Solidarity to Protect San Francisco Peaks Demonstrations Held

Native News Network Staff in Native Challenges. Discussion »

VALLEJO, CALIFORNIA - Some 30 demonstrators protested outside of the Pacific Southwest Regional Forest Service Office yesterday to display their solidarity with the struggle to protect the holy San Francisco Peaks in Northern Arizona.

San Francisco Peaks Demonstration

"We organized this quickly," said Norman "Wounded Knee" DeOcampo, Miwok, the organizer of the demonstration. "So, the demonstration went all right. The regional man at the Forest Service Office said his office had nothing to do with the decision of what is happening at the Peaks and he really did not know anything about the situation there."

The official, Randy Moore, vows to get information to US Department of Agriculture officials in Washington DC.

The San Francisco Peaks are considered sacred to the Arizona American Indian tribes. Not only are they upset about the desecration of the area, but particularly upset that the expansion plan calls for clear-cutting 74 acres of rare alpine forest and laying pipelines for the transportation of 180,000,000 gallons of recycled wastewater per year from Flagstaff for artificial snowmaking.

The demonstration in Vallejo was one of several protest held yesterday at US Forest Service sites across the country, including in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Golden, Colorado, Missoula, Montana, and Portland, Oregon.

Pacific Southwest Regional Forest Service Office

Several signs at the Vallejo demonstration carried by protestors referenced the purpose of using the land at the San Francisco Peaks to lay a 14.8 mile pipeline for recycled wastewater for snowmaking for recreational skiing.

Many of the protestors in Vallejo were part of the spiritual encampment that lasted109 days and ended last month to halt the construction of 2 toilets and 15 parking spaces at Sogorea Te, commonly known as Glen Cove, a sacred burial site in Vallejo.

photo credit to SP&PIRT and Mike Racoon Eyes Kinney

posted August 26, 2011 6:00 am edt