Yucca Mountain today, nuclear dump ‘forever’
The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) application for the proposed Yucca Mountain radioactive waste dumpsite in Nevada has been accepted for review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
“After three decades of site studies, this action officially kicks off the Yucca Mountain repository licensing proceeding,” explains a September 8 bulletin from Beyond Nuclear. “The State of Nevada, and other dump opponents, will now have 60 days to intervene by submitting contentions to NRC citing legal or technical flaws with the proposal. Nevada is expected to submit hundreds of contentions. An NRC licensing board will decide which contentions will be granted a hearing. NRC’s licensing proceeding will last three to four years. It will then decide whether or not to approve the Yucca Mountain dump.”
Commenting on the decision, Kevin Kamps from Beyond Nuclear says: “The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) today showed its blatant bias in favor of the proposed high-level radioactive waste dump in Nevada by docketing the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) license application before the pro-nuclear Bush administration leaves office. In record time, NRC rubberstamped DOE’s half-baked submission, despite its lack of a final repository design, waste transport-storage-burial canister design, and national routing plan for shipping the deadly wastes by road, rail, and waterway through 45 states.
“Despite DOE being nearly six years late in filing its still incomplete license application, NRC recently denied the State of Nevada’s humble and reasonable request for a mere six months to prepare contentions against the dump.
“Why is NRC rushing into the Yucca proceeding at breakneck speed, especially when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not even finalized radiation release regulations for the dumpsite?
“Nevadans know the reason better than anyone, that politics have long trumped science at Yucca Mountain. Interestingly, Nevada’s contentions against the dump are now due right around Election Day. If elected, Barack Obama has pledged to withdraw the Yucca license application. Even John McCain, who has consistently voted in favor of the Yucca dump, has indicated that burying radioactive waste in Nevada may not be the best idea after all. Politics singled out Nevada in the first place, kept the Yucca Mountain Project alive for two decades despite glaring scientific unsuitability, and ironically may now kill the dump in the end.”
Don’t forget the Shoshone
A glaring issue not mentioned by Kevin Kamps, which is altogether ignored by the NRC, EPA, DOE, and both presidential candidates — is that Yucca Mountain falls within the 60 million acres of territory that the US government acknowledged when it signed the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley with the Western Shoshone.
Signed “in peace and friendship,” the treaty formed a relationship similar to the Six Nations Two Row Wampum, which affirmed the Indigenous Nation as culturally and politically distinct from the Nation State.
And so it follows that “even the mere study of the [Yucca Mountain] site is a violation of the treaty,” notes the late Corbin Harney, in a 2000 article, Yucca Mountain: No Place for Waste.
Violation of the treaty goes far beyond holding studies without the Shoshone’s consent, however. Denying their own legislation from time time, the government claims ownership of about 90 per cent of the territory, making it into the Most Atom-Bombed Place on Earth.
As a result, the Shoshone have been “exposed to many years of nuclear weapons testing, suffer from high rates of cancer, leukemia, and other diseases,” notes an in depth article about Yucca Mountain, by Amy Corbin.
The waste dump threatens to intensify this ongoing, near-irreversible health crisis.
It further threatens to harm the Shoshone’s culture, their livelihoods, and their spiritual practices. The Mountain range has been a site to gather medicines and hold Ceremonies for thousands of years. In the place of this, the government wants to store anywhere up to 77,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste.
“Current Department of Energy plans call for the highly radioactive nuclear waste to be encased in steel containers and buried deep in the mountain. Since the canisters will last for 1,000 years at most, the dryness of the mountain will have to guarantee against leakage and migration — an idea that environmentalists and many scientists say is a flawed and dangerous assumption. Surface water percolates into the mountain, and will carry radioactive particles into the water table and render it toxic. This water table currently supplies water to local communities and farming regions which produce milk and other food products for the entire country,” Corbin explains.
In addition, “with several local fault lines and a volcano nearby, earthquakes make it likely that the mountain will fracture the repository and send even more water to the waste.”
“Beyond [these and other health and safety] issues lies the fact that the Shoshone should be able to determine what goes on at the mountain due to treaty rights and their historical and spiritual ties to the area. Government work has already disturbed burial remains and denied Native Americans access to the rock prayer rings. The Yucca Mountain controversy is rarely acknowledged as one that, at its heart, is about native sovereignty and the need to care for the land in a way that is spiritually responsible and environmentally sound.”
http://intercontinentalcry.org/yucca-mountain-today-nuclear-dump-forever/
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Saving Shiprock: Community hopes to make sacred monument a state or national park
Saving Shiprock: Community hopes to make sacred monument a state or national park
09/09/2008
SHIPROCK — Legends abound among Navajo people about their sacred Shiprock pinnacle.
Called Tse' Bit' Ai in the Diné language, the 1,800-foot peak is at the core of Navajo culture, and the rock soon may be the focus of a state park.
"It's no surprise to Navajo people that Shiprock is a tremendously significant resource," said David Simon, director of New Mexico State Parks, to state Indian Affairs Committee on Monday. The committee, an interim legislative council, met in Shiprock to hear an update of the proposed state park and tour the area surrounding the rock.
"It meets all the criteria to be designated as a state park," Simon said of the site. "The pinnacle is an extremely important cultural site. It is very much worthy of our respect and protection."
Monday's meeting came six months after the 2008 legislative session ended. During the session, Rep. Ray Begaye, D-Shiprock, introduced a bill calling for a feasibility study on the proposed park. Begaye sits on the Indian Affairs Committee.
Simon presented the results of the $15,000 study Monday, along with recommendations for protecting and preserving the rock. The study will be released to the public this week, he said, and New Mexico State Parks will accept public comments for 60 days.
The state's recommendation is for the Navajo Nation to establish a park while partnering with the state for design, development and management assistance. The park would be listed alongside other state parks in tourism packets, Simon said. It would join the ranks of other Navajo-owned parks like Canyon de Chelly and Monument Valley.
It also would be part of the Grand Circle of Parks, Simon said. Thirteen state, tribal and national parks are located within 150 miles of Shiprock and draw an annual visitation of more than 130,000 people.
Simon called the pinnacle "one of the most important features in the country," but said development may be complex.
"There are unique issues to be resolved because it's on tribal lands," he said. "All of them can be resolved, but they will have to be addressed through the legislature's direction and a joint agreement with the Navajo Nation."
A bill calling for a state and tribal agreement in the creation and maintenance of the park may appear on the legislative agenda as early as January, Begaye said.
"One of the sad things about the Shiprock pinnacle is that there's no real limits to what people can do," he said. "We have accidents out here and parties with alcohol. If we made this into a park, we would have a sense of belonging, of ownership, of business development. Without a strong plan, this area will deteriorate."
Ideally, the park would include a visitors center, picnic tables, restrooms and aerial view facilities, Begaye said. Funding also would go toward road improvements. Other attractions include maintained trails, guided tours and designated areas for bird watching or photography.
The estimated price tag for the park is $3 million, Simon said. The cost goes up $125,000 per year if the Nation opts for state employees to help staff the park.
The Navajo Parks and Recreation Department already is pushing for preservation and partnership, Manager Martin Begaye said.
"The community wants to see it as at least a state park because of the money it would bring to the community," he said.
Some residents are even calling for a national monument, Martin Begaye said. The feasibility study revealed that communities with national parks bring in between $1.6 and $40 million annually.
"When you say tribal park, that sounds like it's for tribal members," he said. "If you say national park, a lot more visitors would come to the area."
The proposed park is not without opposition.
Development of the area would encroach on grazing lands, Ray Begaye said. A park also would increase traffic to roads already in need of repair.
Further opposition comes from surrounding chapters who contend the pinnacle does not lie within the Shiprock Chapter's boundaries. The Sanostee, Red Valley and Gadii'ahi chapters all claim some ownership of the rock.
"What we're doing is grappling with the boundary lines," Ray Begaye said. "Legally, we still have some questions and we have a way to go."
The Indian Affairs Committee hopes to hear a full feasibility report by the end of November, leaving time to draft legislation before January.
http://www.daily-times.com/news/ci_10415328
09/09/2008
SHIPROCK — Legends abound among Navajo people about their sacred Shiprock pinnacle.
Called Tse' Bit' Ai in the Diné language, the 1,800-foot peak is at the core of Navajo culture, and the rock soon may be the focus of a state park.
"It's no surprise to Navajo people that Shiprock is a tremendously significant resource," said David Simon, director of New Mexico State Parks, to state Indian Affairs Committee on Monday. The committee, an interim legislative council, met in Shiprock to hear an update of the proposed state park and tour the area surrounding the rock.
"It meets all the criteria to be designated as a state park," Simon said of the site. "The pinnacle is an extremely important cultural site. It is very much worthy of our respect and protection."
Monday's meeting came six months after the 2008 legislative session ended. During the session, Rep. Ray Begaye, D-Shiprock, introduced a bill calling for a feasibility study on the proposed park. Begaye sits on the Indian Affairs Committee.
Simon presented the results of the $15,000 study Monday, along with recommendations for protecting and preserving the rock. The study will be released to the public this week, he said, and New Mexico State Parks will accept public comments for 60 days.
The state's recommendation is for the Navajo Nation to establish a park while partnering with the state for design, development and management assistance. The park would be listed alongside other state parks in tourism packets, Simon said. It would join the ranks of other Navajo-owned parks like Canyon de Chelly and Monument Valley.
It also would be part of the Grand Circle of Parks, Simon said. Thirteen state, tribal and national parks are located within 150 miles of Shiprock and draw an annual visitation of more than 130,000 people.
Simon called the pinnacle "one of the most important features in the country," but said development may be complex.
"There are unique issues to be resolved because it's on tribal lands," he said. "All of them can be resolved, but they will have to be addressed through the legislature's direction and a joint agreement with the Navajo Nation."
A bill calling for a state and tribal agreement in the creation and maintenance of the park may appear on the legislative agenda as early as January, Begaye said.
"One of the sad things about the Shiprock pinnacle is that there's no real limits to what people can do," he said. "We have accidents out here and parties with alcohol. If we made this into a park, we would have a sense of belonging, of ownership, of business development. Without a strong plan, this area will deteriorate."
Ideally, the park would include a visitors center, picnic tables, restrooms and aerial view facilities, Begaye said. Funding also would go toward road improvements. Other attractions include maintained trails, guided tours and designated areas for bird watching or photography.
The estimated price tag for the park is $3 million, Simon said. The cost goes up $125,000 per year if the Nation opts for state employees to help staff the park.
The Navajo Parks and Recreation Department already is pushing for preservation and partnership, Manager Martin Begaye said.
"The community wants to see it as at least a state park because of the money it would bring to the community," he said.
Some residents are even calling for a national monument, Martin Begaye said. The feasibility study revealed that communities with national parks bring in between $1.6 and $40 million annually.
"When you say tribal park, that sounds like it's for tribal members," he said. "If you say national park, a lot more visitors would come to the area."
The proposed park is not without opposition.
Development of the area would encroach on grazing lands, Ray Begaye said. A park also would increase traffic to roads already in need of repair.
Further opposition comes from surrounding chapters who contend the pinnacle does not lie within the Shiprock Chapter's boundaries. The Sanostee, Red Valley and Gadii'ahi chapters all claim some ownership of the rock.
"What we're doing is grappling with the boundary lines," Ray Begaye said. "Legally, we still have some questions and we have a way to go."
The Indian Affairs Committee hopes to hear a full feasibility report by the end of November, leaving time to draft legislation before January.
http://www.daily-times.com/news/ci_10415328
Monday, September 8, 2008
Native Americans ‘in a constant state of mourning’
For more info and details about the monthly protests of Bolsa Chica, contact their coordinator Paul Moreno at 949-228-7262 or email bigrockcreek@msn.com.
If you are in the area of Huntington Beach, Calif. PLEASE support these folks and attend their protest walks! These folks are working very hard to bring attention to this issue, it's important to support their efforts for the cause!
Develop Your Mind Not Sacred Sites!
In peace & solidarity,
Tamra Brennan
Founder/Director
Protect Sacred Sites Indigenous People, One Nation
www.protectsacredsites.org
www.protectbearbutte.com
"Our sacred lands are all that remain keeping us connected to our place on Mother Earth, to our spirituality, our heritage and our lands; what’s left of them. If they take it all away, what will remain except a vague memory of a past so forgotten?"
Native Americans ‘in a constant state of mourning’
Brightwater protest on Brightwater Drive.
By MICHÈLE MARR
Updated: Tuesday, September 2, 2008 5:20 PM PDT
There are 3 comment(s)
On the first Saturday of this month Susana Salas walked out to what once was a large prehistoric village and its cemetery near Warner Avenue and Bolsa Chica Street. It was her first visit to the place since luxury homes with views of the Pacific coast and Huntington Beach wetlands were built atop it.
She felt anxious, she said, her voice beginning to catch. This had been the home, then the resting place, of her ancestors; three decades of trying hadn’t prevented them from being disturbed.
The story isn’t a new one or even exceptional except for the rare artifacts found at the site known as ORA-83. Ed Mountford, chief executive of Hearthside Homes, which is building the 356-home gated community known as Brightwater, has said that nearly all of Orange County’s most coveted coastal dwelling places were once home to indigenous California Indians.
Which together with the unique discoveries at this site might seem like the best reason of all to preserve rather than build on it. Few, if any, like it are left.
An 8,000-year-old village, it once encompassed 17 acres on the Bolsa Chica Mesa. Along with 174 human remains and tens of thousands of artifacts, more than 1,000 stone carvings known as cogged stones have been found there.
The site is thought to have been a manufacturing and distribution center for the stones, part of a complex, interactive ritual associated with a now unknown religion. Only a small number of other cogged stones, which resemble cogged wheels, have been found at a 9,000-year-old indigenous site on the northern coast of Chile.
The idea that the stones have an archaeoastronomical, ceremonial and ritual significance — along the lines of the much larger stones found at Stonehenge — became a crippling point of contention in attempts to win ORA-83 a place on the National Register of Historic Places. Several of the staff on the California Department of Parks and Recreation State Historical Resources Commission just wouldn’t have it.
Never mind that Tom Hoskinson, an aerospace engineer with expertise in Native American sky watching practices, calendars and mathematics, supported the notion. Never mind that Commissioner Carol L. Novey pointed out that as Westerners, commission staff might “simply not understand the ideas put forth in the nomination.”
Minutes from a 2004 meeting considering the matter reads more like a transcript from a wiretap of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. While the commission deemed preservation of the site “paramount,” it nit-picked the reasons why — especially the archaeoastronomical reasons.
Yet along with its being a sacred burial ground, this spiritual significance may have been one of the most important reasons to leave ORA-83 intact. For, aside from the loss of life in earlier generations, it’s the Native American spirituality, so tied to the land, that has suffered the greatest blow by urbanization.
“Native American religion [when it] comes up,” Cindi Alvitre wrote in an e-mail, “is perceived as a novelty or curiosity.” Which may explain why the SHRC found the spiritual aspects of the cogged stones at ORA-83 so disconcerting.
Alvitre is descended from the Gabrieleno and Tongva. She is moompetam, a salt-water clan. The land of her tribe was the same land that is now Orange and Los Angeles counties and the Channel Islands.
With a bachelor’s in anthropology and a master’s in history, she is a part-time lecturer in the department of American Indian Studies at Cal State Long Beach. She is completing her doctoral dissertation at UCLA.
Her thesis is concerned with recovery from cultural and historical trauma among Indian tribes in Southern California.
“We are in a constant state of mourning,” Alvitre says.
Susana Salas, a Yaqui, whom I met at a protest of the Brightwater development, reflects this point as well.
“We live our lives trying to protect the graves of our ancestors from destruction,” Alvitre says, adding that they rarely succeed. “We are constantly reburying our dead.”
She asked if readers of this column could imagine their loved ones pulled from their graves “with all the prayers, tears, offerings [and] annual commemorations” so a developer could put up a tract of multimillion dollar homes. It’s a question I can’t answer.
I wonder how many of us would say, in the name of profit or progress, “Sure. Fine. Bury them somewhere else.” After all, as a society, we are cremating more — often scattering ashes to the wind — to save money and to save ourselves the traditional funerary spectacle of death.
At Brightwater, in the face of accusations that ancestral remains have not been dealt with properly, California Indians are again protesting the assault on their culture and spirituality. They plan to gather at Bolsa Chica Street and Warner Avenue at 10 a.m. each first Saturday of the month.
When the California Coastal Commission convenes on Oct. 15, 16 and 17, they will ask it to revoke Hearthside Homes’ permit to build on ORA-83, based on the site’s cultural and sacred significance. Alvitre knows better than to hold her breath.
She says commemorative plaques to the tribes that once occupied the land are the developers’ idea of compromise. “Fixed obituaries … badges of contemporary conquest,” she calls them.
With the reburial of the dead and limited access to the land for sacred ceremonies, “our spiritual way of life has been impacted by this development in the most extreme way humanly possible,” Alvitre says.
She thinks the developer should share the land it now holds title to. It should give a portion of the land back to the tribes.
To view a slideshow of a recent protest, click here.
GET INVOLVED
Attend the California Coastal Commission revocation hearing, October 15-17, time and place TBA. For updates, go to www.bolsachicalandtrust.org. Voice your concerns to the following:
Native American Heritage Commission
Mr. Larry Myers, Executive Secretary, NAHC915, Capitol Mall, Room 364, Sacramento, CA 95814; E-mail lm_nahc@pacbell.net
California Coastal Commission
Mrs. Teresa Henry, C.C.C., 200 Oceangate, 10th floor, Long Beach, CA 90802-4416; E-mail thenry@coastal.ca.gov
If you are in the area of Huntington Beach, Calif. PLEASE support these folks and attend their protest walks! These folks are working very hard to bring attention to this issue, it's important to support their efforts for the cause!
Develop Your Mind Not Sacred Sites!
In peace & solidarity,
Tamra Brennan
Founder/Director
Protect Sacred Sites Indigenous People, One Nation
www.protectsacredsites.org
www.protectbearbutte.com
"Our sacred lands are all that remain keeping us connected to our place on Mother Earth, to our spirituality, our heritage and our lands; what’s left of them. If they take it all away, what will remain except a vague memory of a past so forgotten?"
Native Americans ‘in a constant state of mourning’
Brightwater protest on Brightwater Drive.
By MICHÈLE MARR
Updated: Tuesday, September 2, 2008 5:20 PM PDT
There are 3 comment(s)
On the first Saturday of this month Susana Salas walked out to what once was a large prehistoric village and its cemetery near Warner Avenue and Bolsa Chica Street. It was her first visit to the place since luxury homes with views of the Pacific coast and Huntington Beach wetlands were built atop it.
She felt anxious, she said, her voice beginning to catch. This had been the home, then the resting place, of her ancestors; three decades of trying hadn’t prevented them from being disturbed.
The story isn’t a new one or even exceptional except for the rare artifacts found at the site known as ORA-83. Ed Mountford, chief executive of Hearthside Homes, which is building the 356-home gated community known as Brightwater, has said that nearly all of Orange County’s most coveted coastal dwelling places were once home to indigenous California Indians.
Which together with the unique discoveries at this site might seem like the best reason of all to preserve rather than build on it. Few, if any, like it are left.
An 8,000-year-old village, it once encompassed 17 acres on the Bolsa Chica Mesa. Along with 174 human remains and tens of thousands of artifacts, more than 1,000 stone carvings known as cogged stones have been found there.
The site is thought to have been a manufacturing and distribution center for the stones, part of a complex, interactive ritual associated with a now unknown religion. Only a small number of other cogged stones, which resemble cogged wheels, have been found at a 9,000-year-old indigenous site on the northern coast of Chile.
The idea that the stones have an archaeoastronomical, ceremonial and ritual significance — along the lines of the much larger stones found at Stonehenge — became a crippling point of contention in attempts to win ORA-83 a place on the National Register of Historic Places. Several of the staff on the California Department of Parks and Recreation State Historical Resources Commission just wouldn’t have it.
Never mind that Tom Hoskinson, an aerospace engineer with expertise in Native American sky watching practices, calendars and mathematics, supported the notion. Never mind that Commissioner Carol L. Novey pointed out that as Westerners, commission staff might “simply not understand the ideas put forth in the nomination.”
Minutes from a 2004 meeting considering the matter reads more like a transcript from a wiretap of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. While the commission deemed preservation of the site “paramount,” it nit-picked the reasons why — especially the archaeoastronomical reasons.
Yet along with its being a sacred burial ground, this spiritual significance may have been one of the most important reasons to leave ORA-83 intact. For, aside from the loss of life in earlier generations, it’s the Native American spirituality, so tied to the land, that has suffered the greatest blow by urbanization.
“Native American religion [when it] comes up,” Cindi Alvitre wrote in an e-mail, “is perceived as a novelty or curiosity.” Which may explain why the SHRC found the spiritual aspects of the cogged stones at ORA-83 so disconcerting.
Alvitre is descended from the Gabrieleno and Tongva. She is moompetam, a salt-water clan. The land of her tribe was the same land that is now Orange and Los Angeles counties and the Channel Islands.
With a bachelor’s in anthropology and a master’s in history, she is a part-time lecturer in the department of American Indian Studies at Cal State Long Beach. She is completing her doctoral dissertation at UCLA.
Her thesis is concerned with recovery from cultural and historical trauma among Indian tribes in Southern California.
“We are in a constant state of mourning,” Alvitre says.
Susana Salas, a Yaqui, whom I met at a protest of the Brightwater development, reflects this point as well.
“We live our lives trying to protect the graves of our ancestors from destruction,” Alvitre says, adding that they rarely succeed. “We are constantly reburying our dead.”
She asked if readers of this column could imagine their loved ones pulled from their graves “with all the prayers, tears, offerings [and] annual commemorations” so a developer could put up a tract of multimillion dollar homes. It’s a question I can’t answer.
I wonder how many of us would say, in the name of profit or progress, “Sure. Fine. Bury them somewhere else.” After all, as a society, we are cremating more — often scattering ashes to the wind — to save money and to save ourselves the traditional funerary spectacle of death.
At Brightwater, in the face of accusations that ancestral remains have not been dealt with properly, California Indians are again protesting the assault on their culture and spirituality. They plan to gather at Bolsa Chica Street and Warner Avenue at 10 a.m. each first Saturday of the month.
When the California Coastal Commission convenes on Oct. 15, 16 and 17, they will ask it to revoke Hearthside Homes’ permit to build on ORA-83, based on the site’s cultural and sacred significance. Alvitre knows better than to hold her breath.
She says commemorative plaques to the tribes that once occupied the land are the developers’ idea of compromise. “Fixed obituaries … badges of contemporary conquest,” she calls them.
With the reburial of the dead and limited access to the land for sacred ceremonies, “our spiritual way of life has been impacted by this development in the most extreme way humanly possible,” Alvitre says.
She thinks the developer should share the land it now holds title to. It should give a portion of the land back to the tribes.
To view a slideshow of a recent protest, click here.
GET INVOLVED
Attend the California Coastal Commission revocation hearing, October 15-17, time and place TBA. For updates, go to www.bolsachicalandtrust.org. Voice your concerns to the following:
Native American Heritage Commission
Mr. Larry Myers, Executive Secretary, NAHC915, Capitol Mall, Room 364, Sacramento, CA 95814; E-mail lm_nahc@pacbell.net
California Coastal Commission
Mrs. Teresa Henry, C.C.C., 200 Oceangate, 10th floor, Long Beach, CA 90802-4416; E-mail thenry@coastal.ca.gov
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Occupation of park site expected to end today
Occupation of park site expected to end today
Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune
Members of a Dakota group say they hope their actions at the Coldwater Spring site in Minnehaha Park will bring changes.
By LIBBY NELSON, Star Tribune
Last update: September 5, 2008 - 11:11 PM
A Dakota occupation of the Coldwater Spring site near Minnehaha Park is expected to reach a peaceful end today.
Chris Mato Nunpa, one of the protest organizers, confirmed that the protesters would leave between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. He said protesters felt they had made their point and didn't have to stay longer.
"We're going to leave at one o'clock or two o'clock and proclaim victory," Mato Nunpa said.
The Dakota occupied the property Tuesday, hoping to reclaim it for their tribe or force a confrontation while trying.
But federal officials disrupted that plan from the start, granting a permit for the occupation, even though protesters hadn't requested one. The letter from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allowed protesters to remain at the site until 3 p.m. Friday, said Jason Holm, Midwest external affairs director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
"We've been out and visited, and we respect anybody's right to peacefully assemble and honor their cultural beliefs," Holm said. "There were no real problems that were going on."
At a news conference earlier Friday, the protest's organizers defended their claim to the Coldwater Spring site, which is sacred to them. They also discussed the treatment of American Indians over the past two centuries.
"We're asking for this land back," said Jim Anderson, cultural chairman for the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community and one of the protest's organizers.
"We want to turn this into a place of healing, which it always was. We're going to continue to be here," he said.
Anderson said he had been told the gates to the site would close at 3 p.m. Friday. A group of about 75 people waited for the confrontation, including the Dakotas occupying the site and others, mostly white, who had come in support.
Speakers talked about honoring an 1805 treaty with the Sioux Nation and the role the United Nations could play in resolving conflicts with indigenous peoples. They also proposed an alternate use for the site, as an educational center operated by the Dakota tribe.
"It would be a shining star of the Twin Cities," said Bill Means, a founder of the International Indian Treaty Council. "They could come to a beautiful building ... and learn about the indigenous peoples of Minnesota."
Minneapolis City Council Member Cam Gordon also spoke in support of the Dakota. "I think we've found a solution," he said, referring to the group's suggestion to use the land for educational purposes. "I hope we can use this opportunity to accomplish that."
Staff writer Norm Draper contributed to this report. Libby Nelson • 612-673-4758
http://www.startribune.com:80/local/27940944.html?elr=KArksD:aDyaEP:kD:aUg:oaEQDUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU
Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune
Members of a Dakota group say they hope their actions at the Coldwater Spring site in Minnehaha Park will bring changes.
By LIBBY NELSON, Star Tribune
Last update: September 5, 2008 - 11:11 PM
A Dakota occupation of the Coldwater Spring site near Minnehaha Park is expected to reach a peaceful end today.
Chris Mato Nunpa, one of the protest organizers, confirmed that the protesters would leave between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. He said protesters felt they had made their point and didn't have to stay longer.
"We're going to leave at one o'clock or two o'clock and proclaim victory," Mato Nunpa said.
The Dakota occupied the property Tuesday, hoping to reclaim it for their tribe or force a confrontation while trying.
But federal officials disrupted that plan from the start, granting a permit for the occupation, even though protesters hadn't requested one. The letter from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allowed protesters to remain at the site until 3 p.m. Friday, said Jason Holm, Midwest external affairs director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
"We've been out and visited, and we respect anybody's right to peacefully assemble and honor their cultural beliefs," Holm said. "There were no real problems that were going on."
At a news conference earlier Friday, the protest's organizers defended their claim to the Coldwater Spring site, which is sacred to them. They also discussed the treatment of American Indians over the past two centuries.
"We're asking for this land back," said Jim Anderson, cultural chairman for the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community and one of the protest's organizers.
"We want to turn this into a place of healing, which it always was. We're going to continue to be here," he said.
Anderson said he had been told the gates to the site would close at 3 p.m. Friday. A group of about 75 people waited for the confrontation, including the Dakotas occupying the site and others, mostly white, who had come in support.
Speakers talked about honoring an 1805 treaty with the Sioux Nation and the role the United Nations could play in resolving conflicts with indigenous peoples. They also proposed an alternate use for the site, as an educational center operated by the Dakota tribe.
"It would be a shining star of the Twin Cities," said Bill Means, a founder of the International Indian Treaty Council. "They could come to a beautiful building ... and learn about the indigenous peoples of Minnesota."
Minneapolis City Council Member Cam Gordon also spoke in support of the Dakota. "I think we've found a solution," he said, referring to the group's suggestion to use the land for educational purposes. "I hope we can use this opportunity to accomplish that."
Staff writer Norm Draper contributed to this report. Libby Nelson • 612-673-4758
http://www.startribune.com:80/local/27940944.html?elr=KArksD:aDyaEP:kD:aUg:oaEQDUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU
Devils Tower to open interpretive site, unveil world peace sculpture
Devils Tower to open interpretive site, unveil world peace sculpture
By Journal staff Saturday, August 23, 2008
Devils Tower, Wyoming's other-worldly landform, is the nation's first national monument. It is a sacred site for regional Native American tribes and a renowned attraction for international visitors.
On Saturday, Sept. 6, the National Park Service will tie those commonalities together in opening a new educational site at the monument.
Superintendent Dorothy FireCloud said the "Tribal Connections" area will provide a venue for programs discussing the tower's meaning and relationship for 20 affiliated tribes. It also will showcase "Wind Circle," the latest world peace sculpture by world known Japanese artist Junkyu Muto.
The public dedication program starts at 1 p.m. People interested in attending are urged to bring a picnic lunch and lawn chairs.
Performers will include Pine Ridge and Northern Cheyenne tribal drum groups, Japanese Taiko drummers and singers, tribal dancers from the Wind River reservation and local Western singers Lorrie Redfield and Shana Jahnig.
Spiritual leader Arvol Looking Horse, keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations, will discuss his World Peace and Prayer Day activities. The United Nations recently honored him for his humanitarian efforts.
Local Lakota artisan Sandy Swallow, who has designed a limited edition blanket for the event and worked on other projects for the monument, also is on the program.
The Wind Circle sculpture is the third of Muto's world peace projects. He placed the first at the Vatican in 2000 and the second near the Bodhi Tree in Bodhi Gaya, India, in 2005.
FireCloud said placing the donated peace sculpture has been an effort of the entire Black Hills community. Crazy Horse Memorial donated the base stones for the sculpture, and Black Hills National Forest workers delivered the stones to the monument. Boxelder Job Corps students will provide refreshments for the reception following the ceremony.
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/08/23/news/top/doc48b0a7b455af1087893905.txt
By Journal staff Saturday, August 23, 2008
Devils Tower, Wyoming's other-worldly landform, is the nation's first national monument. It is a sacred site for regional Native American tribes and a renowned attraction for international visitors.
On Saturday, Sept. 6, the National Park Service will tie those commonalities together in opening a new educational site at the monument.
Superintendent Dorothy FireCloud said the "Tribal Connections" area will provide a venue for programs discussing the tower's meaning and relationship for 20 affiliated tribes. It also will showcase "Wind Circle," the latest world peace sculpture by world known Japanese artist Junkyu Muto.
The public dedication program starts at 1 p.m. People interested in attending are urged to bring a picnic lunch and lawn chairs.
Performers will include Pine Ridge and Northern Cheyenne tribal drum groups, Japanese Taiko drummers and singers, tribal dancers from the Wind River reservation and local Western singers Lorrie Redfield and Shana Jahnig.
Spiritual leader Arvol Looking Horse, keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations, will discuss his World Peace and Prayer Day activities. The United Nations recently honored him for his humanitarian efforts.
Local Lakota artisan Sandy Swallow, who has designed a limited edition blanket for the event and worked on other projects for the monument, also is on the program.
The Wind Circle sculpture is the third of Muto's world peace projects. He placed the first at the Vatican in 2000 and the second near the Bodhi Tree in Bodhi Gaya, India, in 2005.
FireCloud said placing the donated peace sculpture has been an effort of the entire Black Hills community. Crazy Horse Memorial donated the base stones for the sculpture, and Black Hills National Forest workers delivered the stones to the monument. Boxelder Job Corps students will provide refreshments for the reception following the ceremony.
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/08/23/news/top/doc48b0a7b455af1087893905.txt
Native American remains laid to rest
Native American remains laid to rest
August 29, 2008
The remains of 27 Caddo Nation descendents were laid to rest for a second time this week at Edwards Cemetery, more than 30 years after the first remains were excavated during a Titus County highway expansion project.
Smoke from cedar leaves, used to bless each gravesite and those taking place in the ceremony, filled the air where more than a dozen Caddo Nation, Texas Department of Transportation, City of Mount Pleasant and Titus County representatives gathered to pay their respects.
The re-burial of Caddo Indians is not something the Nation is accustomed to, said LaRue Martin Parker, chairwoman of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma.
"We don't have a set way to re-bury our people because they never had to do that in the olden days," Parker said. "This would not have been possible a few years ago, but because of new laws, we're able to reclaim our people and honor them."
The remains of the 27 individuals were recovered during archeological excavations conducted in 1975 and 2001 in association with the widening of State Highway 49. The remains had been stored in Austin until Tuesday's ceremony.
Caddo Native American Church Chairman Lyman Kionute conducted the sacred and private ceremony, first burning wood at the cemetery and then mixing those ashes with cedar leaves to create what he called a cleansing smoke.
Bobby Gonzalez, Native American burial coordinator for the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, explained those blessing the new burial sites used cedar leaves to represent life and to ask for forgiveness.
"These ancestors were moved from one area and now put here. We are taught to not ever move the remains of our ancestors," Gonzalez said. "We use the cedar to bless ourselves, to bless the gravesite and to ask for forgiveness."
Kionute submerged a lone Eagle feather in the cedar smoke to bless the 27 sites.
Those participating in the ceremony blessed themselves with smoke from the burning cedar leaves before and after burying the 27 small wooden boxes, each filled with the remains and pottery found during excavations more than 30 years ago on land owned then by Alex Justiss. The boxes were later draped in Indian Pendleton blankets.
Gonzalez said the reinterment ceremony was much shorter than today's burials, which can last several days.
"This reburial is extremely important," he said. "Northeast Texas is our aboriginal home. As long as they're building roads, we're always going to be concerned about them hitting our people. And when they hit our ancestors, we're going to be concerned because even though we are in Oklahoma, our minds and our culture are still with our people here."
He thanked the City of Mount Pleasant, TxDOT and Titus County for their cooperation in the project.
Local relic collectors first identified the archeological site on Justiss' land in the 1950s. The site contains a Caddo cemetery, dating back to the period just prior to European contact.
In the late 1960s, the state's highway department began planning roadway improvements to SH 49 in Titus County. The National Historic Preservation Act had recently been enacted and required consideration of project impacts to archeological sites, explained Scott Pletka, supervisor of the Archeological Studies Program with the TxDOT.
Justiss' property, which extended into the existing and proposed right of way for the expansion project, was evaluated in 1973 and first excavated in 1975.
Planned road improvements did not take place and no additional excavations were made until 2001, when the site was evaluated again.
"These excavations recovered 27 sets of human remains or grave goods. While these burials were removed from harm's way, their final disposition remained to be determined," Pletka said.
Parker said she and the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma are thankful for recent laws, including the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which requires institutions like TxDOT to consult with appropriate descendent groups regarding the disposition of any Native American burials and grave goods that they recovered.
"We would not be able to hold ceremonies like this if it weren't for these laws," Parker said. "We have so many more who are sitting on shelves in colleges and universities, in boxes, in the Smithsonian. People don't realize they're our people. They need to be in the ground. It's not right; it's not balanced."
http://www.dailytribune.net/articles/2008/08/29/news/01.txt
August 29, 2008
The remains of 27 Caddo Nation descendents were laid to rest for a second time this week at Edwards Cemetery, more than 30 years after the first remains were excavated during a Titus County highway expansion project.
Smoke from cedar leaves, used to bless each gravesite and those taking place in the ceremony, filled the air where more than a dozen Caddo Nation, Texas Department of Transportation, City of Mount Pleasant and Titus County representatives gathered to pay their respects.
The re-burial of Caddo Indians is not something the Nation is accustomed to, said LaRue Martin Parker, chairwoman of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma.
"We don't have a set way to re-bury our people because they never had to do that in the olden days," Parker said. "This would not have been possible a few years ago, but because of new laws, we're able to reclaim our people and honor them."
The remains of the 27 individuals were recovered during archeological excavations conducted in 1975 and 2001 in association with the widening of State Highway 49. The remains had been stored in Austin until Tuesday's ceremony.
Caddo Native American Church Chairman Lyman Kionute conducted the sacred and private ceremony, first burning wood at the cemetery and then mixing those ashes with cedar leaves to create what he called a cleansing smoke.
Bobby Gonzalez, Native American burial coordinator for the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, explained those blessing the new burial sites used cedar leaves to represent life and to ask for forgiveness.
"These ancestors were moved from one area and now put here. We are taught to not ever move the remains of our ancestors," Gonzalez said. "We use the cedar to bless ourselves, to bless the gravesite and to ask for forgiveness."
Kionute submerged a lone Eagle feather in the cedar smoke to bless the 27 sites.
Those participating in the ceremony blessed themselves with smoke from the burning cedar leaves before and after burying the 27 small wooden boxes, each filled with the remains and pottery found during excavations more than 30 years ago on land owned then by Alex Justiss. The boxes were later draped in Indian Pendleton blankets.
Gonzalez said the reinterment ceremony was much shorter than today's burials, which can last several days.
"This reburial is extremely important," he said. "Northeast Texas is our aboriginal home. As long as they're building roads, we're always going to be concerned about them hitting our people. And when they hit our ancestors, we're going to be concerned because even though we are in Oklahoma, our minds and our culture are still with our people here."
He thanked the City of Mount Pleasant, TxDOT and Titus County for their cooperation in the project.
Local relic collectors first identified the archeological site on Justiss' land in the 1950s. The site contains a Caddo cemetery, dating back to the period just prior to European contact.
In the late 1960s, the state's highway department began planning roadway improvements to SH 49 in Titus County. The National Historic Preservation Act had recently been enacted and required consideration of project impacts to archeological sites, explained Scott Pletka, supervisor of the Archeological Studies Program with the TxDOT.
Justiss' property, which extended into the existing and proposed right of way for the expansion project, was evaluated in 1973 and first excavated in 1975.
Planned road improvements did not take place and no additional excavations were made until 2001, when the site was evaluated again.
"These excavations recovered 27 sets of human remains or grave goods. While these burials were removed from harm's way, their final disposition remained to be determined," Pletka said.
Parker said she and the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma are thankful for recent laws, including the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which requires institutions like TxDOT to consult with appropriate descendent groups regarding the disposition of any Native American burials and grave goods that they recovered.
"We would not be able to hold ceremonies like this if it weren't for these laws," Parker said. "We have so many more who are sitting on shelves in colleges and universities, in boxes, in the Smithsonian. People don't realize they're our people. They need to be in the ground. It's not right; it's not balanced."
http://www.dailytribune.net/articles/2008/08/29/news/01.txt
UC Berkeley Begins Destruction of Berkeley Oak Grove and Shell Mound Site
UC Berkeley Begins Destruction of Berkeley Oak Grove and Shell Mound Site
by Morning Star Gali ( mstargali [at] gmail.com )
Saturday Sep 6th, 2008 9:50 AM
UC Berkeley Begins Destruction of Native American Sacred Site
Indigenous Peoples Decry Human Rights Abuses. Tree Sitters Call for Support
September 5th, 2008
Contact:
Marcella Sadlowski (562) 472-5276
UC Berkeley Begins Destruction of Native American Sacred Site
Indigenous Peoples Decry Human Rights Abuses. Tree Sitters Call for Support
______________________________________________________________________
BERKELEY, CA- University of California police moved in yesterday morning and cut many limbs and branches of a Redwood tree and cut down twelve Oak trees that have been protected by tree-sitting protesters for the last 21 months. Five people were arrested as they peacefully pleaded with arborists not to destroying the trees of the Memorial Oak Grove deemed a sacred burial site to Ohlone Indians.
Twelve trees were cut today and the University says they will continue cutting 46 over the weekend. Four protesters remain in a single Redwood tree in the center of the grove. Arborists trimmed most of the branches from the Redwood tree occupied by the four remaining tree sitters. Cutting the branches made it virtually impossible for the tree sitters to move from tree to tree. A spokesman for the campus said that within three days, the University would no longer honor its agreement to ensure they had adequate nutrition and water. The tree sitters currently only have one liter of water to share between four people as they sit in 90 degree heat.
The Memorial Oak Grove is regarded as a sacred place to Native American people and is documented as such by UC Berkeley's own Anthropology Department. There is evidence of 2 shell mounds sites in the area, with 19 ancestral remains found within them. Along with UC Berkeley's attempt to develop on a sacred place, they are guilty of housing over 17,000 sacred remains and objects. UCB currently holds the largest human remains collection in the United States of which it is not in compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)
"I brought my five year old daughter and two month old son out today to bear witness to the massacre of sacred life," said Morning Star Gali of the Pit River Tribe and co-chair of Advocates to Protect Sacred Sites. "The cops responded by yelling to move them behind the median. I asked if they would stand by as complacent if it was their grandmother's gravesites being desecrated. I want my children here to witness the destruction of sacred life and how important it is to protect it. I wanted them to witness the cops, arborists and UC Officials that participated and cheered as the trees came crashing down from bulldozers. This exhibits the ongoing Human Rights abuses committed by the University. They refuse to comply with NAGPRA by holding 13,000 of our ancestors remains hostage, they illegally reorganized NAGPRA with no tribal consultation and now they continue to desecrate sacred burial grounds."
The Memorial Grove is a native Coast Live Oak ecosystem. Native oaks support the most complex terrestrial ecosystems in California. The California Native Plant Society CNPS has stated that the Memorial Oak Grove is "an important gene bank for the Coast Live Oak." Every one of the oaks in the grove should be protect by law and the Berkeley Coast Live Oak moratorium forbids cutting mature Coast Live Oaks in Berkeley. UC refuses to recognize the law. The grove is also part of a National Historic Site. The Stadium and landscape is a memorial to Californians who died in World War I.
The tree sitters are urging people to come and show support for the trees and bear witness to the University of California's blatant disregard to sacred sites and native ecosystems.
--
Morning Star Gali
http://www.ifhurbanrez.org
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/06/18533607.php
by Morning Star Gali ( mstargali [at] gmail.com )
Saturday Sep 6th, 2008 9:50 AM
UC Berkeley Begins Destruction of Native American Sacred Site
Indigenous Peoples Decry Human Rights Abuses. Tree Sitters Call for Support
September 5th, 2008
Contact:
Marcella Sadlowski (562) 472-5276
UC Berkeley Begins Destruction of Native American Sacred Site
Indigenous Peoples Decry Human Rights Abuses. Tree Sitters Call for Support
______________________________________________________________________
BERKELEY, CA- University of California police moved in yesterday morning and cut many limbs and branches of a Redwood tree and cut down twelve Oak trees that have been protected by tree-sitting protesters for the last 21 months. Five people were arrested as they peacefully pleaded with arborists not to destroying the trees of the Memorial Oak Grove deemed a sacred burial site to Ohlone Indians.
Twelve trees were cut today and the University says they will continue cutting 46 over the weekend. Four protesters remain in a single Redwood tree in the center of the grove. Arborists trimmed most of the branches from the Redwood tree occupied by the four remaining tree sitters. Cutting the branches made it virtually impossible for the tree sitters to move from tree to tree. A spokesman for the campus said that within three days, the University would no longer honor its agreement to ensure they had adequate nutrition and water. The tree sitters currently only have one liter of water to share between four people as they sit in 90 degree heat.
The Memorial Oak Grove is regarded as a sacred place to Native American people and is documented as such by UC Berkeley's own Anthropology Department. There is evidence of 2 shell mounds sites in the area, with 19 ancestral remains found within them. Along with UC Berkeley's attempt to develop on a sacred place, they are guilty of housing over 17,000 sacred remains and objects. UCB currently holds the largest human remains collection in the United States of which it is not in compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)
"I brought my five year old daughter and two month old son out today to bear witness to the massacre of sacred life," said Morning Star Gali of the Pit River Tribe and co-chair of Advocates to Protect Sacred Sites. "The cops responded by yelling to move them behind the median. I asked if they would stand by as complacent if it was their grandmother's gravesites being desecrated. I want my children here to witness the destruction of sacred life and how important it is to protect it. I wanted them to witness the cops, arborists and UC Officials that participated and cheered as the trees came crashing down from bulldozers. This exhibits the ongoing Human Rights abuses committed by the University. They refuse to comply with NAGPRA by holding 13,000 of our ancestors remains hostage, they illegally reorganized NAGPRA with no tribal consultation and now they continue to desecrate sacred burial grounds."
The Memorial Grove is a native Coast Live Oak ecosystem. Native oaks support the most complex terrestrial ecosystems in California. The California Native Plant Society CNPS has stated that the Memorial Oak Grove is "an important gene bank for the Coast Live Oak." Every one of the oaks in the grove should be protect by law and the Berkeley Coast Live Oak moratorium forbids cutting mature Coast Live Oaks in Berkeley. UC refuses to recognize the law. The grove is also part of a National Historic Site. The Stadium and landscape is a memorial to Californians who died in World War I.
The tree sitters are urging people to come and show support for the trees and bear witness to the University of California's blatant disregard to sacred sites and native ecosystems.
--
Morning Star Gali
http://www.ifhurbanrez.org
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/06/18533607.php
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