Apache spiritual symbols are posted at Oak Flat Campground, a sacred website for Native Individuals positioned 70 miles east of Phoenix, on June 3, 2023, in Miami, Ariz. Oak Flat is a website for coming-of-age rituals for Apache ladies, therapeutic sweat lodge ceremonies, and different huge and small moments within the lives of Natives. Ty O’Neil, Related Press
I simply realized that in 2015, our federal authorities gave Oak Flat, a sacred Apache website in Arizona, to Rio Tinto, a foreign-owned mining firm with plans to create a crater practically two miles large and over 1,000 ft deep, swallowing this hallowed land that was positioned below federal safety by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
It is a travesty, not simply that such a sacred place will probably be completely erased, however that our authorities gave the land to a foreign-owned firm. The destruction hasn’t but began, and I hope the Forest Service doesn’t switch management over this sacred website, which might permit the undertaking to maneuver ahead.
Fred Ash
Sandy