Sacred Places, Trees, and Songs

Don't Let the Administration Kill the Roadless Rule The deadline is approaching this Friday September 19 to stand up for about 30 percent of our National Forest land against the mining, logging, construction and other extractive industries that would benefit by the rescission of the Roadless Rule. Please go to this Outdoor Alliance Site for concise details about what's at stake and use FastAction to submit your public comment.   Did you know that about 30 percent of National Forest land is already open to commercial development? Only about 18 percent is protected as a designated Wilderness area. This rescission would open up the rest of our National Forests to further development, putting trees, sacred places, waterways, landscapes, trails, wildlife, clean air, carbon sequestration and many other public goods at risk of loss and degradation.  As an example of what can happen, two mining companies are already drilling and exploring in the Tongass Natio...

  It was  our late president, Dr. James Jefferson’s idea to hold our annual conference this year in Towaoc, Colorado, on the reservation of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. Their hotel and casino sits in the beautiful valley of the Navajo Wash on the road from Cortez to Shiprock, New Mexico. We were blessed with a good turnout—people came from as far away as Northern Utah and Georgia, and there were attendees from all three Ute tribes and from the Navajo Nation.  Dr. Jefferson was strongly involved in the conference planning, despite his worsening health. He was so determined that it would be successful that he travelled to Denver, Colorado Springs, and Towaoc for planning meetings throughout the spring (pictured above). When we met at the hotel in early June to firm up details, Dr. Jefferson’s selected keynote speaker, Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk, was able to meet us for lunch. They sat together and reminisced about shared relatives and experiences.  Maybe he knew that his d...