Oak Flat Unity Summit: Supporting efforts to protect a deeply sacred place for Indigenous People in Arizona

HECHO was invited to participate at the Oak Flat Unity Summit last week in Washington, D.C., an event attended by a range of organizations that, like HECHO, support the protection of this deeply sacred place and stand in solidarity with the native Apache people of Arizona, including the Brophy Native American Club, the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation (NATHPO), the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the National Wildlife Federation, Outdoor Alliance, and the Access Fund.

HECHO's executive director, Camilla Simon, and HECHO's National Policy Advocacy Manager, José Ignacio Gaona, attended the summit and shared information about HECHO's advocacy efforts for Save Oak Flat Act.

“We've been involved for about a year and a half now. We're uniting our members all to come around and support this and use their power as local elected officials and community leaders to speak out against the desecration of Oak Flat. We've met with the undersecretary of the USDA. We've brought this issue to the attention of members of Congress. We have been speaking to the Biden administration,” said Simon during the summit. “A big part of this effort is to educate more people about what will happen, and the environmental impact that this mine will provoke.”

This sacred and incredible landscape is threatened by a massive copper mine that will destroy it, creating a 1,000-foot-deep crater, depleting regional water supplies of east of Phoenix, desecrating Indigenous ceremonial sites, and causing tremendous environmental damage to this area, as confirmed by a new recent study of BLM.

“When that environmental impact statement is finalized, there are only 60 days from when the land will be transferred to this foreign mining company so they can start destroying it. So we need to pass the Save Oak Flat Act quickly,” said HECHO’s executive director.

The Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who introduced the Save Oak Flat Act, was at the summit.

During the event, Native American students of the Brophy Native American Club from Phoenix, Arizona, shared their stories and what they are doing to protect Oak Flat. They traveled to the nation’s capital to advocate for the protection of Oak Flat and urge elected officials to act on it. The voices of these young Indigenous People must be heard.

HECHO supports the Save Oak Flat Act and stands with Indigenous communities to protect this holy ancestral place where the Apache people and other tribes have a legitimate spiritual and religious connection.