Demonstration this Sunday! Meet at Pacific & Laurel St in downtown Santa Cruz at 12:30pm.
See http://savetheknoll.org/for details.
Jan 8-9: Upcoming Local Events to Save the San Francisco Peaks!
Please spread the word about these important upcoming events! A strong turn-out is especially needed for the march and court hearing on Monday January 9, 2012! A complete schedule of events follows the announcement. Environmental justice groups are specifically asked to come aboard to educate their followers about the grave impacts of this situation. —- [...]
Jim Thorpe’s sons win ruling in legal effort to retrieve remains
Jim Thorpe: He was born near Prague in 1888 of Pottawatomi, Sac and Fox, and white ancestry. By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer Published: 11/25/2011 2:26 AM A lawsuit to return Jim Thorpe’s remains to his two living children and the Sac and Fox Nation can go forward, a federal judge in Scranton, Pa., has [...]
Action Alert! Demonstration for Save the Knoll this Sunday!
Demonstration this Sunday! Meet at Pacific & Laurel St in downtown Santa Cruz at 12:30pm. See http://savetheknoll.org/for details. About the Knoll – Protect the Ohlone Burial & Village Site on Market Street (Santa Cruz) savetheknoll.org
Bear Butte: Grant for “America is Your Park” …..Please Vote for our sacred sites!
Hello everyone, Coca-Cola Company currently has their annual “America is Your Park” program running through September 6th. The Park that receives the most votes can will up to $100,000. PLEASE VOTE! You can vote daily and also for more than one park. Please help to support our Sacred Sites, by voting for Bear Butte State [...]
Closing ceremony for the spiritual encampment @ Sogorea Te
Saturday, July 30 · 12:00pm – 5:00pm Location “Sogorea Te” aka Glen Cove, Vallejo, CA A final closing ceremony for the prayer vigil & encampment at Sogorea Te will be held on Saturday, July 30th, starting at noon. During the ceremony, long-term participants and warriors will be honored and the sacred fire that has [...]
Bear Butte: Grant for “America is Your Park” …..Please Vote for our sacred sites!
July 27th, 2011 
tamra Hello everyone,
Coca-Cola Company currently has their annual “America is Your Park” program running through September 6th. The Park that receives the most votes can will up to $100,000.
PLEASE VOTE! You can vote daily and also for more than one park. Please help to support our Sacred Sites, by voting for Bear Butte State Park and Devils Tower. You can vote up to 10 tens in a day
How to get to the section to vote:
http://www.livepositively.com/en_us/americasparks/vote/#/americasparks/vote
Type in the Park name in the search box and click go, a map will come up, click the red icon on the map, it will then take you to the “Vote for this Park” icon, click the icon and type in the security code it gives you. You can do this over and over, up to 10 times in a day!
America Is Your Park is a program that encourages people of all ages to get active in the park this summer. In the process, people can vote for their favorite national, state or local park to win a recreation grant up to $100,000 from the Coca-Cola Live Positively initiative. These grants will be used to restore, rebuild or enhance places within the park to play or be active.
A. Only one park will receive the title of “America’s Favorite Park” but grants will be given to the three parks that receive the most votes by September 6, 2011. Grants will be awarded in the following amounts: First place – $100,000, Second place – $50,000 and Third place – $25,000. These grants are made possible by the Coca-Cola Live Positively initiative.
Please VOTE and make sure you forward to all your friends and family! Bookmark the site, so you can vote daily!
http://www.livepositively.com/en_us/americasparks/vote/#/americasparks/vote
Thank you for your continued support for the Protect Bear Butte efforts!
Closing ceremony for the spiritual encampment @ Sogorea Te
July 26th, 2011 tamra Saturday, July 30 · 12:00pm – 5:00pm
Location “Sogorea Te” aka Glen Cove, Vallejo, CA
A final closing ceremony for the prayer vigil & encampment at Sogorea Te will be held on Saturday, July 30th, starting at noon. During the ceremony, long-term participants and warriors will be honored and the sacred fire that has been continuously burning for over 100 days and nights will be extinguished.
Bring chairs to sit in and food to share. We’ll be asking volunteers to take trash out with them as they leave. Also, on Sunday the 31st, we will work together to pack everything up and to thoroughly clean and restore the grounds. Extra hands will be very much appreciated. Thanks!
For driving directions, look here:
http://protectglencove.org/directions-to-glen-cove-2/
For updates and more information:
http://protectglencove.org/
Committee to Protect Glen Cove Announces Major Victory for Protection of the Sogorea Te/ Glen Cove Sacred Burial Grounds
July 20th, 2011 tamra FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 20, 2011
Contact: Corrina Gould (510) 575-8408
Morning Star Gali (510) 827-6719
protectglencove@gmail.com
Committee to Protect Glen Cove Announces Major Victory for Protection of the Sogorea Te/ Glen Cove Sacred Burial Grounds
VALLEJO, CA – After 98 days and nights of a continuous prayer vigil, the Committee to Protect Glen Cove is pleased to announce a victory in the struggle to protect the sacred grounds of Sogorea Te/Glen Cove.
Yesterday, the Yocha Dehe and Cortina tribes established a cultural easement and settlement agreement with the City of Vallejo and the Greater Vallejo Recreation District (GVRD). The agreement sets a legal precedent for granting Native peoples jurisdiction over their sacred sites and ancestral lands. The cultural easement forever guarantees that the Yocha Dehe and Cortina tribes will have legal oversight in all activities taking place on the sacred burial grounds of Sogorea Te/Glen Cove. It also represents a significant step forward in enacting tribal sovereignty, as the first such easement under CA Senate Bill 18 to be negotiated at the city and recreational district levels.
The agreement’s terms include elimination of the formerly planned restroom facility and relocation of a “downsized” parking lot to an area thoroughly tested to confirm that it contains no human remains or cultural remnants.
While the specifics of the deal leave some ambiguity about how GVRD’s park development project can and cannot proceed, the Committee is hopeful that Yocha Dehe and Cortina will use their newfound influence to make sure that the resting place of the ancestors is not further disturbed or desecrated.
Oil spill cleanup turns up trove of Indian relics
July 16th, 2011 tamra
July 16, 2011
CAMINADA HEADLAND, La. — Cleanup after the BP oil spill has turned up dozens of sites where archaeologists are finding human and animal bones, pottery and primitive weapons left behind by pre-historic Indian settlements — a trove of new clues about the Gulf Coast’s mound dwellers more than 1,300 years ago. But they also fear the remains could be damaged by oil or lost to erosion before they can be fully studied.
Forrest Travirca III, walks along Port Fourchon Beach as he searches for artifacts from Pre-historic American-Indian settlements in Caminada Headland, La., Tuesday, June 28, 2011. The sites were discovered last summer during the intense cleanup of the headland?s beaches after the BP oil spill. Since then, archeologists have found human and animal bones, fragments of pottery, primitive weapons and other items scattered over the beaches here. Archaeologists say the sites date to at least 700 A.D., well before European contact in the 1500s.
From the archive
So far, teams of archaeologists hired by the oil giant have visited more than 100 sites and sent back a growing list of finds to labs for radiocarbon dating and other tests, though extensive excavations haven’t been done. Scholars have also accompanied cleanup crews to make sure they don’t unwittingly throw away relics.
Greater Vallejo Recreation District, tribes to continue talking about Glen Cove park plans
July 15th, 2011 tamra 07/15/2011
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_18483959
http://protectglencove.org/
The Vallejo recreation district board voted Thursday night to continue talks with the city and American Indian tribes about a proposed solution to protect ancient burial grounds in Glen Cove.
The board delivered its decision in front of a packed audience at the Greater Vallejo Recreation District headquarters on Amador Street.
Before the vote, the board met in closed session with attorneys from both GVRD and the city.
“What we want to do is continue that process expeditiously so we come to an agreement and move forward,” GVRD board chairman Gary Salvadori said. “We don’t have the full details of it, but the concept appears to be in the best interest of the district and the community.”
Dozens of park opponents attended the board’s meeting, many wearing red T-shirts in a show of solidarity.
At issue is GVRD’s proposed construction of bathrooms, a parking lot and trails as well as flattening of a hillside on land that once contained ancient American Indian villages and shell mound burial sites. The construction site is located on 15 acres of mostly open space at the end of Whitesides Drive.
Salazar Announces $1.5 Million in Grants under Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
July 15th, 2011 tamra 07/15/2011
Contact: Kate Kelly, DOI (202) 208-6416
David Barna, NPS (202) 208-6843
Sherry Hutt, NPS (202) 354-1479
WASHINGTON — Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced $1,483,632 in grants to assist American Indian tribes, Alaska native villages, and museums with implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Of this amount, $1,422,515 is going to 19 recipients for consultation/documentation projects, and $61,117 is going to five repatriation projects.
“Returning human beings to their descendants and cultural items to their inheritors is unequivocally the right thing to do,” Secretary Salazar 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,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. 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 American Indian human remains and cultural items in their collections, and to consult with culturally affiliated tribes, Alaska native villages and corporations, and native Hawaiian organizations regarding repatriation.
This year five repatriation grants, totaling $61,117, will go to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the Gila River Indian Community, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the University of Colorado, and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Repatriation grants help with costs associated with the transfer of human remains and cultural items from institutions to tribes. This year’s grants will fund the repatriation of 32 individuals’ remains and over 200 cultural items from museums across the country to tribes.
FY 2011 NAGPRA Consultation/Documentation Grant Recipients
| Recipient | Award |
| Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians | $90,000 |
| Caddo Indian Tribe of Oklahoma | $68,717 |
| California State, Sacramento | $89,905 |
| Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes | $90,000 |
| Del Norte County Historical Society | $51,085 |
| Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota | $90,000 |
| Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe | $74,823 |
| Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, University of New Mexico | $89,877 |
| Organized Village of Kasaan | $89,732 |
| Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology | $90,000 |
| Rochester Museum & Science Center | $59,127 |
| Sitka Tribe of Alaska | $11,375 |
| SUNY, College at Oswego | $90,000 |
| Susanville Indian Rancheria | $90,000 |
| Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians | $23,228 |
| University of Colorado Museum, Boulder | $59,120 |
| Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission | $87,053 |
| White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation | $89,997 |
| Wisconsin Historical Society | $88,476 |
FY 2011 NAGPRA Repatriation Grant Recipients
| Recipient | Award |
| Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation | $9,996 |
| Denver Museum of Nature & Science | $14,868 |
| Gila River Indian Community | $14,407 |
| Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe | $8,378 |
| University of Colorado Museum, Boulder | $13,468 |
###
Bones leave Oak Harbor vulnerable to lawsuit
July 10th, 2011 tamra 7/10/11
If it’s proved that Oak Harbor officials knew Native American remains were located on SE Pioneer Way but proceeded with the project anyway, the city could be held liable in court.
Under state law RCW 27.44.040, anyone who knowingly removes a cairn or grave of any Native American is guilty of a class “C” felony. And under another section of the same code, RCW 27.44.050, a plaintiff may recover punitive damages upon proof that the violation was willful.
Brian Cladoosby, chairman of the Swinomish Tribal Senate, confirmed this week that the tribe has not opened litigation against the city, despite clear evidence that Oak Harbor officials were aware of a possible burial site adjacent to SE Pioneer Way.
“It’s pretty obvious the city ignored (the state’s) recommendation to have an archaeologist on site,” he said.
Shortly after bones were discovered under SE Pioneer Way last month, state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation officials released documents that showed city officials knew a site was nearby. The state agency warned that an expert should be on hand to observe construction but none was ever hired.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that people have been finding human remains downtown for years. According to a timeline released by the Swinomish Tribal Community, there are reports of bones being found by pioneers as early as the 1850s.
Sacred Sites—Concern Extends Across Country
June 20th, 2011 tamra By Carol Berry June 20, 2011
Observances and ceremonies will be held across the country from June 17 through June 21 to mark the 2011 National Days of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Places. The sites are scattered across the Plains states and the Midwest, through the Southwest into California, and resonate with a roll call of sacred names—Antelope Hills, Bear Butte, Black Mesa, Eagle Rock, Everglades, Klamath River, Mount Tenabo, Rainbow Bridge and countless others.
Read full article on Indian Country Today’s Blog
Protest Halts Snowbowl Wastewater Pipeline Construction
June 20th, 2011 tamra End Destruction and Desecration of Holy San Francisco Peaks
Flagstaff, AZ – At sunrise on Thursday, June 16, 2011, more than a dozen people stopped ski area construction on the Holy San Francisco Peaks. Six individuals used various devices to lock themselves to heavy machinery and to each other inside the waste water pipeline trench.
Kristopher Barney, Dine’ (Navajo) & one of the six who locked himself to an excavator stated, “This is a continuation of years of prayers and resistance. It is our hope that all Indigenous Peoples, and all others, throughout the North, East, South and West come together to offer support to the San Francisco Peaks and help put a stop to Snowbowl’s plan to further destroy and desecrate such a sacred, beautiful and pristine mountain!”
“What part of sacred don’t they understand? Through our actions today, we say enough! The destruction and desecration has to end!” said Marlena Teresa Garcia, 16, a young Diné woman and one of the six who chose to lock down. “The Holy San Francisco Peaks is home, tradition, culture, and a sanctuary to me, and all this is being desecrated by the Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort. So now I, as a young Diné woman, stand by Dook’o’osliid’s side taking action to stop cultural genocide. I encourage all indigenous youth to stand against the desecration that is happening on the Holy San Francisco Peaks and all other sacred sites”, said Garcia after being arrested and released.
A banner was hung on the side of the trench that read “Defend the Sacred!” where two protesters were locked together. Over the half mile of open construction, the group chanted, “Protect Sacred Sites, Defend Human Rights!”, “No desecration for recreation!” “Stop the cultural genocide! Protect the Peaks!”, and “Human health over corporate wealth”.
