Image: Indigenous Action Media

On June 16th, activists locked down to equipment used to construct a pipeline at Snowbowl, the ski area on the San Francisco peaks outside of Flagstaff, AZ.

The peaks are sacred to 13 Indigenous nations and play a central role in the creation stories of the Dineh, as well as serving as markers of the borders of Dinetah (Dineh land). The pipeline is meant to carry sewage water that will be used as fake snow for the ski area. Spraying sewage on this sacred place, beyond being profoundly disrespectful and insulting, will destroy a fragile and unique ecosystem in which medicine people gather plants for healing and ceremonies.

Please, support these activists! Six have been arrested, four of whom are Native. They are being held at the county jail and their bond is set at $238 each. If you are in a position to help financially, if you have legal skills that could be of service, or if you’re an independent journalist who can cover this story, please contact: Beth Lavely
Tel: 928.254.1064
Email: protectpeaks@gmail.com

Here is some more background info on the action:

PROTECT THE PEAKS – STOP DESTRUCTION & DESECRATION NOW!

Today we take direct action to stop further desecration and destruction of the Holy San Francisco Peaks. We stand with our ancestors, with allies and with those who also choose to embrace diverse tactics to safeguard Indigenous People’s cultural survival, our community’s health, and this sensitive mountain ecosystem.

On May 25th 2011, sanctioned by the US Forest Service, owners of Arizona Snowbowl began further destruction and desecration of the Holy San Francisco Peaks. Snowbowl’s hired work crews have laid over a mile and a half of the planned 14.8 mile wastewater pipeline. They have cut a six foot wide and six foot deep gash into the Holy Mountain.

Although a current legal battle is under appeal, Snowbowl owners have chosen to undermine judicial process by rushing to construct the pipeline.

Four weeks of desecration has already occurred. Too much has already been taken. Today, tomorrow and for a healthy future, we say “enough!”

As we take action, we look to the East and see Bear Butte facing desecration, Mt. Taylor facing further uranium mining; to the South, Mt. Graham desecrated, South Mountain threatened, the US/Mexico border severing Indigenous communities from sacred places; to the West, inspiring resistance at Sogorea Te, Moana Keya facing desecration; to the North, Mt. Tenabo, Grand Canyon, Black Mesa, and so many more… our homelands and our culture under assault.

We thought that the USDA, heads of the Forest Service, had meant it when they initiated nationwide listening sessions to protect sacred places. If the process was meaningful, we would not have to take action today.

We continue today resisting Snowbowl’s plan to spray millions of gallons of  wastewater snow, which is filled with cancer causing and other harmful contaminants, as well as clear-cut over 30,000 trees. The Peaks are a pristine and beautiful place, a fragile ecosystem, and home to rare and endangered species of plants and animals.

Our action is a prayer.

There is a Facebook page here  and extra info from Indigenous Action Media here.