Urgent Letters Needed to Save Nantucket Sound

Posted March 8, 2010 By Nancy and has no comments yet.

Letters are urgently needed to prevent a large-scale wind farm development, called Cape Wind, from being approved in Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts. The project calls for 130 wind turbines each over 285-feet from ground to center-line of turbine rotor, covering 24 square miles of federal waters.

Nantucket Sound is sacred to the Wampanoag Tribe. Wampanoag means “People of the First Light” because they have sacred ceremonies which require an unobstructed view of the rising sun over Nantucket Sound. The sunrise rituals are also performed on the death of elders. Wampanoag off-shore burials would also be destroyed by the project. They have claimed the Sound as a Traditional Cultural Property and it has been determined eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

There are many other grounds to object to the Cape Wind Project, including environmental, safety and aesthetic. See Fact Sheet Below

Nantucket Sunrise

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Stress in Your Letter: There is an alternative site called South of Tuckernuck Island. It has undergone federal review and can accommodate a project similar to Cape Wind with fewer impacts.

Before April 15th Write To:
John Fowler, Executive Director
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 803
Old Post Office Building
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 606-8503   achp@achp.gov    www.achp.gov

Nantucket Wind Facts

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Newsletter

Posted March 7, 2010 By Yifei and has no comments yet.

The newsletter service has been tested and is back up. Thank you for your patience. If you would like to subscribe, please click on the link in the “Pages” section (top right).

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Uluru – Ayers Rock Will Not Be Protected

Posted March 6, 2010 By Nancy and has 1 comment.

Sacred Uluru

Uluru or Ayers Rock, in Australian, is sacred to aboriginal owners, as a place that figures prominently in their origin history. Despite this fact, the Board of Uluru-KataTjuta National Park has decided against a ban on climbing the rock. There is, however, a new management plan that includes the option of closing the rock in the future should the percentage of visitors who climb the rock decline. The government ruled that the rock’s popularity with tourists should have precedence over the aboriginal’s preference against climbers.

(more…)

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Isfahan World Heritage Site Threatened

By Nancy and has no comments yet.

World Heritage Site Threathened by Subway

Esphahan (Isfahan), Iran is one of Iran’s great historic cities with important architetural buildings such as the Hasht Behesht Palace and the Chahar-Bagh School. Some of the sites are sacred such as the Mosque of Sheykh Lotfollah which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Meidan Emam.

Recent subway construction has endangered sites, some dating to the 15th Century. There is concern that vibration from the subway movement and its construction could cause collapse of historic sites.

Isfahan’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization has filed an official complaint against the city’s metropolitan railway authority and UNESCO has sent official representatives to conduct a site inspection.

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Urgent Action Needed to Protect Wampanoag Sacred Sites

Posted January 19, 2010 By Nancy and has no comments yet.

Nantucket Sunrise is Sacred to Wampanoag

The Wampanoag Indian Tribe of Massachusetts have spiritual practices that require them to visit sacred sites with a clear view of the rising sun when they perform special ceremonies on the solstices and upon the death of elders. The Cape Wind project would compromise the natural integrity of a sacred site for the Wampanoags by industrializing their view of the rising sun.

The Cape Wind Farm’s plan is to build 130 wind turbines, each over 400 feet tall. The project would be several miles from the Cape Cod shoreline covering a 25-square-mile section of federal land.

Action is urgently needed before February 29, 2010. Please write to Secretary Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, Department of the Interior, 1849 C St NW, Washington, DC 20240; or email Secretary Salazar at feedback@ios.doi.gov; or telephone the Department at 202-208-3100.

Please make the following points:
1. The Wampanoag, People of the First Light, require an unobstructed view of Nantucket Sound in order to view the rising sun on solstices when they perform their sacred ceremonies and upon the passing of elders.
2. Wampanoag ancestral remains are buried in the Sound and the wind turbines would dis

For more information contact: the Wampanoag.

Other resources, including an excellent photo of the sound with proposed Wind Turbines, can be found at: The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.

Categories: Environmental, Letters Needed, american indian, preservation
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SSIF Joins Cultural Resources Preservation Coalition

Posted January 15, 2010 By Nancy and has no comments yet.

Sacred Sites International has been invited to join the National Trust for Historic Preservation Cultural Resources Preservation Coalition for sites on Federal Public Lands.

The Cultural Resources Preservation Coalition (the Coalition) is a group of historic preservation, tribal, archaeology, anthropology, trails, recreation, business, and place-based organizations, led by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Coalition advocates for the protection of irreplaceable cultural resources located primarily on federal public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the United States Forest Service (USFS) and the National Park Service (NPS).

For more information visit the National Trust website: Cultural Resources Preservation Coalition

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Lawsuit Filed to Protect Chumash Sacred Condor & Sacred Sites

Posted November 13, 2009 By Nancy

A coalition of groups filed a lawsuit to stop an exclusive development project that was to include high-priced homes, golf courses and hotels. The development called, Tejon Mountain Village resort, is slated to be built high in the pristine mountains of Kern County, located in southern California.

The groups fighting the development include the Chumash Indian Wishtoyo Foundation, the Center for Biological Diversity, the TriCounty Watchdogs and the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment.

Mati Waiya of the Wishtoyo Foundation says the development threatens Chumash sacred sites and the endangered condor whose habitat would be gravely disturbed. The condor is central to the perpetuation of Chumash culture and ceremonial practices. The magnificent bird features prominently in Chumash oral histories and in sacred cave paintings.

Condor

You can read more about the issues surrounding the lawsuit and the destructive development in the press release from the Center for Biological Diversity.

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Aboriginal Elders Say Quarry Will Destroy Sacred Sites

Posted November 12, 2009 By Nancy

Perth Aboriginal Elders and Nyoongar Elders say the German quarrying firm Hanson Construction recently filed an application with the Department of Indigenous Affairs seeking approval to destroy cultural heritage sites.

Aboriginal Elders fear the blasting will endanger sacred stones, fragile plants and animals central to their culture. The quarrying will contaminate their water flowing from a brook that feeds into the Swan River.

The site complex at Red Hill in the Darling Range includes petroglyphs, ceremonial sites, grinding stones and ochre deposits used in spiritual practices. Of special interest is the Guardian Ancestral Owl Stone. You can learn more at Perth Independent Media.

For more information please visit the Susannah Valley website.

Petrochemical development has been threatening other sacred sites in Australia. The Dampier Rock Art, Burrup Peninsula located in Murujaga, Australia was included on the Sacred Sites International 2005 Most Endangered List. The site was again listed on the SSIF 2008 List of Sites because it is still highly endangered.

Dampier Australia Petroglyph

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Wampanoag Sacred Sites & Rituals Threatened

Posted November 11, 2009 By Nancy

The Wampanoag of Massachusetts are known as the People of the First Light because of their sacred rituals that require an unobstructed view of the sunrise. These rituals are performed at secret sacred sites at key dates such as summer and winter solstices.

A proposed off-shore wind farm is proposed several miles off of Nantucket Sound and the Wampanoag are protesting the proposal as interfering with tribal religion. The development project calls for 130 wind turbines, each over 400 feet in height. The Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag claim the turbines will block their view of the sunrise and interfere with their ancestral burials on Horsehoe Shoal.

The Wampanoag are hoping to get Nantucket Sound listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property. Such a designation would come with new regulations preserving views of the sun rising over the Nantucket Sound horizon thus assuring the continuance of their sacred practices.

You can read more about this in the San Francisco Chronicle article “Tribes Upset Over Wind Turbines.

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Tara Hill, Ireland, Endangered Again

Posted November 10, 2009 By Nancy

Tara Hill, Ireland

In 2005 SSIF featured Tara Hill on our Most Endangered Sacred Sites List. The threat at that time, a freeway built right next to the sacred hill, is still the threat. Yet, another freeway!Fresh from the Irish government’s disgraceful ruination of the Tara-Skryne Valley sacred landscape, they’re planning another assault on the area containing many of Ireland’s primary ritual sites.Take a look at the link below. And watch this space; we’ll post details of who to contact as and when we know them.The Hill of Tara is not the only important heritage threatened by the Leinster Orbital Route. The Heritage Town of Trim is to be bisected.Check this story on Indymedia:http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94705UN MUST SAVE TARA PETITIONhttp://www.savetarapetition.net

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