Our relations the Winnemem Wintu, whose land was 90% drowned out by the building of the Shasta Dam, are trying to hold their Puberty Ceremony this July up on the McCloud. They need privacy on the river during the ceremony so that they are not interrupted by speed boats and drinking.

Below is a video clip from the last Puberty Ceremony in 2006. This is the kind of treatment that the Winnemem can expect if we cannot convince the Forest Service to close the river for them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiB72fudb5I

Please take the time to sign this petition to support the Winnemem Wintu's request to get exclusive access to the river during the few days of the Puberty Ceremony. You can find the petition at the link below.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/protect-winnemem-wintu-tribe-puberty-ceremony

Tribes have always had the inherent right to gather - whether the state makes it legal or not is their choice, said Georgiana Myers, Yurok Tribal member and organizer for the Klamath Justice Coalition. "The Yurok Tribe has been gathering since the beginning of time. We have always done it, we will always do it, and we feel that the MLPA is the biggest attempt in the last 30 years to take away tribal gathering and fishing rights."i

Photo of protest outside of the MLPA science panel meeting in Eureka by Klamath Salmon Media Collaborative.



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Tribal Activists Disrupt MLPA Meeting to Protect Gathering Rights

By Dan Bacher

Over 40 American Indian activists took over a meeting of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Science Advisory Team in Eureka on June 29 to protest the violation of tribal gathering and fishing rights under the controversial process.

Frankie Joe Myers, a member of the Coastal Justice Coalition and Yurok Tribe ceremonial leader, went to the microphone and demanded that the panel open up a public comment period. The MLPA team attempted to meet without allowing any public testimony, but they were prevented from proceeding as they were interrupted by chants of Keep your laws off my culture and M-L-P-A taking Tribal rights away.

Tribal members held up signs and banners stating, MLPA Cant Hide the Genocide, MLPA making my grandmother an outlaw, Respect Native Tradition and Fish and Game, Youre Lame.

Unable to proceed without interruption, the MLPA officials conceded and members of North Coast Tribes and non-native supporters provided powerful testimony slamming the process and demanding tribal representation on the science panel.

The activists demanded that tribes, who have been the stewards of the ocean for thousands of years, not be scapegoated for the decline in ocean fisheries caused by decades of government mismanagement.

We gathered and harvested the oceans bounty for thousand of years in a sustainable manner, said Myers. For California to blame tribes for its reckless mismanagement of our fisheries for the last century is simply appalling.

After the public comment, Ken Wiseman, executive director of the MLPA Initiative, said, We look forward to the continued input."

The Coastal Justice Coalition that organized the historic protest is a group of regional tribal members who agree that the State of California has no right to regulate tribal gathering.

The protest occurred as increasing numbers of tribal members, environmentalists, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen and political leaders from a variety of political perspectives are blasting the MLPA Initiative for its numerous conflicts of interests, violation of state, federal and international laws, and privatization of public trust resources. A private corporation, the shadowy Resources Legacy Foundation, funds the initiative through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Fish and Game.

The Blue Ribbon Task Force that oversees the process includes oil industry, marina development, real estate and other corporate representatives who are there to make sure that their interests are protected as the state creates so-called marine protected areas" (MPAs).

The MLPA is supposedly designed to protect ocean resources, but tribal spokesmen contend that the privately funded initiative is an attempt by the Schwarzenegger Administration to greenwash his environmental legacy. They pointed out that these "protected areas" will allow deep water oil and gas drilling and do nothing to stop water pollution while banning sustainable tribal gathering of seaweed, shellfish, shells and fish from the ocean.

The science panel met yesterday and today to review four MPA proposals developed by the North Coast Region Stakeholder Group, all of which have the potential to impact the rights of the Yurok Tribe and other tribes to gather ocean resources.

The Science Advisory Team, which could potentially influence decisions regarding tribal gathering rights, does not have any scientific evidence suggesting that tribal gathering affects resources, but that has not stopped them from proposing a ban on tribal practices, according to Myers. We asked them to show us the science that indicates that Tribes are to blame for the decline of any single species they cant because there is no science behind their decision making."

The activists say the MLPA structure also adversely affects tribal groups who gather in the intertidal zone. In a bizarre leap of logic, the MLPA science panel claims that collecting mussels and seaweed by hand has a high impact and therefore would be banned in backbone Marine Protected Areas.

This makes sense in an area like Los Angeles where there is a potential for millions to harvest from the intertidal zone and disrupt the entire ocean ecosystem, Myers said. It defies logic here where the pressure is not comparable and the access is severely limited.

Myers said the Science Advisory Team has also asked tribes for detailed information about the resources they use. To date, all tribes have declined to provide the information.

The same resources my ancestors gathered are still abundant today because of time-tested tribal stewardship. If we were to give them details about what we gather, it could create the potential for mismanagement and commercialization of those resources, Myers said.

Tribes gather ocean resources for sustenance, everyday utility items and ceremonial regalia, according to Myers. Gathering is at all times a spiritual process, which is the primary reason why the Coastal Justice Coalition is advocating that the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative recognize that tribal rights and uses are outside the scope of the States authority and the Initiative process.

The activists noted that the MLPAs initiative view that people and nature are separate from one another clashes with tribal religious and cultural views.

The MPA officials have an idea that people are apart from nature, while tribal folks believe that people are part of nature, said Myers. We are not against conservation one of our biggest goals is conservation of coastal resources for future generations.

The tribal members affirm that they will keep gathering and fishing in traditional areas, regardless of what MLPA or state officials decide.

Tribes have always had the inherent right to gather - whether the state makes it legal or not is their choice, said Georgiana Myers, Yurok Tribal member and organizer for the Klamath Justice Coalition, the group that conducted direct action at the Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska in 2008 to successfully spur billionaire Warren Buffett to agree to the removal of four Pacific Corp dams on the Klamath.

The Yurok Tribe has been gathering since the beginning of time, said Myers. "We have always done it, we will always do it, and we feel that the MLPA is the biggest attempt in the last 30 years to take away tribal gathering and fishing rights."

Craig Tucker, a McKinleyville resident who spoke at the meeting, said, Im proud to live in a community where native people are active stewards of the land and ocean. If you want to protect the ocean, make sure that you stop new deep water drilling, not Indians from picking seaweed.

The protesters disrupting the meeting included members of the Wiyot, Hoopa Valley, Karuk, Smith River Rancheria (Tolowa), Cahto and other tribes.

Advocates of Schwarzeneggers MLPA process claim that the MLPA is an open and transparent process and that they want to hear the concerns of Tribes and other ocean users.

For example, Assemblywoman Virginia Strom-Martin on June 29 wrote a guest opinion for the Eureka Times-Standard where she proclaimed, My fellow (MLPA) task force members share a mutual interest in ensuring that traditional tribal uses of the ocean are preserved

However, local tribal members say that the task forces actions contradict their claims. If she was really concerned about preserving tribal practices, maybe Ms. Strom-Martin should ensure tribal members and tribal scientists are involved in the process, suggested Frankie Joe Myers.

The MLPA, passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999, is very broad in scope. The law was intended to not only restrict or prohibit fishing in a network of marine protected areas, but to address other human uses and extractive activities including coastal development and water pollution.

However, the Schwarzenegger administration has taken all other human uses and extractive activities other than fishing and seaweed harvesting off the table in the implementation of the MLPA process. The MLPA fiasco does nothing to stop water pollution, oil drilling, and wave energy projects or other activities from destroying fish and other marine life populations in Californias coastal waters.

The law would do nothing to stop an ecological catastrophe like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from devastating the California coast. In fact, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the president of the Western States Petroleum Association and a member of the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the North Coast, has repeatedly called for new oil drilling off the California coast.

As an investigative journalist who has written dozens of articles covering the MLPA fiasco, I greatly applaud the activists who exposed the MLPA Initiative for the corrupt fraud that it is!

A webcast of the public testimony at the June 29 science panel meeting can be found at the following website: http://www.cal-span.org. To access the webcast, go to the left menu bar, and choose "Science Advisory Team" under "All MLPA."

Similar testimony will be provided at the July 21-22 Blue Ribbon Task Force meetings in Ft. Bragg. Agendas for these meetings are available at the following website: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/meetings_n.asp.

For more information about the Coastal Justice Coalition, call Frankie Joe Myers, (707) 951-5052.

AIM-WEST will host the First International Conference of the American Indian Movement (AIM), November 22-27, 2010 in San Francisco, California. Last year at the annual AIM-WEST gathering in November Mr. Clyde Bellecourt, co-founder of the National AIM, proclaimed that such an international conference be held in an effort to energies communities, and organize AIM chapters in their countries!

This year’s annual conference is an opportunity for AIM friends, supporters and organizations in solidarity with Indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere, to come together and exchange related issues of concern, seek solutions, and develop strategic plans together.

Among the themes or focus of the conference will be to address Climate Change and to devise a strategy or a plan for COP-16 in Cancun (November 30-December 10) based on the Bolivian Mother Earth Declaration. Also issues for discussion will include food security and sustainability, health, obesity and diabetes, immigration, institutional racism, youth and justice system, sacred sites and religious freedom, disenrollment and the BIA, political prisoners and Leonard Peltier, green economy conversion for sustainable futures, Mineral Extraction/Exploitation, Ratified and Un-ratified Treaties and Agreements, international relations and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Stay posted to AIM-WEST website for more information and details regarding location, agenda, speakers and presenters. If you wish to volunteer your time please call 415-577-1492. AIM-WEST will also be hosting a pre-Unthanksgiving Dinner on Wednesday, November 24^th; everyone is encouraged to attend the Alcatraz Sunrise Gathering on Thursday 25^th; and concert performance on Friday, “Native American Day.”

Thank you all my relations!

1.  Action!: First Nations Land Rights In British Columbia

In early June, Takla Lake First Nation and the Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic released a 200-page study titled Bearing the Burden: The Effects of Mining on First Nations in British Columbia.

The Harvard study examined the mining laws and processes of British Columbia and Canada concluding mining laws are in contravention of international and constitutional laws, stacked against First Nations, favour industry and lack any consideration of shared decision-making, revenue-sharing or fair compensation.

Grand Chief Phillip, President of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, remarked “In a few short weeks, the Government of Canada will formally announce through pomp and ceremony, its highly qualified support for the UN Declaration in accordance with the Constitution and laws of Canada.  With the findings of the Harvard study, First Nations have every right to be greatly worried of what is to come.”

Grand Chief Phillip added “Rather than gutting environmental protection legislation and harmonizing federal/provincial environmental regulatory processes to further favour industry, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs support the findings of the Harvard study that mining laws and processes such as environmental assessments must be overhauled to include and accommodate the unextinguished Indigenous Title, Rights and Treaty Rights of First Nations.”

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Ask the BC government to
- consult First Nations before permitting or embarking on any mining project planned in their region
- consult First Nations throughout the mining approval/disapproval process
- provide First Nations ample time to respond to requests for information, conduct studies and carry out legal preparation

Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources
Minister's Office
250 387-5896
EMPR.Minister@gov.bc.ca

Deputy Minister
250 952-0241
MEM.Correspondence@gov.bc.ca
http://www.ogc.gov.bc.ca/

FOR MORE INFORMATION
To read the full report, visit http://law.harvard.edu/programs/hrp/BearingTheBurden.pdf. 
Go to www.fnwarm.ca and http://law.harvard.edu/programs/hrp/newsid=83.html for additional details 



2. Action!: Voicing Support for UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights

The State Department is currently reviewing the United States' failure to endorse the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. As part of this formal review, the State Department is holding consultations with Indian and Alaska Native nations and NGOs to discuss the upcoming review process and receive comments on July 7 and July 8 in Washington DC. The State Department wants to receive comments from Indian and Alaska Native nations, NGOs and individuals.

July 7, 2010 : Tribal Leaders Consultation, Washington, DC

July 8, 2010 : Meeting with Nongovernmental Organizations, Washington, DC


The U.N. General Assembly adopted the declaration Sept. 13, 2007, with 143 countries voting in favor and four countries – Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand – voting against it. Australia and New Zealand have since endorsed the international human rights document.


IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND THE CONSULTATIONS please submit written comments to the State Department by email to declaration@state.gov or by mail to S/SR Global Intergovernmental Affairs, U.S. Department of State, 2201 C Street NW., Suite 1317, Washington, DC 20520. Please send written comments by July 15, 2010 to ensure that they can be given due consideration in the review.

Also, for more information, Kimberly Teehee, White House Sr. Policy Advisor on Native American Affairs, discussed consultations with Indian Nations regarding the U.S. review of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on the June 23rd Native America Calling show (www.nativeamericacalling.org)

3. Action!: Marine Life Protection Act Hearings

For those in or planning to be in northern California, you can attend MLPA hearings and let the state know that Native peoples need to have access to traditional harvesting areas and sacred sites in any coastal protection work
Schedule: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/meetings_n.asp#upcoming



4. Action! : Save the Peaks

For those in or planning to be in Arizona, there is a prayer vigil and rally in Phoenix to stop development on the San Francisco Peaks. Arizona Snowbow, a ski resort, is attempting to make snow out of treated sewage effluent and apply it to sacred lands -- a mountain that is holy to more than 13 Indigenous Nation -- as well as public lands.  One major concern of the Save the Peaks Coalition is that the treated effluent contains harmful contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, hormones and cancer causing agents.  The Forest Service has ignored public health concerns and approved this development without any tests to determine the health effects if our children eat the wastewater snow.

If you would like to help with outreach you can pick up posters at Taala Hooghan infoshop in Flagstaff (1700 N 2nd St. near Rt 66 and 4th St.) or you can print your own from www.savethepeaks.org. Volunteer support is also needed, contact phxrally@savethepeaks.org.

Rideshare available: ride@savethepeaks.org.  There is also a rideshare board at Taala Hooghan Infoshop



4.  Event: Native Language Summit, July 13-14

The 4th Annual National Native Language Revitalization Summit will be held in Washington, D.C. July 13-14 organized by the National Alliance to Save Native Languages, sponsored by the National Congress of American Indians, the National Indian Education Association, and the National Indian Gaming Association

For more Information
U.S. Department of Education and Senate to Host Native Language Summit



5.  News: Human rights violations on indigenous peoples in the U.S.
(Excerpted from http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/global/97152539.html, Gale Courey Toensing, June 30, 2010)

A group of southwestern tribes has filed a collective report for the United Nations Human Rights Council, documenting the human rights violations imposed on the indigenous peoples of the area by the United States government.

The 125-page report was filed with the U.S. State Department and will become part of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review, a process created by the U.N. General Assembly in 2006 as a mechanism by which the human rights records of all 192 U.N. member states are reviewed every four years.

The report emerged from a historic meeting June 11, called “Southwest Tribal Summit: Enough is Enough – Tribal Voices Must be Heard.”

Tribal leaders, citizens, and tribal organizations representing dozens of southwestern nations attended the event.

The report documents the federal government’s human rights violations against the tribal nations under four overarching themes: The federal government’s failure to consider and protect the tribes’ right to religious and cultural freedom; its failure to enforce its own laws to protect natural resources; its failure to conduct formal consultation regarding development that impacts tribal lands and peoples; and the lack and suppression of education about tribal history in U.S. public schools and the existing political relationship between tribes and the federal government.

The report also urges that “the United States swiftly adopt the Declaration (on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) and join the rest of the world in recognizing that indigenous people around the globe, including those within its own boundaries, are entitled to freedom, religion, culture, autonomy and resources which we require for our continued existence.”

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"Honor and respect water as a sacred and life-giving gift from the Creator of Life. Water, the first living spirit on Earth.

. . . When water is threatened, all living things are threatened."
-- Statement, Hopi Hisot Navoti Gathering