Natural History Wanderings

Native News Online  reported

The leader of an organization that has been facing off against a foreign mining company with designs on destroying a sacred Indigenous site is walking more than 60 miles across Arizona to attend a court hearing that will decide the fate of 2,400 acres of federal public lands.

Wendsler Nosie, Sr. (San Carlos Apache), founded Apache Stronghold in 2014 to oppose the transfer of the public lands in the Tonto National Forest. The organization has been locked in a 10+ year legal battle with the mining giant Resoutin Copper to protect the land, which includes Oak Flat, a mesa that has been the site of religious ceremonies for tribes in the region since time immemorial. The lands are also home to endangered and threatened species, such as ocelots and Arizona hedgehog cacti.