#tontonationalforest — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #tontonationalforest, aggregated by home.social.
-
#ApacheStronghold #HolyGround Ceremony
March 28, 2026
"On Saturday, March 28th at 8 am, a Holy Ground Ceremony will be held in #SanCarlosAZ, at the 7 mile Holy Ground. Those who do not know the location are welcome to camp at the Nosie’s Residence Friday night or meet there at 7 am to follow us to 7 mile Holy Ground. More information about Sunday March 29th will be available tomorrow. Announcements will be made in person at ceremony."
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/03/apache-stronghold-holy-ground-ceremony.html
#SaveOakFlat #ChíchilBiłdagoteel #ProtectOakFlat #Arizona #RioTinto #CopperMining #Fight4OurExistance
#SacredLand #TontoNationalForest
#WesternApache #ProtectTheSacred
#IndigenousNews #IndigenousActivism #CorporateColonialism #DefendTheSacred #CensoredNews #ReaderSupportedNews -
#ApacheStronghold 'We Are Still Fighting'
Statement from Dr. #WendslerNosie Sr.
March 20, 2026"Many of you have heard that on Friday, the Ninth Circuit again refused to stop the Government from giving #OakFlat to #ResolutionCopper for destruction. This is sad news. But we will never stop fighting to protect Oak Flat and each place that is sacred to our people. And we are still fighting—in the courts, in Congress, and, most importantly, spiritually.
In the courts, there are still four lawsuits seeking to protect Oak Flat. All four cases are still going. And any one of these cases could still put a stop to the Government’s and Resolution’s plans to destroy Oak Flat:
- In Lopez v. United States, on the day after Friday’s ruling, seven brave Apache women filed an emergency appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court to stop the mine and protect Oak Flat. The Supreme Court could rule on that appeal any day. The women in that case can also ask the Ninth Circuit to reconsider its ruling in their case. The deadline to ask for reconsideration is April 27, 2026. That case focuses on religious freedom.
- In #SanCarlosApache Tribe v. United States, also part of Friday’s ruling, the Tribe can also ask the Ninth Circuit to reconsider its ruling and/or appeal to the Supreme Court. That case focuses on the Tribe’s rights, tribal consultation, and the inadequacy of the government’s decision-making process.
- In Arizona #Mining Reform Coalition v. United States, also part of Friday’s ruling, several environmental groups and the Inter-Tribal Association of Arizona can also ask the Ninth Circuit to reconsider its ruling and/or appeal to the Supreme Court. That case focuses on the government’s unfair appraisal of Oak Flat and inadequate #EnvironmentalReview.
- Apache Stronghold v. United States, which is our case, has been 'stayed' (or temporarily put on hold) waiting for the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, which came on Friday. Now that the Ninth Circuit has ruled, our case will start again in the district court. We will continue making every possible legal claim to protect Oak Flat.In Congress, on Tuesday, Representative #AdelitaGrijalva introduced legislation to preserve public lands in the Chí’chil Biłdagoteel Historic District and fight back against the proposed mine. This bill is an important part of the fight to protect Oak Flat.
But even more than legally and politically, we are continuing to fight spiritually. This fight has never been primarily about law or politics. It is about who we are as human beings, religiously and spiritually. If we allow sacred places to be destroyed for profit, we are saying that nothing is truly sacred. We are losing something essential about our humanity—our ability to respect #MotherEarth, to honor what is holy, and to live in balance with the world around us.
That is why we are calling on all people to continue raising their voices, in prayer and protest, to protect Oak Flat—to protect the sacred. We, the Apache Stronghold, invite you to an upcoming spiritual gathering on March 28-29, 2026 at Oak Flat.
The legal system may try to reduce our struggle to questions of ownership and profit. But our connection to Mother Earth predates those systems. It is something each one of us is born into, something we carry in our prayers, our songs, and our way of life. No matter what the courts rule, no matter what the government tries to do, we will never stop fighting to preserve our sacred places. We will not lose our connection to the Creator."
Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/03/apache-stronghold-we-are-still-fighting.html#ChíchilBiłdagoteel #ProtectOakFlat #SanCarlosApache #ResolutionCopper #Arizona #RioTinto #SaveOakFlat #CopperMining #Fight4OurExistance #SacredLand #TontoNationalForest #WesternApaches #ProtectTheSacred #IndigenousNews #IndigenousActivism #CorporateColonialism #DefendTheSacred #CensoredNews #ReaderSupportedNews
-
#OakFlat March and Run: #ApacheStronghold Photos
By Apache Stronghold, Censored News, Feb. 9, 2026
"12th Annual #OakFlatMarch/Run. The final day of the run, Saturday, February 7, 2026, the experienced runners passed through the final corridor, ending at the Oak Flat campground. The annual gathering followed, with speakers representing many tribes, backgrounds, and ages sharing their thoughts on Oak Flat and the importance of protecting this sacred and irreplaceable site. Photos by Molly Peters.
Apache Stronghold is battling to protect Oak Flat from becoming the gigantic crater of a copper mine, that would destroy the Sacred Ceremonial Place, seize and pollute the water, and poison the air and land."
Source (includes photos):
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/02/oak-flat-march-and-run-apache.html#ProtectOakFlat #SanCarlosApache #ResolutionCopper #Arizona #ChichilBildagoteel #RioTinto
#SaveOakFlat #CopperMining
#Fight4OurExistance #SacredLand #TontoNationalForest #WesternApaches #ProtectTheSacred #IndigenousNews #IndigenousActivism #CorporateColonialism #DefendTheSacred #OakFlatRun #CensoredNews #ReaderSupportedNews -
12th Annual Sacred Chi'chil BIł’dagoteel #OakFlat Run
February 5-8 pm, 2026
Schedule:
Thursday, Feb 5th - 4 pm Holy Ground Blessing and Dinner at Old San Carlos Monument. Run will follow after blessing
Friday, Feb 6th- 8 am March/Run will begin at the New Skate Park (Sport Complex) and will end in Miami, Arizona, at the Shrine
Saturday, Feb 7th - 8 am Run will begin at the Shrine in Miami, Arizona, to Oak Flat
Sunday, Feb 8th - 9 am Holy Ground Blessing at Oak Flat and then departure
FMI (Apache Stronghold website):
https://www.apache-stronghold.com/oak-flat-runFB page:
https://www.facebook.com/SaveOakFlatArizonaSource:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/02/sacred-chichil-bidagoteel-oak-flat.html#ApacheStronghold #ProtectOakFlat #SanCarlosApache #ResolutionCopper #Arizona #ChichilBildagoteel #RioTinto
#SaveOakFlat #CopperMining
#Fight4OurExistance #SacredLand #TontoNationalForest #WesternApaches #ProtectTheSacred #CorporateColonialism #DefendTheSacred #OakFlatRun #CensoredNews #ReaderSupportedNews -
Walking #BeyondCapitalism, #WendslerNosie Journeys to Federal Court in Phoenix
via #CensoredNews, January 3, 2026
Statement by Wendsler Nosie:
"Good afternoon to all my family, friends, relatives, and people. I come to you in this moment in time, knowing we all have been born into from our parents and those before. We all know those before us, suffered from a great #evil, who tried to destroy them. This evil still exists today.
Every day it works to control us and make its way to have us deceive our own children's lives, by them not being told the truth. We teach them to live and embrace a system of #capitalism that we surely know won't secure the future.
Through every passing generation, it clearly shows it has failed. From the birth of Europe to their unauthorized arrival here and the taking of the East Coast, wrongfully establishing their 13 colonies, they then turned toward the west, breaking all treaties that were dishonest from their inception, establishing a dishonest trust system allowing them to take more and more.
Their human ideology, their way to survive through their economic engine, has been a disaster. It takes and it takes and gives nothing back. No care for any kind of life, no care for the next generation. It's about living for now and being #greedy and destroying communities of people with their power of capitalism.
Since the beginning, through #colonization and capitalism, many here and around the world have suffered. People cried then and still today for a better day and still ask God, what have I done?
The political agenda of capitalism is to put fear in each of us. Pushing each of us towards the illusion that #MotherEarth and ourselves are useless. From fear we lose hope, the journey of spirituality and everything on mother earth, becomes disposable. Our mother earth is the timeline to everything. It gives us the water of life, it gives us the oxygen of life, it gives us the food of life, and it blesses us with life for our children and those yet to come.
It saddens me when this country does not prioritize all the sacred elements that give us life. It saddens me to witness that some no longer care to keep God's greatest gift alive. From a spiritual understanding, our love for one another is critical, our morals to make right decisions is critical and the love for our mother earth should be embedded forever.
We have all been taught not to recognize our mother and forced into a life to be colonized. We were blessed, in the beginning, with the tools of how to survive in the world that provides for us all.
This evil took those tools away and taught us how to be selfish, greedy, impassive and assimilate our minds and hearts to believe in capitalism. For what I have witnessed, I now can say, I see as what my father, my grandfather and great grandfather witnessed before me.
Capitalism demands your loyalty, to destroy every moral ethic, spiritual belief and God's way of life. I too know who cares and protects what God and Jesus had warned the world about. I will not be one who is loyal to capitalism, you will not fool me. If we really think it through, from those who say that capitalism will solve our problems, and when we actually understand it, disaster will occur, i.e. billions of gallons of water can remain forever, no contamination to the environment, no climate changes, one of the oldest religious ceremonies before the beginning of time continues, etc.
The United States of America clearly violated procedures and laws and ignored not only the #NativeAmericans, but also the state of #Arizona and the people of this country. Their decision to give full exemptions from the law has opened the door forever for #corporations to follow suit.
America, our civilization is in trouble and it needs your attention. As you and I today, as did our ancestors had encountered centuries ago, we are also in that moment. We cannot lose our mother earth, if she is lost, there is no life.
The sustainability of the Mother Earth ensures our children’s children will live . So, preserving mother earth today, will guarantee future generations.
I will be departing from #OakFlat on Sunday, January 4th at 11 AM. I will be walking and a little jogging to arrive in downtown Phoenix to attend the court hearings (#AZReform Mining Coalition, ITCA, San Carlos Apache Tribe and Lopez/Kinsey (Burdette) cases vs. U.S., which begin at 10 a.m. on January 7, 2026.
For those who do know me well, I had a spiritual encounter and must travel in this spiritual way. I ask each of you, if possible, to make a ceremonial fire, light a candle, or be in prayer.
The decision of the federal judges will weigh heavy on the future for water, environment, religion, and the ability to give federal exemptions to corporations without following legal policies.
#Usen (Creator), hear my prayers, as I make this journey to encounter many ugly obstacles but also witness the beauty of all life. I will let No Fear distract me, for all the beautiful spirits will be in all four directions."
Wendsler Nosie Sr.
Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/01/walking-beyond-capitalism-wendsler.html#SaveOakFlat #WaterIsLife #ProtectOakFlat #DefendTheSacred #NativeAmericanActivism #CorporateColonialism #CapitalismMustDie #ApacheStronghold #SanCarlosApache #ResolutionCopper
#Arizona #ChichilBildagoteel
#RioTinto #CopperMining #Fight4OurExistance #SacredLand
#TontoNationalForest #WesternApaches #ProtectTheSacred -
I just came across this from the #NationalTrustForHistoricPreservation website...
Updates on #OakFlat
December 22, 2025
"On December 3, Representative Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) introduced the #SaveOakFlat from Foreign Mining Act (H.R. 6391). The legislation would repeal Section 3003 of the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization Act [#NDAA] in order to protect a site of significant #religious, #cultural, #historical, and #environmental importance to #TribalNations in #Arizona and across the nation.
"The #SacredSite is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property—and for over 15 years—the National Trust has opposed the #mining project and supported preservation of the sacred site in many ways, including listing Oak Flat on our 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list in 2015, engaging in legal advocacy, and endorsing multiple legislative remedies.
"Pending federal litigation regarding Oak Flat is scheduled to be argued before the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, and oral arguments can be viewed via the livestream beginning at 11:30 AM EST/9:30 AM MST."
Source:
https://savingplaces.org/public-lands/updates/oak-flat-legislation-introduced#ProtectOakFlat #SanCarlosApache
#ResolutionCopper #Arizona
#ChichilBildagoteel #RioTinto
#SaveOakFlat #CooperMining
#Fight4OurExistance #SacredLand #TontoNationalForest #WesternApaches #ProtectTheSacred #CorporateColonialism -
SAVE THE DATES!
#ProtectOakFlat: 11th Annual Sacred #OakFlat Marathon, Feb. 5 - 8, 2026
An ever-growing story, the Annual March to Save Oak Flat each February.
"We will once again walk off the reservation, freeing ourselves from the bondage of federal policies and the inaccuracies of the history of this country. We will no longer be invisible, for God the Creator, who is known throughout the world, has spoken, once again, through all his creations, that healing must begin to save what is left, so that those yet to be born will embrace the true spirit of life." - Wendsler Nosie Sr.
Posted on December 29, 2025, via #CensoredNews:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/12/protect-oak-flat-11th-annual-sacred-oak.htmlWeb page for the Oak Flat Run (via #ApacheStronghold):
https://www.apache-stronghold.com/oak-flat-run#SanCarlosApache #ResolutionCopper #Arizona #ChichilBildagoteel #RioTinto #SaveOakFlat #CopperMining #Fight4OurExistance #SacredLand #TontoNationalForest #WesternApaches #ProtectTheSacred #CorporateColonialism
-
#Indigenous leaders: #PlanetaryHealth and #IndigenousHealth are interdependent
On day two of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the climate crisis that #IndigenousPeoples are overwhelmingly expected to bear was highlighted.
by Jenna Kunze April 19, 2023
"Indigenous peoples around the globe agree that their health and the health of the planet are interdependent and in jeopardy. On day two of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, or UNPFII, this fact — that Indigenous people make up 5% of the world’s population but are responsible for 80% of its biodiversity — was repeated again and again by global Indigenous leaders.
"'As we are all aware, Indigenous peoples have least contributed to the problems of climate change nonetheless, due to their interdependence with their vital environment in their ecosystems, they suffer at its worst effects,' said Francisco Cali Tzay on Tuesday, a #Mayan #Cakchiquel from #Guatemala and the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples. The Special Rapporteur keeps tabs on Indigenous peoples globally and reports back to The United Nations Commission on Human Rights on best practices.
"This year’s theme: human health, planetary and territorial health, and climate change gave attendees an opportunity to talk about the shortcomings of governments and non-Indigenous leaders. Others called upon the Permanent Forum to take action.
"#SanCarlosApache Tribal Chairman, Terry Rambler, drew attention to a “major human rights violation” happening at #OakFlat, a sacred area within #Arizona’s #TontoNationalForest where #ResolutionCopper — a joint venture of two mining giants #BHPBilliton and #RioTinto — seeks to develop one of the largest #CopperMines in North America.
"'Apache people have lived, prayed and died at Oak Flat from time immemorial,'
Rambler said. 'Every person by virtue of being human has the right to practice their religion. By violating the rights of Apaches to practice our religion and maintain our spiritual health and wellbeing, the United States is failing to comply with international standards incumbent on them.'"'By violating the rights of Apaches to practice our religion and maintain our spiritual health and wellbeing, the United States is failing to comply with international standards incumbent on them.'
"#Sámi youth from #Finland, #Sweden and #Norway called upon the Permanent Forum to urgently turn their attention to green transition projects in #Sápmi, the traditional territory of the Sámi, which stretches across the Nordic countries and into Russia.
"'In the name of saving the planet, the Nordic states are digging into our #mountains, drilling holes into our rocks, and making it impossible for Sámi to practice our #traditional livelihoods,' said Elle Rávdná Näkkäläjärvi, a spokesperson for the delegation. 'What is being shown to the world as a shift to sustainability is just #Nordic #colonialism hiding behind a new kind of mask.'
"In 2021, Norway’s Supreme Court stripped the operating license of the Fosen Vind project on Norway’s west coast after ruling it was built illegally and violated the Sámi’s human rights, and in January, a Swedish state-owned mining company found 'vast amounts of #RareEarthMinerals' it could mine to decrease dependency on #China. That mining, however, would 'devastate the local Sámi community,' the Sámi youth said.
"'We demand the Nordic states to immediately halt the ongoing human rights violations against the Sámi,' they said. 'We plead the global Indigenous community to notice this green colonialism.'
"The #GlobalIndigenousYouthCaucus — composed of Indigenous youth from all seven regions within the UN — also made waves on Tuesday, calling on the Permanent Forum and the General Assembly to assist in perpetuating ancestral knowledge by enforcing an intergenerational Indigenous advisory group for bodies of the United Nations. That advisory group could share and apply #TraditionaKnowledge and #IndigenousMethodologies within UN agencies, such as the World Health Organization.
"'Environmental destruction not only contributes to #ClimateChange , but also impedes on our ability to access to traditional knowledge, traditional medicines, sacred sites, and traditional practices,' The Global Indigenous Youth Caucus spokesperson said. 'As Indigenous youth, we are future bearers of knowledge, and we hold both the knowledge of our ancestors, and our descendants.'
"Indigenous Rights Governance partner at the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, Claire Charters, gave an intervention about the disproportionate risks #Māori people are facing in a changing landscape.
"'We must ensure that Māori are centered in the discussions on mitigation and adapting to climate change, and that Indigenous knowledge is more deliberately considered,' Charters, who is Māori, said. 'Climate change is accelerating the severity and frequency of major weather events. We must act with urgency to understand the risks and minimize the impact on our lands, territories, cultural infrastructures, and the overall well being of our Indigenous communities.'
"Climate will remain a central theme in the upcoming days of the UNPFII. Tomorrow, the Native Women’s Association of Canada will host a session on 'Indigenous Women’s Perspectives On the Burning Issues of Climate Change', and the International Indian Treaty Council will join with other Indigenous Peoples Organizations to discuss the contentious conservation goal of 30×30 and how it violates the rights of Indigenous Peoples."
#WaterIsLife #ClimateCatastrophe #LandBack #LandDefenders #Koyaanisqatsi #LifeOutOfBalance #SaveThackerPass #LandBack #IndigenousRights #ExtinctionRebellion #LastStand #TheStand
-
Sacred #Apache land 'on death row' in standoff with foreign #mining titans
Tribal members in #Arizona are fighting to protect a piece of land they consider their "#MountSinai."
March 3, 2021
By Christine Romo, Cynthia McFadden, Kit Ramgopal and Rich SchapiroSUPERIOR, Ariz. – "The rugged patch of land known as #OakFlat sits in the #TontoNationalForest. To the #SanCarlosApache Tribe, the 740-acre swath of oak groves and sheer cliffs is sacred ground, a place where they have gone for centuries to hold religious #ceremonies and communicate with the Creator.
"'No different than Mount Sinai,' said Wendsler Nosie Sr., former chairman of the San Carlos Apache.
"But Oak Flat is on a path to destruction.
"The land is scheduled to be transferred to #ResolutionCopper, a company controlled by two foreign mining giants, and turned into one of the largest copper mines in the country. The transfer was set in motion by an eleventh-hour provision slipped into a 2014 defense bill by Arizona's two Republican senators at the time.
"The poverty-stricken San Carlos Apache Tribe is fighting back in court, alleging the land belongs to the tribe and holds special religious significance. But even they worry the path to victory is slim. Resolution Copper has poured $2 billion into the project and has had the U.S. government on its side.
"The dispute has turned into a David-vs.-Goliath-style standoff, drawing in environmental groups and reviving centuries-old questions over land rights involving American Indians.
"'We're still trying to defend who we are,' said Nosie, who has been camped out at Oak Flat for more than a year as part of his mission to stop the mine.
"He sees the conflict as the latest skirmish in his tribe's long fight to maintain its ancient way of life.
"The San Carlos Apache reservation, about 130 miles east of Phoenix, is among the poorest in the country. Four of every 5 families with children live below the federal poverty line, and the unemployment rate is 30 percent, according to a University of Arizona study.
"The reservation is on the outskirts of Tonto National Forest, which is named for the Tonto band of Apaches who lived in the area until the U.S. Army cavalry forcibly removed them in the 1870s.
"Many Apaches became prisoners of war. An untold number refused to surrender and instead jumped to their deaths at a ridge now known as Apache Leap.
"The Oak Flat area has been considered a holy place for thousands of years, the home of spiritual beings known as Ga'an. Apaches go there to pray, to seek personal cleansing and to hold ceremonies that connect them to their ancestors. It is also a popular campground and hiking destination.
"But Oak Flat has long been prized by mining companies. Beneath its surface lies a fortune — one of the largest #copper deposits in the world.
"Oak Flat has been protected under federal law since 1955, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower decreed the area off-limits to mining. President Richard Nixon's Interior Department renewed the ban in 1971, but it added a loophole that allowed for the area to be mined if it was traded to private interests.
"A bill proposing to trade away the land had repeatedly failed to pass both houses of Congress since it was first introduced in 2005.
"But in December 2014, Sens. #JohnMcCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona slipped a last-minute rider into a must-pass defense spending bill. The move amounted to a bonanza for Resolution Copper, which is jointly owned by two mining titans — the #RioTinto Group of the U.K. and #BHPBillitonLtd. of #Australia.
"The bill transferred 2,400 acres of national forestland, including Oak Flat, to Resolution in exchange for 5,300 acres of private land owned by the mining company.
"Flake declined an interview request. McCain, who died in 2018, touted the project in a 2014 op-ed in The Arizona Republic, saying that the mine would generate jobs and boost the local economy and that the land would remain open to tribal members and others until the company breaks ground.
"The legislation stunned and saddened #NaelynPike, a San Carlos Apache tribal member who first testified before Congress in opposition to the arrangement when she was 13.
"'Our cultural identity is being stripped away from us,' said Pike, 21, who is Nosie's granddaughter.
"'No tree can live without its roots,' she said. 'And we're that tree.'"
#OakFlat #SaveOakFlat #IndigenousActivism #CulturalGenocide #EnvironmentalRacism #CorporateColonialism #CopperMining #Mining