Every day when we wake up, we look to the mountain to see her condition.
Some days the wind blows mightly atop her brow,
others she appears stoic in the unbroken sea of blue
She is a reflection of our condition.

Lately, my body has grown increasing cramped and congested,
no rain
no icy crystal breeze
no winter.
The pain in my body is great and I can't help but wonder if she feels the same.

Last weekend was a relief to finally see her covered with the fresh snow,
though hardly,
as i know her health is compromised
by the sickness we bear
-hundreds of years of greed-
and now
the acuteness of parasitic attack to her body.

The toxin is already in our bodies.
There is no pill to remove it.

We have a health to restore,
and it will take all in order to heal all.
It will take:
diligence
commitment
creative experimentation
communal support
adaptiveness to changes
understanding of others strengths and limitations
focus through frustration
patience

Everyday we can do something for the mountain,
a prayer, a statement, an action
There is no need to wait for someone to tell you how,
your heart will guide you.

I have a view from here, “y’aa.” What a view. My three sisters, they shine in the distance. “Sis na Jinni’” (Mt.Blancoto the east), “So Dzil’ (Mt.Taylorto the south), “Di be’ N’tsaa” (Hesperus peak to the north). My view has clouds today, like cataracts outside of my eyes. Like clouds bearing no rain. It is hard to hold onto ice, onto “Ke’sh je’” songs.

With the dimming of the light, there upon my blanket is the fabric once woven in the undisturbed pattern of virgin green, once channeling petitions through the grooves of my folds. Now worn and abused, the strands have unraveled in places, and the blanket of truth will reclaim itself in time. The undoings of the prayers, the harshness of your words and actions will take a while longer. The green of another’s god dictates and guides your undoing.

I see tentacles of your pathway leading away from here, from there, so frightfully close to the fringes of my blanket. I view the desperation in how you live, how you love, and oh how you fear, all at once. I see your heart beating irregular, out of synch with the pleas all about you. You are unconcerned in the least in the fragrance of my brothers’ breath: the fire. Or the chaotic rhythm of my sisters’ songs: the wind.

Syllables ablaze released from my tongue, devouring sickness. The ashened wind carries heavy prayers; prayers of my children, cries of my organs.

I have a view.

All about my footing, veins of pathways from the center, like pesky mosquitoes upon your shoulders. They fill their bladders with my potentials, their essentials. Empty patches upon my blanket, a measure of your wants. There is a tear, a loosening of fabrics upon my back. The cold and bitter wind that once begged in vain for shelter from itself, it invades the sanctity of warmth.

There is a growing tear, an impending fear. My maternal edges are burning. A sacrificial pyre to what little was left of our culture. Cultures silenced of their voices and vision, the door to its temple barred and forbidden. My shawl is eroding from constant demands, from poisonous and profane words and deeds here, in our promised land; here in theFourth World; in the Glittering World. The world gifted us in hope.

I have a view.

I see, too, the folly of it all, for in the end, when mosquitoes lay waste to their colonies; when monuments to Manifest Destiny are all reclaimed; when the last well-laid plans of empires fail … the last desperate clawing for a piece of my body.

I still see your tenuous blueprint in all its fallacies. I will still hear prayers of my children, upon the wind, upwards into the heavens, where twinkles really hold only darkness. My glittering crown, a beacon still, to distant and pregnant storm clouds. To coat my tears, scarrings upon my back; to lie down with me; to hold my Abalone Shell body; to hear my prayer, my enemy slayer; to hear my prayer, my gift of water.

Yes. I have quite a view.

I have a view. Another tentacle is snaking up my blanket. Tentacles of poison, of destructions. Laying waste upon my side that is buffered by the wind. Into the gouged trenches, the poisonous snake hides its oily body.

I have a view.

Impatience of the natural and seasonal cycles. Desperate dance at loss for songs and prayers frays my edge. My children’s prayer, too, are drowned out in their disturbances. Your sense of justice prevails for now.

Yes, I have this vision. Now clouded with tears, I pray for yours.

I was prompted to write these words for the mountain, Do ‘Ko’ oos l,iid. She will soon be baptized in sacrilege. Too much contentious words have been exchanged in her appropriation. Too many pleas unheard. I felt she needed a voice given. Humbly, I put pen to paper. Like the paintings I create, each syllable to each word to each sentence are gifted in silent chant. Besides, the great and timely story of “the Lorax” is in the theaters now.

-Shonto Begay

For Immediate Release March 9, 2012
Contact: howard@shankerlaw.net

In a petition filed Friday, March 9, 2012 individual citizens and Save the Peaks Coalition volunteers are asking for adequate consideration of human health concerns by the US Forest Service in the use of reclaimed sewer water to make snow. The case asserts that under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act, the Forest Service failed to adequately consider the impacts associated with ingestion of snow made from reclaimed sewer water in its federally mandated environmental review process.

The adequacy of the federal government’s consideration of this “ingestion” issue before approving the use of reclaimed sewer water to make snow at the Snowbowl ski area was actually considered twice by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The first time, the court ruled that the Forest Service failed to consider the impacts associated with people ingesting snow made from reclaimed sewer water. The second time, based on the same facts and same law, a panel of three different judges recently rendered a decision that was completely contrary to the first decision.

Last Thursday, the Naa'bik'iyati' Committee tabled Phelps' bill until the Navajo Nation Council's Spring Session.

Naa'bik'iyati' met Thursday morning to set the agenda for a special Council session to follow immediately after the committee meeting. Because the petition for a special session referenced only one item, the committee bogged down in discussion on whether other items legally could be added to the agenda.

It was a gray area, however, so the committee, rather than Council, heard reports on Navajo water rights settlements and bond financing, then considered two resolutions, which delayed start of the Council session until 4 p.m.

When Speaker Johnny Naize asked for announcements, Phelps said he had just received word that Snowbowl owners will be proceeding with construction next week on a pipeline to carry reclaimed sewer water from the city of Flagstaff to the ski resort on the San Francisco Peaks, a sacred mountain which Arizona tribes believe will be defiled by its use. Phelps had presented the groundwater solution as an alternative to preserve the sacredness of the mountain.

Naize said the matter was tabled and would be dealt with in April.

“I think our people need to know that the pipeline is now going to be connected to the city limits and the use of reclaimed water is now inevitable. Council is not going to address and take a position on the legislation until spring session. By that time, the construction will be complete,” Phelps said afterward.

When contacted late Thursday, Snowbowl General Partner Eric Borowsky said he had spent the day in a meeting with the president of the construction company and general manager going over construction plans. Engineering companies are finalizing drawings for the pump houses and reservoirs, and construction is expected to start in early March in the lower elevations and in April on the mountain once ski season is over.

Two Great events planned!

View Sacred Peaks Circle of Support in a larger map

During the August 7 march more than one hundred people, including families with children and elders, marched through downtown Flagstaff on a Sunday in protest of the destruction and desecration of the San Francisco Peaks by Arizona Snowbowl. As the protesters peacefully passed out flyers and carried banners through Flagstaff’s Southside, police aggressively disrupted the march, grabbing those who were closest to the street, pulling them into the street and arresting them. As six marchers were handcuffed, the remaining demonstrators continued to yell demands for an end to the Peaks’ desecration.
 
Since May 25, 2011, the owners of Arizona Snowbowl, with the support of the U.S. Forest Service and the Flagstaff City Council, have laid 7 miles of a 14.8 mile wastewater pipeline and have clear-cut over 50 acres of rare alpine forest.
28 arrests relating to actions to protect the Peaks have been made since June.

A current lawsuit against the Forest Service, focusing on human health impacts of wastewater snowmaking, is still under appeal in the 9th Circuit Court.

In August the Hopi Tribe filed a lawsuit against the City of Flagstaff asserting that the contract to sell treated sewage to Snowbowl for snowmaking is illegal.

For more info, video, and photos visit: www. truesnow.org and www.indigenousaction.org/flagstaff-police-aggressively-disrupt-protect-the-peaks-march-video-pics/

###

TrueSnow.org would like to see all peoples come together to protect the Sacred Mountain in all her names!

Recently it has come to our attention that our Facebook page was causing discomfort in some people's hearts. This was never the intention of the page. We started the page to create a public posting place for all news related to the Mountain. Anyone on Facebook can post and comment on the Wall of the page and it is encouraged that people participate.

Rudy Preston, the Facebook page originator said, "for me it felt natural and good to name the page her oldest name. It also was the only native language where the characters and letters needed to spell her name were not ironically deemed 'illegal' by facebook's automated system."

They additionally rejected names such as sacred mountain, which was TrueSnow.org's first choice. Though, when it accepted Nuvatukya Ovi as the name it still disappeared the apostrophe (') of the more traditional spelling: Nuvatukya'ovi. I was later corrected by a Hopi friend that it would be more proper if I spelled it: Nuvatuqui'ovi, which was only partially possible as: Nuvatuqui Ovi.

We at TrueSnow.org would like to offer our most sincere apologies for anyone who thought we were trying to misappropriate or impersonate the Mountain. We have spent the last decade in dialogue with the City of Flagstaff, US Forest Service, The USDA, the ADEQ, and we were litigants in the case that went to the Supreme Court's steps from 2005-2009. We have also put our bodies in the way when they started the destruction and desecration and stand by that decision. We will continue to defend the Sacred! And just as fiercely we will defend the health and welfare of not just our own children, but the seventh generation as well.

In an effort to be sure that no one is offended and nobody feels discluded from participating in defending the Peaks from it's current destruction we sat for two hours trying to find a combination of words that Facebook's automated filter would accept and still be for the Mountain. TrueSnow.org will no longer use the name Nuvatukya Ovi or Nuvatuqui Ovi on Facebook. We have renamed the page SacredMountain Defenders.

TrueSnow.org urges all Indigenous peoples and the citizens of Arizona to stand together in unity and become Sacred Mountain Defenders, because that is what is important right now. What would any of us do without our Sacred Mountain?

CONTACT:

Rudy Preston

info@truesnow.org

www.TrueSnow.org

The Navajo Nation has previously taken very serious stands to protect the Holy San Francisco Peaks with numerous resolutions including one in 1998 calling for the dismantling of the ski area and litigation.
It would be contrary to all previous positions that the Navajo Nation has taken to now support use of groundwater for snowmaking on the Holy San Francisco Peaks.
The proposed legislation sends the message that desecration of Dook'o'oosliid is approved by the Navajo Nation.
Additionally, supporting groundwater snowmaking at this time would threaten to UNDERMINE two current legal cases; the Save the Peaks Coaltion v. Forest Service and the Hopi Tribe v. City of Flagstaff.
This is a serious consequence that the Navajo Nation should consider prior to any decisions regarding this proposed legislation.
The writers of this legislation did not consult or engage in dialogue with litigants, NGOs and individuals who have long been actively engaged in the issue.
At minimum the Navajo Nation Council should convene a meeting with these stakeholders prior to considering an action of this nature.
This proposed legislation further demonstrates that the sponsors and writers are out of touch with the grassroots people who have been working on this issue for more than a decade.
There are a number of alternative means that the Navajo Nation Council can use to effectively address desecration of Dook'o'oosliid that do not include supporting a piece of legislation that: 1. supports Snowbowl's further desecration of Dook'o'oosliid. 2. undermines two current legal cases. 3. ignores and undermines grassroots work and strategies. 4. betrays previously held unified positions with other tribal entities.

Ahe' hee',
Klee Benally - Protect the Peaks Activist
Forest Lake Chapter

 
Legislation 0420-11  An Action Relating To Resources And Development And NAABIK’IYATI’; Supporting The Use Of Groundwater For Snowmaking On Dook’o’oosliid (San Francisco Peaks).

http://www.navajonationcouncil.org/Legislations/2011/Oct/0420-11.pdf