|
News
Briefs
Black
Mesa Trust president testifies before Senate committee
June 5, 2002 press release from Black Mesa Trust
Leonard Selestewa, a Hopi farmer
from the Village of Moencopi on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern
Arizona and president of Black Mesa Trust, testified in Washington,
D.C. before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on June 4 during
the first of several scheduled oversight hearings on the protection
of sacred lands.
Selestewa
appeared before the Committee with his father, Elliott Selestewa,
and his uncle Gilbert Naseyowma.
He
explained to the Committee the importance of water in Hopi life, not
only as a vital resource in one of the most arid regions of the
country, but as a critical and sacred component of Hopi religious
life.
"Hopi
culture and religion," he said, is one of stewardship, a
responsibility to take care of Mother Earth and her life’s blood:
water."
Selestewa continued by
saying that the federal government’s trust responsibility for the
welfare of Indian peoples translates into an obligation to minimize
the impact of Peabody Energy’s coal mining on the flow of water to
downstream Moencopi farmers. He charged government agencies
including the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement (OSMRE),
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) and the U.S. Environmental
Agency with failure to protect surface water on Black Mesa.
Over
the past 30 years, he said, Peabody has built hundreds of dams at
the headwaters of Moencopi Wash, impounding millions of gallons of
water that would otherwise have flowed to downstream Hopi farmers at
Moencopi.
He
said that OSMRE issued a mining permit without ever studying the
impacts of the mining and impoundments on surface water flows. OSMRE,
he said, maintained that permitting the impoundments was the
responsibility of the Army Corps of Engineers, which currently
allows Peabody to build and maintain the impoundments under a
generic Nationwide Permit.
That
permit does not consider "the unique circumstances of surface
water flow in the high desert of Black Mesa," said Selestewa,
who also pointed out that the Hopi Tribal Council has expressed its
concerns about this permit on at least two occasions.
Further,
said Selestewa, Peabody is not even being required to meet the
requirements of the Nationwide Permit under which it is operating,
such as treating and releasing the water.
The
plight of Moencopi farmers, some of whom are allottees with private
property rights and most of whom have seen their crops fail as a
result of the impoundments and the current drought, has thus far
been ignored by all of the federal agencies that had a part in
allowing Peabody to build the impoundments.
Selestewa
called on the Committee to find out why this has happened, and he
invited all Committee members to visit Moencopi and see for
themselves the unendurable conditions that Peabody has caused there.
During
his presentation, Selestewa submitted to the Committee several
documents and photographs to help them understand the issue.
In
a statement made later in the day, Black Mesa Trust Executive
Director Vernon Masayesva said, "The Army Corps of Engineers
issued a Nationwide Permit for Peabody’s impoundment of 250,000
gallons of water a year from the N-aquifer just as if Moencopi Wash
were like any other river in the country. It’s not. It is just a
stream in a desert that receives only nine to ten inches of
precipitation a year. We invited the Army Corps to come to Moencopi
to see for themselves and meet with Moencopi farmers a month before
the permit was reissued last March. They never even responded to our
invitation.
"Every
drop of water counts on Hopi. Impounding 250,000 gallons of water a
year has a tremendous impact on our farmers, our religion, and our
culture. Under the regulations for a Nationwide Permit it is illegal
for permitted activities to harm downstream users. We need the Army
Corps of Engineers to correct this situation and to require that
Peabody treat and release all of the water they are withholding from
us."
Organizations
supporting Black Mesa Trust efforts include Natural Resources
Defense Council, Sierra Club, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
Under Law, Oxfam America, WaterKeeper Alliance, Environment Now,
Grand Canyon Trust, Glen Canyon Institute, Arizona Ethnobotanical
Research Association, Black Mesa Water Coalition, Flagstaff Activist
Network, Sacred Land Film Project, Earth Island Institute, Wild
Angels, and Seventh Generation and the law firms of Shearman &
Sterling and Hagens-Berman.
Captions:
Leonard Selestewa (far left) waits to testify before the Senate
Indian Affairs Committee on June 4.
Leonard Selestewa’s father, Elliott Selestewa (left), and
his uncle Gilbert Naseyowma appeared before the Senate Indian
Affairs Committee during testimony on the protection of sacred
Native lands.
City Council vacancy
The city of Flagstaff is accepting applications from
qualified residents interested in serving on the City Council.
An appointment will be made after July21, 2002 to fill the
Council seat vacancy created by the resignation of Penny Trovillion.
Interested citizens must submit a letter of interest, a
resume (no more than two pages), and complete an application and
questionnaire available in the City Clerk’s Office. To be eligible
for an appointment to the City Council, a citizen must be a
qualified elector and a city resident for a minimum of 30 days, and
cannot hold any other public office.
Completed application materials should be returned to the
Clerk’s Office on the second floor of City Hall, 211 W. Aspen
Avenue, by 4 p.m. July 10. For
more information, call 779-7607.
County residents
"Vote" on the issues
Community open houses provide insight in updating the county
comprehensive plan
(Press release from
the Coconino County Board of Supervisors issued June 18, 2002)
During April, May and June
2002. Coconino County
Community Development hosted nine informal "open house"
meetings throughout the County.
The meetings provided County residents the opportunity to
learn about the County's "Comprehensive Planning
Partnership," whose task is to update the County Comprehensive
Plan. Open House
participants were invited to provide input and share their twenty
year vision of the County.
One participant wrote,
“Water issues will be resolved and minimal growth will have
occurred in order to preserve the unique landscapes.
Economic development will have been carefully planned to keep
the balance of our pristine environment.”
Overall, the comments received from the community open houses
included a vision for the County that includes a beautiful
landscape, a healthy ecology, sustainable, thriving communities, and
viable economies existing in harmony with the unique natural
environment of Coconino County.
The open houses, ranging in
attendance from 4 to 174 citizens, focused on specific subjects
ranging from information about the current Comprehensive Plan to a
list of issues facing the County.
Of the over 150 issues identified, the top 10 issues were:
1.
Availability and protection of
water resources
2. Public safety (fire, fuel,
law enforcement, emergency medical, 91 1 addressing)
3. Telecommunications
infrastructure (towers, wireless Services, etc.)
4. Future growth to respect the
available water supply
5. Personal property rights
6. Water quality
7. Roadway maintenance
8. Improvement districts
9. Off-highway vehicle use and
roads
10. Police and fire protection
In addition to identifying
priorities, the issues were organized into eight categories that
will become the template for developing the Comprehensive Plan. Based on the public input, the categories receiving the
highest ratings were "water resources," "public
safety and service," and "environment."
The Water Resources section
of the plan will address issues such as availability and protection
of water resources, water rights, and water conservation.
The Public Safety & Services suction will include public
safety issues, telecommunications infrastructure, and health care.
The environment section will cover issues such as air and water
quality, environmental protection, and wildlife.
As a result of the
community open houses, community-specific concerns emerged in the
process. While most
communities identified water issues as their primary concern, other
concerns unique to individual communities were also identified:
Blue
Ridge — Wildland and urban interface and telecommunications
infrastructure.
Fredonia
— Off highway vehicle Luse and roads, and balancing environmental
and economic concerns
Marble
Canyon — Applicability of Countywide policies, regulations and
codes for rural communities, and public safety.
Page
— Affordable housing and telecommunications infrastructure.
Sedona
— Long-term environmental protection and sustainability,
and dark sky issues.
Tusayan
— Concern for public lands and public land exchanges, and
off-highway vehicle use and roads
(Tusayan is surrounded by public lands).
Williams
— Water resource issues and affordable housing.
Munds
Park — Hiking, biking, and trails.
Flagstaff
— (joint open house coordinated with the BLM Arizona Strip) —
smart growth, quality
recreational
opportunities, and promotion of "local" resources-environmental,
economic, cultural, and
social.
Information
obtained from the open houses will guide the planning process for
the next several months. The
final development of the new County Comprehensive Plan is
anticipated by July 2003. Later this year, the County anticipates
hosting another series of open houses to update County residents and
to seek additional input.
A "Planning
Partnership" Web site has been created to provide information
such as past events and a
resource library where
citizens can download project documents, agendas, minutes and news
releases.
The site address is http://co.coconino.az..us/commdevelopment/plan/index.asp
. For additional information,
contact J. Ernest Jutte, Project Coordinator, at (928) 226-2700,
jjutte@co.coconino.az..us
or Bill Towler, Coconino
County Community Development Director; 2500
N. Fort Valley Road,
Building 1, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, (928) 226-2700.
‘Down-home
Democracy’ tour visits Tucson
The Rolling
Thunder ‘Down-home Democracy’ Tour will bring Jim Hightower, Ben
Cohen and many other notable activists to Tucson July 27. Jim
Hightower is known for his column in the Nation. His column also
appears in Flag Live! Ben Cohen is the founder of Ben and Jerry’s
Ice Cream, and now is involved in various activist causes including
improving wages and working conditions for garment workers.
Other
speakers will include author Barbara Ehrenriech, campaign finance
reform activist Granny D. as well as surprise guests. Musical guests
will include Medusa and Sarah Lovell, and Greyboy Allstars, among
others.
Workshops
are also being planned on various topics. Workshop topics include
corporate tax reform, immigration reform, organizing issue
campaigns, anti-globalization activism, non-violent direct
action/civil disobedience, peace organizing, vegetarian living,
building successful campus coalitions, sex trafficking and
prostitution, election reform (instant runoff voting and
proportional representation), among others. Dan Frazier, editor of Flagstaff
Tea Party, will lead a workshop titled “How to start an
alternative newspaper in your community.”
In
a statement, organizers said, “In
the wake of September 11, Americans have been yearning for a chance
to get together and rebuild their sense of community. The
Rolling Thunder “Down-Home Democracy” Tour is an uplifting
celebration that brings all sides of town into contact, not merely
gathering organizational leaders, but reaching into the
neighborhoods, clubs, churches, union halls and playgrounds,
encouraging everyone to get to know one another, share, laugh, eat
and see what we might all do together to strengthen our
democracy.”
In
addition to Tucson, the tour is scheduled to stop in Seattle,
Minneapolis, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Oakland.
The
event will take place at the Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church
Ave. Doors open at noon, with events concluding at 9 p.m. Passes are
$5 in advance or $10 at the door. For more information, contact
Kyrsten
Sinema at ksinema@cox.net or (602) 570-7217.
For
car pool information from Flagstaff, contact Jon Orlando at 213-9507
or j3ono@yahoo.com. Flagstaff Tea Party hopes to charter a
van or bus to the event. Passengers will be required to pay a
portion of the cost. Those interested in riding the FTP shuttle to
Tucson should call 774-5942 as soon as possible, as seating is
limited.
For more
information, visit www.rollingthundertour.org.
Flagstaff Community Farmers Market returns
This summer the Flagstaff Community Farmers Market returns
each Sunday beginning July 7 and continues through Sept. 22. These
weekly community events, which drew large crowds when they debuted
last year, are a great way to support local growers of fruits and
vegetables, fresh flowers, breads, baked goods, and a wide-range of
agricultural products. Backyard gardeners are encouraged to
participate.
The Flagstaff Community Farmer’s Market will take place on
South Beaver Street just south of the tracks. For more information,
call 774-7781.
No home on the
range
The
Arizona Wildlife Federation and the Western Environmental Law Center
file suit against the Coconino National Forest to save Anderson Mesa
Pronghorn.
(Press release
issued by the Arizona Wildlife Federation May 29, 2002)
The Arizona
Wildlife Federation and the Western Environmental Law Center today
filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Phoenix against the
Coconino National Forest. The
lawsuit alleges that numerous violations of the law and
inappropriate livestock management practices over the past few
decades have led to the near extermination of the pronghorn antelope
herd and the severe decline of numerous other species on Anderson
Mesa, southwest of Flagstaff. In
filing the lawsuit, the AWF hopes to force the Coconino National
Forest to obey the law, and to take steps to restore the pronghorn
population and grassland ecosystem on Anderson Mesa.
Anderson
Mesa is a unique grassland ecosystem of more than 250,000 acres
located between Flagstaff and Payson.
In the past, it provided remarkable habitat for a variety of
wildlife species. In
1950, the Anderson Mesa herd of pronghorn antelope was Arizona's
largest, with an estimated population of nearly 4,000 animals. By 1990 that population had declined to an estimated 1,150
pronghorn, and today that population is estimated at less than 400
animals. In addition,
once robust populations of mule deer, cinnamon teal, wild turkey,
and numerous other species have also drastically declined from
Anderson Mesa in the last twenty years.
Biologists have
identified the root cause of the dramatic decline of wildlife on
Anderson Mesa as decades of inappropriate livestock management.
More than 100 natural wetlands on the mesa that used to
provide nesting habitat for waterfowl and were an important food
source for antelope, mule deer, and dozens of other wildlife species
have been dug out and turned into stock tanks for cattle.
As a result of overgrazing and decades of fire suppression on
the Mesa, soil fertility has dramatically declined.
Excessive cattle grazing also leaves the mesa with little
grass cover during pronghorn fawning season.
Pronghorn fawns are essentially helpless during the first
week of life, and without grass to hide in they are easy pickings
for coyotes and other predators.
In addition, decades of mismanagement has enabled pine and
juniper trees to take over large areas of the mesa that were once
grassland, and hundreds of miles of barbed wire fence that wildlife
can not easily cross has fragmented habitat and blocked natural
migration routes.
"We have been
talking with the Coconino National Forest about this issue for more
than a decade," said Don Farmer, past president of the Arizona
Wildlife Federation. "We
have participated in extensive public meetings with the Coconino
National Forest staff, where they have assured us that they are
concerned and will take action to save the antelope. Yet no
measurable changes have taken place, and the Anderson Mesa pronghorn
herd continues to slide toward extinction.”
"We are sorry
it has come to this, but the Coconino National Forest has left us no
choice," said David Gowdey, Executive Director of the Arizona
Wildlife Federation. "They
have put the profits of private interests ahead of their legal
obligations to maintain habitat and wildlife populations on Anderson
Mesa.”
Earlier this year,
both the Arizona Wildlife Federation and the Grand Canyon Chapter of
the Sierra Club wrote letters to Coconino National Forest Supervisor
Jim Golden asking that all cattle grazing on Anderson Mesa be
deferred this year because of the extreme drought and precarious
situation of the pronghorn herd.
"Other national forests in Arizona are pulling cows off
right and left, and they don't have whole wildlife herds facing
extinction," Gowdey said.
"We feel we have no choice but to file a lawsuit if we
are going to save the Anderson Mesa pronghorn herd," Gowdey
added.
For nearly a
decade, the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) has worked hard
with citizens of the West protecting its natural and cultural
resources for all Americans. WELC is committed to defending the
West, often when it is most threatened, and to seeking solutions
that are reasonable and have lasting impact. WELC represents local
citizens, grassroots groups and Indian Tribes seeking to preserve
the land, air, water, wildlife and human communities of the West.
“The Forest
Service is neglecting its responsibility to protect this important
resource, said Robin Cooley, attorney with WELC, representing
Arizona Wildlife Federation in this case.
“Anderson Mesa is being subjected to excessive grazing
absent the required environmental analysis, and at the expense of
the native pronghorn antelope.”
For more
information contact:
David Gowdey
Executive Director
Arizona Wildlife Federation
644 N. Country Club Dr. #E
Mesa, AZ 85201
(928) 635-9070 or (480) 644-0077
dgowdey@azwildlife.org
|
