May 10 2019 - Medicine Lake -- The struggle to protect and defend the sacred Sah Tit La (Obsidian Knife Lake) by Morning Star Gali

“When creating the world, when it was moist, the maker of life stopped here to rest and drink and wash and imparted himself in the water. That’s why we respect this place deep in our heart,” The Late Willard Rhodes, Itsatawi Tribal Council Member, Cultural Representative and Elder

On Tuesday May 14 in Seattle, WA a federal appeals court will hear arguments in a legal battle to protect the sacred Medicine Lake Highlands from threats of geothermal desecration. The Medicine Lake Highlands are held sacred by my Tribe, the Pit River Nation as well as many other Tribal Nations which include but is not limited to the Wintu, Karuk, Shasta, Klamath, Yana, and Modoc peoples.

From time immemorial, Indigenous people have made pilgrimages to the Highlands for healing, religious ceremony, and tribal gatherings. However, for more than 25 years, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has attempted to desecrate and destroy this precious place of deep religious significance, with five proposed geothermal power projects increasing the extraction to a total of 500 megawatts. At issue are 26 geothermal leases, originally executed by BLM in the 1980s with only cursory environmental review and no tribal consultation. However, the federal government entities wish to move forward in appealing the last federal 9th Circuit Court decision in which the decision favored the Tribe and the other Plaintiffs.

“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?” Bill George Atsugewi Band Elder

In the past few weeks to months, we have witnessed the fire destruction of Notre Dame as a site of worship destroyed with immediate promises to rebuild, to the dismissal of charges against the Bundy family for their unlawful occupation of BLM public lands. The very agency, Bureau of Land Management held under the Department of Interior, is appealing our inherent right to maintain the cultural use and traditional practices of our sacred lands and waters by extending commercial leases without properly consulting Pit River Tribe or any of the surrounding Tribes. As Indigenous peoples, it is not lost on us, that destruction and desecration of monuments to colonization and white supremacy are upheld and centered as mainstream news, while our struggles to defend what is sacred, receives little to no attention in the same arenas.

There is no man made replacement or industrialized mitigation that replicate or recreate our holy places. The Pit River Nation has continuously opposed the proposed violation of the sacred Medicine Lake Highlands.

My involvement in the collective grassroots advocacy for the sacred medicine lake highlands and sacred places across Turtle Island has continued to be a personal and spiritual commitment. At the age of 10, while participating in a delegation of traditional California and Nevada tribal dancers, we traveled to Hawaií as guests of Kanaka Maoli. We were invited to visit sacred sites on the big island, but fresh lava had flowed through the village sites. Over 25 years ago, after my father passed away, relatives of mine brought me to the sacred waters and provided the instructions to bathe myself in the lake, just as our ancestors have done since time immemorial.

In my later teenage years, I remember my aunties taking me to gather echinacea on Paha Sapa, as we would spend the night, after ceremonies in the summertime. In my early 20's, I had moved to Flagstaff, AZ. My Diné step-father brought me to Dook'o'oosłííd.-- the holy San Francisco Peaks and I was taught how to make prayer offerings specific to that sacred mountain. This was after I had lost two relatives I had grown up with, just weeks apart from one another and the mountain was essential in my personal healing and continued survival. A few years later (2007-2010) as the ninth circuit court of appeals hearing was held in San Francisco, CA for Cave Rock, Medicine Lake and the San Francisco Peaks, I participated with a number of grassroots organizers to bring awareness to the struggle to defend our right to pray in our places of worship, against the continuing threat of recreational and industrial desecration.

Without having a name specific to protection of sacred places, I developed an understanding that in my personal healing, I had a commitment to these sacred places that was a reciprocal relationship. Just as these places of power had helped me overcome my grief, I now had a responsibility to be a voice in the collective grassroots efforts against proposed geothermal extraction of the sacred waters of my homelands and the overall efforts to protect our sacred places.

This coming Tuesday I will be traveling to Seattle, along with a delegation of tribal, cultural, and elder representatives. We will once again hold a prayer vigil outside of the courthouse, and we are welcoming all to attend to offer your collective voice and prayers.

“The Bureau of Land Management's mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. If BLM followed their mission, they would not continue to use United States government resources to support corporate interests over that of the public they claim to serve. And by doing so, putting our public health and safety at risk and destroying these lands so future generations will not be able to enjoy them. No new leases in the Medicine Lake Highlands!” Pit River Tribal Chairwoman Agnes Gonzalez.

What: Federal Appeals Court hearing. Prayer Vigil & rally, press conference immediately following hearing.

Who: Pit River Tribe, Native Coalition for Medicine Lake Highlands Defense, Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center, Save Medicine Lake Coalition, Medicine Lake Citizens for Quality Environment, Plaintiffs-Appellants; vs. US Bureau of Land Management.

Tuesday May 14, 2019

8AM: Prayer Vigil & gathering at

WILLIAM K. NAKAMURA COURTHOUSE

1010 Fifth Avenue,

Seattle, WA 98104

All are welcome & encouraged to attend.

8 AM Rally & Prayers outside the Courthouse.

8:45 AM Enter Courthouse Hearing on the 7th floor

11:30 -11:45 Press Conference on the steps of the 9th Circuit courthouse immediately after the hearing.

https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMedicineLake/

A few links for background:

https://sacredland.org/medicine-lake-highlands-united-states/