Apache Stronghold: Protect Oak Flat

Resolution Cop. Controversy; Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, Xochitl (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Wendsler Nosie: Apache tribal members testify about Oak Flat, Arizona in 2020

The Oak Flat case is being decided on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, 9:00 am in Pasadena, CA.

What is Oak Flat, Arizona?

Oak Flat is sacred land that features groves of Emory oaks, canyons, and springs protected by the San Carlos Apache tribe. Resolution Copper (a subsidiary of Rio Tinto) lobbied politicians to turn over National Forest land so they could blockade it or mining by earthquake (Elias Butler).

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Tonto National Forest's sacred land, Arizona

Oak Flat (Western Apache Chíchʼil Bił Dagoteel, Navajo Chéchʼil Bił Dahoteel) is in Pinal County 40 miles (64 kms) east of Phoenix in the Tonto National Forest, a high desert setting at 3,900 feet (1,200 m) elevation.

The land is sacred to Native Americans from the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation and many other Arizona tribes.

Map of Apache reservation lands squeezed out of existed and sold out inside USA (wiki)

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Apache map: Apachean circa18-century (wiki)

This federally-protected area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and features a National Forest Service public campground.

The landscape includes Apache Leap cliff, the mesa of Oak Flat, and Devil's Canyon (which Apaches refer to as Ga'an or "Angels Canyon"), all of which are popular with hikers, birders, climbers, off-roaders, hunters, and members of the area's indigenous tribes.

Oak Flat has been subject to attempts by the federal government to sell it to corporate mining interests since 2002, against the will of the San Carlos Apache tribe. More

• Press Release: Media Advisory (apache-stronghold.com)

Selling National Forest land to corporation

Look, I'm too busy in D.C. to help Indians. I'm up in the East Coast, not the Southwest!

The "Green New Deal"? Oh, that thing. No, me and The Squad just want to get re-elected.

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AOC, can you help? - Uh, I'm busy.

In Dec. 2014, Pres. Obama signed the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. It would give land sacred to the Apache in Arizona to a corporation called Resolution Copper Mine (RCM), a joint venture owned by Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.

The Act cleared the way for the land swap in which Resolution Copper would receive 2,422 acres of National Forest land in exchange for deeding to the federal government 5,344 acres of private land [13]. 

Apache's Leap near Oak Flat, Tonto National Forest, Arizona (wiki)

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I have no idea why people keep asking me!!!

A proposal or rider in Section 3003 of the Act, titled "Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act," makes it possible for RCM to develop and operate an underground copper mine 7,000-feet deep (approximately five Empire State buildings) in the publicly owned Tonto National Forest near Superior, Arizona.

The land contains more than 2,400 acres of the Oak Flat Campground, an area dotted with petroglyphs and historic and prehistoric sites [14].

Former San Carlos Apache Tribal Chairman Wendsler Nosie Sr. said of the Act's attached rider: "This is Congressional politics at its [worst], a hidden agenda that destroys human rights and religious rights." More

Apache Wendsler Nosie Sr. (Take Action - Apache-Stronghold)