A message of hope and blessings to environmental advocates was addressed by tribal leaders on Saturday, March 4th.

The Scrum and Chemakum elders of Jamestown met with a Lumination sculptor at Fort Warden Commons to gather prayers from locals and work to protect their sacred site in Oak Flats, Arizona. I passed that prayer on to environmental advocate Apache Stronghold.

“The significance of the Oak Flat is that the indigenous people are able to pray in a way that their ancestors have taught them since time immemorial,” says Shamelwitt of Rumi House of Tears Carvers.

“The Apaches have a sacred way of praying. They have a way of praying that has been handed down for thousands of years,” she added.

The Totem Pole journey is a total of 6,584 miles over 33 days, with 41 stops en route to Oak Flats.

The site has been identified as the site of the largest copper mine in US history. If the mine develops as planned, it will leave a crater two miles long and 1,000 feet deep where the San Carlos Apache tribe has maintained it for thousands of years.

“Technically, every place is sacred, every place is sacred, everything is sacred territory. This is the only territory that happens to be set aside,” said Siamel’wit .

House of Tears Carvers has been making an annual totem pole trip since the beginning in honor of 9/11.

“My brother was back in D.C. lobbying. When I got home, I thought about what we could do as a small country to help our devastated county.” Doug James, Rumi Elder Said Sit Ki Kadem, also known as

“So he came up with the process of carving a totem pole and it spread to all the people in the country. The dead and the rest, and it worked.”

House of Tears Carvers works in partnership with the Alliance of Earth, Sky, and Water Protectors and their non-profit sponsors Catskill MountainKeeper and Apache Stronghold.

To donate to the journey and keep the prayers going, visit catkillmountainkeeper.org/house_of_tears_carvers_donations.