Bears Ears Prayer Run -- 'Running to Heal our Lands and for Identity'

Photo copyright Nicole Nells

Photo copyright Nicole Nells

Yavapai Apache youths exploring, always running for the water. Photo copyright Nicole Nells

Ending a beautiful day of running with this sunset. Photo copyright Nicole Nells.

Bears Ears Prayer Run -- 'Running to Heal Our Lands and for Identity'

Sacred Strides for Healing Relay Run, Photos by Nicole Nells and Jackie Frank

Photos by Nicole Nells, Dine', and Jackie Frank, Dine'

Reflections by Jackie Frank

Published with permission

Censored News

Made it home, my face is burnt, tired, muscles are sore, but I still smile. This week was full of love and uniting together for one cause and supporting one another. It was all worth it, the sacrifice and the suffering, all for healing of our lands and identity.

I miss everyone and we will see each other again when our paths cross. Until than, y'all take care and keep doing your thing. Despite all the downfalls we always rise, stronger than before we knock down barriers and fight through obstacles. We all sacrificed time away from home and loved ones to commit to the prayer and healing.
It's good to take time away from society that blocks us from seeing the true beauty of nature. We lose our connection in the "fast paced" world we live in and forget our ways at times. Visit areas near and far from your homeland and take the time to pray and meditate. Occupy these areas often to connect, these sites are very powerful and beautiful.
Thanks to all those that supported this run. Whether you jumped in and ran some miles or your words of encouragement pushed us through, reassuring us we are doing the right thing. Your support and words is what moves us to keep this going and leaves us with hope. Our youth need the guidance and encouragement.
Sisters and brothers we are strong and resilient people. Our ancestors are proof of this, we been in tough waters and it won't get easier. Keep our culture and traditional values close everyday. Always pray, and take the time to offer thanks to our mother. Much love ❤🙏✊

--Jackie Frank#BearsEarsPrayerRunAlliance #StandWithBearsEars #HonorTribes #TreatyYear #Unity #OurLands #WeAreStrongerWhenWeBandTogether

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Photo copyright Jackie Frank

Photo copyright Jackie Frank

Photo copyright Jackie Frank

Photo copyright Jackie Frank

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UTAH -- Sacred Land to be auctioned for oil and gas Tuesday

Tin Cup Mesa photo Neal Clark, SUWA

Hatch Point photo Neal Clark, SUWA

Conservation Groups Oppose Trump Administration's Oil and Gas Auction Near Utah National Monuments Center for Biological Diversity Censored News SALT LAKE CITY― The Bureau of Land Management on Tuesday will auction off public lands in southeastern Utah's spectacular red rock country for oil and gas development. Included in BLM's lease sale are approximately 54,000 acres of public lands near Bears Ears, Hovenweep and Canyons of the Ancients national monuments, as well as in the culturally rich Alkali Ridge area and along the Green and San Juan rivers.  Conservationists have protested the sale of 32 parcels as being contrary to federal laws and regulations.  "We won't sit idly by while President Trump and Interior Secretary Zinke auction off America's cultural and public lands heritage to the oil and gas industry," said Stephen Bloch, legal director with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "This lease sale flies in the face of historic preservation and environmental laws that Congress put in place to make sure that BLM thinks before it acts; not 'lease first, and think later.'" "BLM's short-sighted decision threatens Utah's red rock wilderness as well as significant cultural and archaeological resources," said Landon Newell, staff attorney with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "BLM's 'lease everything, lease everywhere' approach to oil and gas development needlessly threatens iconic red rock landscapes and irreplaceable cultural history in the ill-conceived push for 'energy dominance.'" In addition to offering leases adjacent to Canyons of the Ancients National Monument and close to Bears Ears and Hovenweep National Monuments, BLM also plans to offer leases in culturally and ecologically significant public lands throughout southeastern Utah, including: Several tracts in a culturally rich part of southeastern Utah known as Alkali Ridge. BLM briefly considered leasing in this area in 2015, but acknowledged that it lacked sufficient information about the cultural resources in the area and backed away from the proposal. The agency is putting these cultural sites at risk without collecting and reviewing that information; Several tracts along segments of the Green River and San Juan River popular with families, recreational business, and tourists for river running, as well as home to several endangered fish species; and Several tracts in proposed wilderness areas including in Goldbar Canyon and Labyrinth Canyon near Moab, Utah, and in Cross Canyon, immediately adjacent to Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. "These lands and cultural artifacts belong to the American people. Instead of managing them in the public interest as the law requires, the Trump administration is using its Polluter Dominance strategy to plunder them for the benefit of big businesses and a wealthy few," said Sharon Buccino, senior director of Lands for the Nature program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Even beyond that misguided policy, this leasing can't be justified when nearly two million acres of public land in Utah sit leased but unused." "Secretary Zinke and the BLM have acknowledged that some places should not be put at risk from oil and gas drilling, as we saw in his recent reprieves for lands around Chaco Canyon and the town of Livingston, Montana. The extraordinary cultural resources and wilderness values of these Utah lands deserve the same protection," said Nada Culver, senior director of The Wilderness Society's BLM Action Center. "The Trump administration is heedlessly rushing to sacrifice irreplaceable wild rivers and wildlife to satisfy the fossil fuel industry's greed," said Michael Saul, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. "The native fish of Utah's San Juan and Green rivers deserve a chance at survival, but Trump's oil and gas auction puts them at deadly risk from habitat loss and fracking pollution." "Utah's oil and gas industry has stockpiles of unused leased lands. We must not hand over our parks, monuments and archaeologically rich canyons to them too. It's time to re-balance the scales of development and conservation so future generations can breathe clean air, drink clean water and have access to nature," said Ashley Soltysiak, Utah Sierra Club chapter director. On January 2, 2018, a coalition of conservation groups led by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) formally protested BLM's decision to auction off these federal public lands for leasing and development. BLM has yet to respond to those protests but nonetheless is moving forward with this sale. BLM has completed an environmental assessment and determination of NEPA adequacy for these parcels.   As in most western states, there is a surplus of BLM-managed lands in Utah under lease but not in development. At the end of BLM's 2016 fiscal year, there were approximately 2.9 million acres of federal public land in Utah leased for oil and gas development (Table 2 Acreage in Effect). At the same time, oil and gas companies had less than 1.2 million acres of those leased lands in production (Table 6 Acreage of Producing Leases). With less than 40 percent of the total land under lease, there is no need to sacrifice any of these remarkable areas for oil and gas leasing and development. Photos of areas to be auctioned off by BLM in southeastern Utah for fossil fuel development are available for media use.

Contact:

Landon Newell, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, (801) 428-3991 Anne Hawke, Natural Resources Defense Council, (202) 513-6263 Michael Saul, Center for Biological Diversity, (303) 915-8308, msaul@biologicaldiversity.org Nada Culver, The Wilderness Society, (303) 225-4635

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.6 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Grandfather Tree Sitter on Burnaby Mountain -- Stop Kinder Morgan Clear Cutting

Grandfather Scales Tree, Erects Mid-Air Camp To Stop Kinder Morgan Clear-Cutting

 MARCH 19, 2018ANNOUNCEMENTS, DIRECT ACTION, FRONT, RT REPORTBACK

By Rising TIDE NORTH AMERICA

https://risingtidenorthamerica.org/2018/03/grandfather-scales-tree-erects-mid-air-camp-to-stop-kinder-morgan-clear-cutting/

Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver) – Early this morning Terry Christenson, a 70-year old Grandfather of two, and former Juno nominee, scaled a tree on the inside of Kinder Morgan’s fence (Westridge terminal side) and erected a mid-air camp suspended from its trunk. Terry constructed the high-flying structure to stop Kinder Morgan’s proposed tree clearing which is being done to enable the company’s drilling through Burnaby Mountain.

This pipeline does not have consent of the Indigenous Nations it would pass through. It would endanger the livelihoods and economies of all those that depend on an oil free coast and I for one won’t stand by and let it happen,” said Terry Christenson. “I’m taking this action to protect my grandchildren’s future. I care about this land, this coast and I won’t let it be destroyed all so a Texas oil company can increase its profit share.”

The National Energy Board approved Kinder Morgan to clear trees from the area and green lighted the company to begin drilling through Burnaby Mountain, flash point of protests against the project. The NEB has said Kinder Morgan needs to clear the area before March 26th to avoid interfering with birds migrating north for the summer. If clearing is not done by that date it would be a major set back for the company and plans could not proceed until after the migrating birds had left.

“We are all in this fight together. We have better options to produce energy and move people around then building another dirty pipeline that the world’s scientific community has said we need to move away from,” asserted Christenson. “It’s time that the Prime Minister got that message and I’ll be doing my best to hang out here until he does.”

This action is the latest in a series of action against Kinder Morgan’s construction plans. It is also just a week after a massive mobilization against the project that brought thousands to the streets of Burnaby.

Click here to donate to the legal support fund.

Lockdown at Kinder Morgan Pipeline, Monday March 19, 2018

The Mosquito Fleet:Stopping Kinder Morgan Pipeline, Twitter photo

Second Round of Arrests Just Now!

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