sun, in sharp contrast to the other rivers in the region, as a sign of the abundant gifts to be found there.

Despite massive efforts to drain the wetlands in the early twentieth century — and Haskell's loss of all but a few acres of this property during the termination era — the Wakarusa Wetlands, like Haskell Indian Nations University itself, has survived and flourished. The entire historic Haskell campus, including the Wetlands, is being considered for designation as a National Historic Heritage area, but should have been declared a Traditional Cultural Property long ago.

Contact: Cleta Labrie cletalabrie@gmail.com President of Haskell Wetlands Preservation Organization (WPO); Dr. Dan Wildcat (WPO faculty adviser) at dwildcat@sunflower.com; or Michael Caron at (785) 842-6293 or by email at mcaron@sunflower.com with Save the Wakarusa Wetlands, Inc. Friend the Wetlands Preservation Organization on FACEBOOK.

Nebraska: Lincoln – National Congress of American Indians, Mid-Year Session
Nebraska State Capitol Grounds, North Plaza
Tuesday, June 19, Sunrise Ceremony

The National Congress of American Indians will sponsor a Sunrise Ceremony on Tuesday morning, June 19, at the Nebraska State Capitol grounds on the North Plaza. The NCAI is conducting its 2012 Mid-Year Session in Lincoln, Nebraska, June 17-20.

The NCAI Sunrise Ceremony will be held as a part of the observances and ceremonies during the National Days of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Places, from June 16 through June 24.

The public is invited to attend NCAI's respectful observance to honor sacred places, sacred beings and sacred waters, and all those who care for them and protect them from harm. Participants are asked to arrive no later than 7:00 am

For information about NCAI's Sunrise Ceremony, contact NCAI Deputy Director Robert Holden, 202.466.7767, email: rholden@ncai.org

New York: Ganondagan State Historic Site, at the Great White Pine Tree of Peace
Wednesday, June 20, at Noon

At Ganondagan State Historic Site in New York, there will be a Gahnonyoh (Thanksgiving), starting at Noon, on Wednesday, June 20, to protect sacred places and to promote world peace. “We invite spiritual leaders and the general public to join us on that day as we offer words of Thanksgiving or Gahnonyoh in Seneca,” says G. Peter Jemison (Seneca), who is the Caretaker of Ganondagan.

“We will gather before noon near the Great White Pine at the head of the Trail of Peace to offer words of Thanksgiving to the Creator,” says Jemison. “The event is open to the general public and all are welcome, but no photography, please.”

Ganondagan is the site of the seventeenth century town, once the capitol of the Seneca Nation, which was destroyed by the French in 1687. Today, it is the only historic site in New York dedicated to a Native American theme. Ganondagan is sacred to the Seneca People because nearby are the remains of Jikonhsaseh the Mother of Nations, who was the first person to accept the message of Peace brought by the Peacemaker, who united the Haudenosaunee or Five Nations: Seneca Nation, Cayuga Nation, Onondaga Nation, Oneida Nation and Mohawk Nation.

Contact: G. Peter Jemison at (585) 924-5848 or by e-mail at mailto:pjemison@rochester.rr.com

New York: New York City – Prayer of Remembrance for Sacred Places
Thursday, June 21, 1:00 pm
Hudson River at Bethune & West Streets

A Prayer of Remembrance for Sacred Places will take place on Thursday, June 21, at 1:00 pm The group will gather at the Hudson River in New York City at Bethune and West Streets.

The event is sponsored by Spiderwoman Theater, The Silvercloud Singers and the American Indian Community House.

Contact: Murial Borst-Tarrant at mborst1@msn.com or 551-208-3536.

Ohio: Peebles – Serpent Mound, Wednesday, June 20, 10:00 am – 9:00 pm
Newark – Newark Earthworks, Great Circle entryway, Thursday, June 21, 6:00 am/8:00 pm
Chillicothe – Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Mound City
Thursday, June 21, 7:00 pm
Oregonia – Fort Ancient Earthworks, Saturday, June 23, 5:30 am

In Ohio, there will be gatherings at the four major remaining earthworks sites to honor the brilliant achievements of the Indigenous Peoples who lived in the Ohio Valley 2,000 years ago and built enormous earthen architecture. Gatherings will occur near Peebles, in Newark, near Chillicothe and near Oregonia to acknowledge the original landscape, what has been lost and all that continues into the future. The public is invited to observe the National Day of Prayer to Protect Sacred Places at these places.

Two thousand years ago, Indigenous Peoples built more than 600 groups of earthworks, each group consisting of several large earthen geometric shapes with specific purposes. The earthworks were built by design, near creeks and rivers. Many of the earthworks are enormous, measuring from 20 to more than 50 acres in area, with walls varying from 3 to 30 feet tall and connected by walled earthen roadways; the design guided the Peoples through the earthworks along a ceremonial road. Large circles with entryways facing the east, squares with rounded corners and entryways, octagons with eight entryways, huge rectangular flat-topped or oval mounds, tall conical mounds and ceremonial roadways mark the Ohio Valley as a sacred landscape. In addition to using geometric forms to convey meaning and purpose, the builders used a standard unit of measure and other mathematical consistencies in the spacing of the earthworks. Distances between earthworks at Newark can be measured in multiples of 1,054 feet.

The Newark Earthworks consisted of four large earthworks built 2,000 years ago over a four-square mile area by the Peoples of the Hopewell Culture. Two remain preserved. The Octagon Earthworks is an astronomical calendar tracking the 18.6-year lunar cycle, marking the lunar standstills in spectacular moonrises. It was built in the shape of a circle and an octagon connected by a walled ceremonial road. The nearby Great Circle is itself nearly 1,200 feet in diameter and possibly had many uses, as a ceremonial center, for formal games such as stickball and as places of gathering. The Ellipse was a walled cemetery with many burial mounds and contained a number of earthen circles open to the east before it was excavated to clear the land for canals, railroads and heavy industry. The Wright Square stood between the Great Circle and the Ellipse cemetery, but has been destroyed by development.

Of the four major remaining sections of the Newark Earthworks, all but one have been acknowledged as sacred places and have become state parks/monuments. However, the Octagon Earthworks are leased to a private country club and open to the public only four days per year. The Ellipse cemetery is owned privately and currently being prepared for sale as an industrial park.

Serpent Mound is one of two effigy mounds in Ohio, and one of the largest anywhere in the world. Its iconic aerial outline is known far beyond the borders of this state. Nearly a quarter of a mile long, the undulating coils made of three foot tall earthen walls curve from a spiral tail to a head pointing across the Brush Creek valley at the point on the southwestern horizon where the sun sets on the summer solstice. Recent scholarly work points to a construction of this unique mound at about 1070 CE, later than many of the more geometric enclosures around Ohio. The landscape is also marked by geological interest. A “crypto-explosion” crater cradles the arc of the valley where Serpent Mound lays on a bluff; the result of a meteorite that folded the crust of the earth when it struck 250 million years ago. This bluff of sandstone also has interest, as a visitor may walk down to creek side and look back up at the point where the “serpent's head” ends, and see a snake headed prow of stone poke out over the water below.

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park is made up of five sites in and around the city of Chillicothe, Ohio, where once could be seen the largest concentration of earthworks complexes anywhere in the world. Mound City is the name for the central enclosure, a rounded-cornered square that was one of the ancient cemeteries alongside the Scioto River where the National Park Service has its visitor center. Almost entirely destroyed during World War I by the construction of training camps and industry to support the war effort, it was rebuilt from the original foundations and above surviving parts of mounds during the 1930s and in another major effort during the 1960s and 1970s. An alignment along three of these reconstructed mounds, pointing towards a southwestern corner gateway of Mound City, is a dramatic view, and casts the entire complex into vivid contrast. The possible astronomical alignments for this and other units, such as the Hopewell Mound Group west of the city, are still being studied, using both old maps and surveys, and non-intrusive studies that can trace where walls and their associated clays still can be seen.

Fort Ancient is a vast, irregular enclosure with three miles of wall atop a pair of plateaus next to the Little Miami River valley. Military language was attributed to this location by early European occupants, who named features “North Fort” and “South Fort,” but later studies show that combat and conflict seem to have been entirely absent from this sacred site. Fort Ancient is the archaeological label used for a later cultural phase in Ohio, but much of the site was built around the same time as Newark and Chillicothe. Reflecting pools of water were built into the site to create a sense of place – world above, world below. More recent surveys have shown that four compass aligned stone mounds in the “North Fort,” were built alongside the traces of a circle, perhaps a “woodhenge” where posts in a circle aided in astronomical calculation and prediction. Fires were built on top of stone mounds into the historic era. From one of those stone mounds, on mornings near the summer solstice, a particular entryway to the northeast pours a path of light across the leveled plaza, until it paints the surface of the mound.

Many of the major earthworks in Ohio are now under consideration for designation as World Heritage Sites by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and a proposal is being prepared. For additional information about the Earthworks, see: http://whc.unesco. org/en/tentative lists/5243/. For more information about Solstice events see: www.AncientOhioTrail.org

Tennessee: Muscogee “Creek” Citizens Gathering, The Great Mound of Mound Bottom, Saturday, June 23, 10:00 am
Sellars Farm State Archaeological Area, Lebanon, Wilson County
Sunday, June 24, 2:00 pm

A Muscogee “Creek” Citizens Gathering will take place on Saturday, June 23, at 10:00 am, at The Great Mound, Mound Bottom archaeological site, in observance of the National Sacred Places Prayer Days. “This gathering will be ceremonial to honor and lift up the Mound,” said Melba Checote-Eads (Muscogee), who is organizing the gathering. “We will observe a day of prayer, singing, gifting and feasting at Mound Bottom, as is Muscogee tradition. Water will be furnished by Muscogee Citizens.”

Ms. Checote-Eads asks people to reserve a space by calling her at 615-765-5854, to bring a bag lunch and beverage, to wear hiking boots and to meet in the picnic area: “We will meet at the picnic area near the Harpeth River beside the Mound. We will walk one mile to the Mound and transportation will be provided for those unable to make the walk.” The group will tour the Mound at 10:00 am with Ranger Gary Patterson.

Mound Bottom is located in Cheatham County along the horseshoe bend of the Harpeth River. Mound Bottom is approximately one mile north of the point where US Route 70 crosses the Harpeth River, on the outskirts of Kingston Springs, Tennessee. The site is managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation as part of Harpeth River State Park. The Great Mound of Mound Bottom dates to the Mississippian era (900 AD-1300). Mound Bottom is about 100 acres and is nearly surrounded by the Harpeth River.

The flat-topped embankment that dominates the view from Mace Bluff is the largest of at least 14 Mounds that remain. The Great Mound stands 25 feet tall and 47 square feet in area; the remains of an earthen ramp leading from the plaza to the top of this Mound can still be seen. The entire complex, which is believed to have included hundreds of houses, was surrounded by an earthen wall topped with a palisade of upright logs. Mound Bottom likely began as a ceremonial meeting place around 950 AD and grew to become a fortified city with a population numbering in the thousands. Mound Bottom was part of a vast trade network that extended to Native Peoples in the Great Lakes area, Gulf Coast region and the Appalachian Mountains.

There also will be a gathering at the Sellars Farm on the following day, Sunday, June 24, at 2:00 pm The Sellars Farm State Archaeological Area is located in Wilson County: off Hwy-70 left at Poplar Rd., in Lebanon, Tennessee. The group will tour the Mound area and walk the path around the Mound, which is near Spring Creek, a tributary of the Cumberland River. Participants are asked to bring a bag lunch.

Ms. Checote-Eads describes the Mound site as covered with trees, grasses and wild flowers. It was a large village and trade area during the Mississippian Period. In 1939, a farmer dug up four statues, which were made between 600 and 800 years ago. Two of the statues are in the McClung Museum at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and have been featured on a US postage stamp.

For additional information, contact: Melba Checote Eads at melbaceads@dtccom.net or 615 765-5854.

Washington, DC: United States Capitol, West Front Grassy Area
June 20, Wednesday, at 8:30 am

The observance in Washington, DC, will take place at the US Capitol on the West Front Grassy Area on Wednesday, June 20, at 8:30 am The public is invited to attend this respectful observance to honor sacred places, sacred beings and sacred waters, and all those who care for them and protect them from harm. The observance will take the form of a talking circle.

All are welcome to offer good words, songs or a moment of silence for all sacred places, beings and waters, especially for those that are being threatened, desecrated or damaged at this time.

This observance is organized by The Morning Star Institute, a national Native rights organization founded in 1984 and dedicated to Native Peoples' cultural and traditional rights, including religious freedom and sacred places protection. The observance will be conducted by Mary Phillips (Omaha & Laguna Pueblo).

Contact: The Morning Star Institute at (202) 547-5531, Suzan Shown Harjo at suzan_harjo@yahoo.com or Mary Phillips at trumpetnative@aol.com or 510-205-4501.

Washington: Snoqualmie Falls, at the Cedar Tree, Friday, June 22, 11:30 am

Water is universally a Sacred Being, part of sacred ceremonies in all faiths and religions.

Snoqualmie Falls in Washington State is a place recognized as Sacred for thousands of years. For the Snoqualmie and other Tribes of the Puget Sound region, this is the Transformer's gift to the People.

It is a 268-foot waterfall listed on the Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property. Over two million people come from all over the world to visit Snoqualmie Falls annually. Puget Sound Energy owns and operates a hydroelectric facility there. Snoqualmie Falls is impacted and desecrated by diversion of a significant portion of the water from the river by a hydroelectric facility before it can complete the Sacred Cycle of reaching the base of the falls and creating a healing connection by its transformation to legendary mists that connect worlds, carry prayers, and deliver blessings.

Puget Sound Energy, a public utility, owns and operates a public park located there. A popular hiking trail down to the viewing area near the base of the falls continues to be closed to visitors until sometime in 2013. Access to the base of the Falls, specifically a spiritually powerful location, is blocked.

On Friday, June 22nd, at 11:30 am, there will be a gathering, rain or shine, at Snoqualmie Falls.

We welcome anyone who would like to respectfully join together in Spirit for observance of our Sacred Places across the globe that are in need. Join us and others that are gathering to pray, each in our own way for their protection.

“When one is uplifted, we all are uplifted”.

“We give thanks for the teachings of the Sacred. We give thanks that we are still here. We give thanks for the breath of the Spirit”.

We pray for one another.

In the Spirit of Snoqualmie Falls, Lois Sweet Dorman.

Contact: Lois Sweet Dorman, Snoqualmie, at nightfishes@qwest.net.

World Peace & Prayer Days – Gray Horn Butte (Devil's Tower), June 16
Medicine Wheel, June 17
Grand Tetons, June 18 – 21
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 21

Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe: “Once again I am sending my voice to all Nations upon Mother Earth, those who can hear my sincerity with their hearts – - unite together at our Sacred Sites creating an energy shift of a great healing on this June 21st. We need to see and listen to the wamakas'ka (the animals) who are more than ever now showing their sacred color of white, there are so many. This color represents the direction of when physical life now goes into the spirit journey. They are trying to warn us to pay attention to our responsibilities as a Global Nation. In order to protect the remaining sacredness that is trying to survive upon Mother Earth, which includes even our own children, we now have no choice but to unify and make positive decisions together.

“To honor the birthplace of World Peace and Prayer Day/Honoring Sacred Sites where it all began in 1996, we will gather at Gray Horn Butte, aka “Devils Tower” on June 16th. Peace Riders who made the '96 journey from Canada to
Gray Horn on horse back, will join us and offer prayers as well and plant a Peace Pole reading “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in 4 different languages. We will do the same offering on June 17th at Medicine Wheel. On June 18th we will gather at the Grand Tetons to begin one of the many events of WPPD throughout the world. The Grand Tetons will be the beginning of a four day event to bring attention for the need to protect the last of the true wild Buffalo (bison) that exist in Yellow Stone National Park, they are in constant danger of being massacred when caught off park property.

“On June 21st I will pray with thousands of People at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development or Rio+20 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As part of the various gatherings and celebrations that will be held as part of the Sacred Earth Gathering in Aldeia Nova Terra during the month of June parallel to the conference, there will be a very special ceremony to celebrate World Peace and Prayer Day/Honoring Sacred Sites along with various representatives of the Brazilian indigenous tribes and spiritual leaders from different nations. The intent is to honor this day not only in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil but to also invite the participation of other WPPD activities worldwide to join though simultaneous acts of prayer and song so as to be united spiritually on this June 21st to celebrate the 2012 World Peace and Prayer Day/Honoring Sacred Sites. Onipiktec'a (that we shall live).”

Contact: Paula Horne-Mullen, Wolakota.org http://wppd2012.com/

The Morning Star Institute, 611 Pennsylvania Ave., SE #377, Washington, DC 20003 (202) 547-5531