Protect Sacred Sites Indigenous People, One Nation

Indigenous Elders and Medicine Peoples

April 27, 2012

Formal Statement to James Anaya, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

“The Creator gave the Aboriginal Indigenous Nations of the People Laws to follow and responsibilities to care for all Creation. These instructions have been passed down from generation to generation from the beginning of Creation. It is the Law that no one can overpower the Creator’s Law, you are a part of Creation, thus if you break the Law, you are destroying yourself.

We speak on behalf of all Creation: the four legged/those that swim/those that crawl/those that fly/those that burrow in the Earth/the plant and tree Nations. This one life system includes the elements of fire, water, earth and air, the living environment of “Mother Earth”.

The Sanctity of the Creator’s Law has been broken. The balance of life has been disrupted. You come into life as a sacred being. If you abuse the sacredness of your life then you affect all Creation. The future of all life is now in jeopardy. We have now reached the crossroads. As Aboriginal Indigenous People we ask you to work with us to save the future of all Creation.”

The Creator created the Aboriginal Indigenous Peoples into the Land at the beginning of Creation and also created into the Peoples the Natural Law. We have followed this Natural law since the very beginning, passing it down through each generation to ensure the survival of all life.

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(Washington, D.C.) — National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis today announced $82,874 in grants to assist American Indian tribes, Alaska   native villages, and museums with implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The grants will assist in    the repatriation of over 150 individuals and over 15,000 sacred objects, objects of cultural patrimony and funerary objects back to the tribes.

“Returning human beings to their descendants and cultural items to their inheritors is unequivocally the right thing to do,” Jarvis said. “These      grants will help to rectify an offense committed against American Indians in the past.” “I am proud that the National Park Service plays a key role  in the implementation of NAGPRA,” added Jarvis. “We take care of many places and objects that are part of our nation’s cultural heritage, and we are  privileged to help American Indians enjoy their right to care for their heritage.”

Enacted in 1990, NAGPRA requires museums and federal agencies to inventory and identify Native American human remains and cultural items in their     collections, and to consult with culturally affiliated Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, and Native Hawaiian organizations regarding repatriation. Section 10 of the Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to award grants to assist in implementing provisions of the Act.

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A federal appeals court has given an Arizona ski resort operating on federal land permission to use recycled sewage to make artificial snow on Humphrey’s Peak—the highest and the most sacred of the San Francisco Peaks to more than a dozen Indian nations.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on Thursday, February 9, upheld a district court decision dismissing a lawsuit filed by the Save the Peaks Coalition in 2009 against the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). In 2005, the forest service approved an application from the Arizona Snow Bowl Resort to use treated sewage on the sacred site. The Save the Peaks lawsuit was the second challenge to the USFS approval. The Navajo Nation was among a group of Indigenous nations to file the first lawsuit against the desecration of the mountain in 2005.

Erny Zah, spokesman for Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly, said the Ninth Circuit decision was “a disappointment. Although the San Francisco Peaks are not within our reservation, they are within our traditional boundaries, within our realm of dwelling, and we make offerings on the Peaks, we have prayers and songs that incorporate not only the San Francisco Peaks but all of elements of life, and this court decision to potentially allow the use of reclaimed water to generate snow negates our inherited traditional foundations.”

Read article on http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/02/10/ninth-circuit-allows-recycled-sewage-on-sacred-san-francisco-peaks-97013 

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

Protecting Our Ancestral Remains, Religious Freedoms, and Sacred Places Roundtable

Hosted by Loretta A. Tuell, Majority Staff Director/Chief Counsel

Date: Thursday March 1, 2012

Time: 1:00 PM – 4:00 p.m.

Location: Committee Hearing Room, 628 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC

Topics: The Committee is interested in hearing about the challenges, solutions, and successes in protecting our ancestors, religious freedoms, and sacred places.

RSVP: Please let us know if you plan to attend this event and what issues you are most interested in addressing.

• By Phone: Christiane Cardoza      at 202-224-2251; or

• By Email: roundtable@indian.senate.gov

Dear Defenders of Mother Earth,

We are undergoing one of the biggest struggles of our lives in the defense of scared sites. As we know, President Obama’s fast track stimulus money projects have a complete failure as demonstrated by the Solyndar Company’s disaster, the Solar Trust of America Blythe Solar project bankruptcy and other companies which are also filing bankruptcy. In addition, the Imperial Valley Solar, LCC Project was stopped by the Quechan Tribe on February 6, 2012.

La Cuna de Aztlan Sacred Sites Protection Circle has filed lawsuits on 6-other solar projects and currently the Genesis Solar Power Project has been stopped due to the findings of a large 400-acre village and hundreds of indigenous artifacts that we had advice the company of in our public comment letters that was presented to them nearly 2-years ago. In addition, on May 2011 the Solar Millennium Company destroyed the True North and Sun Complex Geoglyphs that are located within the Kokopilli/Cicimitl Twin geoglyph group by the construction of a 150ft. wide by 5-mile long roadway. (Attached are pictures)

In order to amend the failing fast-track stimulus money solar programs concerning sacred sites, on January 17, 2012, the Colorado River, Eastern Riverside County Tribes and members of our organization met at the Agua Caliente Casino Conference Center in Palm Springs, California with the BLM and the Department of Interior representatives. This meeting was to discuss the sacredness of these areas and the vast destruction that has already taken place within the Blythe and Genesis Solar Power Project sites.

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By ICTMN Staff February 23, 2012

A great article in The Tennessean highlights the state’s incredible mounds, created two thousand years ago in the current Westhaven community.

“In 1 A.D. the Westhaven community in Franklin was a lush, expansive environment, filled with buffalo, deer, fish and clean water. It was also inhabited by a large primitive tribe, whose name and history were lost long ago,” writes The Tennessean’s Helen Meely. “However, Westhaven was left an ancient reminder that they were here. The community has two huge burial mounds, which at the moment are covered in brush and excessive plant life.”

Harvard University’s Peabody Museum carved tunnels through these mounds between 1875 and 1878 in an effort to remove precious artifacts, explained Mark M. Tolley of the Tennessee Ancient Sites Conservancy.

Tolley, a Tennessee Indian site archeologist, and Toye Heate, a former president of the Alliance for Native American Indian Rights and former state commissioner of Indian Affairs, have attempted to preserve Tennessee state heritage, by working closely with a dedicated group of volunteers from Franklin, Nashville and the Westhaven community on these two mounds.

The team the two men have formed have been “patiently clearing away debris and underbrush to expose the stunning mounds for all to see,” Meeley writes. “These dedicated volunteers have been doing an excellent job; however, there is still much to be done. If you are interested in helping, contact Mark at tolleymm@yahoo.com.”