Apache Stronghold/Save Oak Flat (a coalition of Western Apache and other Native tribes) is fighting in court to protect one of their most sacred sites from complete destruction by foreign-owned mining company, Rio Tinto (Resolution Copper).

Oak Flat, known in Apache as Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, is where Western Apache have come to worship since time immemorial, performing their most central religious ceremonies that cannot take place anywhere else. Even though Oak Flat is on the National Register of Historic Places and had previously been protected from mining and other destructive practices for decades, the government gave Oak Flat away to a foreign-owned mining company in a rider to a defense bill in 2014.

That company plans to turn the sacred site into a two-mile-wide, 1,100-foot-deep crater, destroying Oak Flat, forever impacting Apache religious practices. In response, Apache Stronghold filed a lawsuit in federal court to protect the sacred land and religious liberty.

A ruling in favor of Apache Stronghold would be a huge victory for all Native tribes who want to protect their sacred sites from cultural and environmental destruction.

Visit their website to find ways to take action against the destruction of their land and way of life.