As we celebrate Indigenous People’s Day today, for the first time in history with a proclamation recognizing the holiday from the president of the United States, I’m reflecting on my own experiences and opinions of where we, as native peoples, stand in our ongoing efforts to achieve the equity and true sovereignty in America that we deserve.
I, like many indigenous members of our community, was perhaps skeptically hopeful watching 2021 unfold with a new president and the appointment of the first indigenous cabinet member, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. Both leaders promised big things to First Nations when it comes to public lands and ancestral, sacred lands, including restoration of protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments, stopping harmful oil and gas extraction that causes damage to sacred sites and poisons Indigenous communities, and the hope of better federal cooperation with sovereign tribal governments.
As of today, we got one of three. I am thrilled to celebrate the restoration of protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments, signed by President Joe Biden this past Friday. The Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition and the participating tribes who have been fighting and advocating for restoration since the moment the monuments were shrunk, have waited for 10 months for this announcement from the White House. It was powerful to see and hear Haaland be part of the signing ceremony, sharing what we as indigenous people know so well, that these landscapes are living landscapes that indigenous people have cared for since time immemorial. I want to offer a big thank you to Secretary Haaland and President Biden for this important step to honor the heritage and contributions of tribes and Indigenous communities.
While this announcement is truly momentous and a big step forward toward truly respecting our ancestral lands, it is only a first step. We have to hold our leaders accountable in centering the voices of Indigenous people. We have much more work to do. At home in Nevada, our tribal brothers and sisters have been working for decades to ensure the federal government passes adequate protections for places like Gold Butte National Monument, Swamp Cedars in Northeastern Nevada, and Avi Kwa Ame, or Spirit Mountain, in Southern Nevada.
Spirit Mountain, called Avi Kwa Ame by the Mojave Tribe, is located on the eastern boundary of the monument. The mountain is designated a traditional cultural property on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its religious and cultural importance, but it is the entire area that is considered sacred by ten Yuman speaking tribes as well as the Hopi and Chemehuevi Paiute. For the Yuman tribes, the area is tied to their creation, cosmology and well-being. It is the whole landscape that deserves permanent protection.
Energy developers tried to build a 30,000-acre wind farm in the heart of this sacred landscape and while that project was rejected in 2018, a newly proposed project has heightened efforts to protect the region. Such development would forever scar these valuable lands, fragment their world-class habitat and degrade nationally recognized cultural resources. The area is simply the wrong place for large scale energy developments, and needs the permanent protection that a national monument designation brings.
A coalition of tribes, local Searchlight, Boulder City and Las Vegas residents, the Nevada Legislature, conservation groups, recreation interests and others is working to establish the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument to permanently protect these treasured lands. Tribes have been fighting large development project after project in the region. It is time we listen to Indigenous voices and follow their guide in protecting valuable cultural and biological treasures like Avi Kwa Ame. It is time the cultural values of the area are provided the protections and the resources for those protections they are deserving of.
By following the lead of Indigenous peoples in conservation, we can ensure a future that will benefit us all. And that is something we could all reflect on while celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day today.
Taylor Patterson is the executive director of the Native Voters Alliance of Nevada.