Valley students in Native American Club run over 180 miles to try and protect Oak Flat
Valley high school students take part in run to save Oak Flats.
By: Nicole Grigg , Claudia Rupcich , Associated Press
Posted at 4:21 PM, Mar 02, 2021
and last updated 2021-03-02 20:46:05-05
PHOENIX â This past weekend, students with a Native American Club ran over 180 miles to try and protect Oak Flat in the Tonto National Forest.
Students with Brophy High Schoolâs Native American Club started their 180-mile journey from Flagstaff last Wednesday and arrived at their destination at Oak Flat on Sunday.
The day after finishing their race, the students received information that is leading to a victory for them.
Goal: Terminate plans to develop a copper mine on Oak Flat.
Oak Flat in Tonto National Forest, a sacred land to the Apache people, was sold to a London based company to build a massive copper mine. This will not only cause grave destruction to this ancestral land and burial site, but it will also seriously damage the environment. Oak Flat is an important habitat for endangered wildlife and migratory birds.
The project is sure to deplete water supply and quality in the region. It is predicted that the mine would eventually cause the land to cave into a crater a mile wide and a thousand feet deep. The decision to sell this land to a multinational corporation was a disturbing betrayal to the local Indigenous communities and it must be stopped. Sign the petition below to demand cancelation of the copper mine on Oak Flat.