Author: postMigrator

Greetings Friends, Families, & Supporters of Big Mountain Resistance
Communities of Black Mesa!!

We wanted to share with you a few event announcements and updates that
are in support of the struggle for survival at Big Mountain and surrounding
communities of Black Mesa, AZ:

**ALL ARE WELCOME TO A BENEFIT EVENT TO HELP TRADITIONAL RESIDENTS WHO ARE
STRUGGLING TO MAINTAINA CULTURAL LIVELIHOOD ON BLACK MESA.
There will be music, arts & crafts, and discussionscentered on the Importance Of
Indigenous Connections!!  This event will support “a cultural-immersion project by
volunteers will help plant fields in order to revive endangered cultural practices
and teach indigenous cultivation methods”.
APRIL 19, 2008, FLAGSTAFF, AZ.
DETAILS: http://www.blackmesais.org/benefit2008.htm

**PERSONAL MEMOIR AND A PLEA FOR BIG MOUNTAIN SUPPORT FROM MARK AND BEAR
DYKEN, LONG TIME SUPPORTERS OF BIG MOUNTAIN.
Dear Friends, Most of you know thatlast year Bear, Somer, and I ran the Big Sur International
Marathon last year and used the opportunity toask for pledges which we used for our continuing
work with the Dineh people ofArizona…..Spring is the time to plant corn and other native
crops so important to the cultures of this region…..Please support our spring trip to the
reservation by pledging some money on my 26.2 mile vigil.

READ MORE….http://www.blackmesais.org/memoir.htm

**SHEEP-SHEARING TIME – ANNUAL RENDEZVOUS
You are invited once again to the annual sheep shearing event at Mr. Jack Woody’s
camp, Mother’sday weekend…come and join us shear, socialize and have plenty to eat.

Who: Jack Woody of Red Willow Springs
What: Annual sheep shearing gathering
When: May 10, 2008
Where: Red Willow Springs or Jack Woody camp on Black Mesa
What are we shearing: 18 goats (mohair) and 35-40 sheep (wool)….
READ MORE: http://www.blackmesais.org/sheep-sheering.htm

**ANNUAL SPRING PLANTING PROJECTS NEED EXTRA SUPPORT THIS YEAR. ALSO
CONSIDER JOINING THE FALL CARAVAN TO BLACK MESA IN FALL OF ’08. CONTACT BMIS FOR
DETAILS.
http://www.blackmesais.org/support2008.htm

**A Report From The Longest Walk II, Northern Route:
Navajo from Big Mountain: US media and politicians orchestrate wars.
By Brenda Norrell, March 28th, 2008.

PUEBLO, Colo. – Bahe Katenay, Navajo from Big Mountain on the Navajo Nation, said
the US media created the stories of the so-called Navajo Hopi Land Dispute, which was
orchestrated by Peabody Coal and US politicians, the same way the US orchestrates the war in
Iraq for its resources.
More…. http://www.blackmesais.org/wars.htm

http://www.blackmesais.org

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“When the trees are stressed by heat and dry conditions, the stomatae
(small openings in the leaves) close. That slows the loss of water in
response to drought but also slows photosynthesis, the process by
which plants create energy.

“‘After years of drought, they’re basically starving to death,’ Worrall said.”
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Summit Daily News
Forest Service researchers link aspen die-off to warm, dry conditions

By BOB BERWYN
summit daily news
April 4, 2008

SUMMIT COUNTY – Evidence is growing that drought conditions are
killing Colorado’s aspens at an unprecedented rate.

More than 56,000 acres of aspens have recently died in the state,
according to a paper published by a group of Forest Service
scientists last year. Nearly 10 percent of the aspen stands in the
San Juan National Forest have been affected, witth mortality
increasing at a rapid rate.

An intense drought in the early 2000s was the likely trigger for the
startling decline in the health and vigor of one of Colorado’s
signature trees, said James Worrall, one of the primary authors of
the study.

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Tucson Citizen

Ariz.’s profusion of desert plants to dry out, stoke fire danger
The Associated Press
Published: 04.03.2008

An abnormally wet winter has spawned a rare profusion of grass and brush around the state — setting up much of Arizona’s desert lands for an active wildfire season, according to fire management officials.

That same wet weather has been a blessing for the state’s higher-elevation forests, which have been dried out by years of drought and left with millions of dead trees because of a beetle infestation.

For the forests, above-normal snowfalls mean trees and undergrowth will have high moisture content, and the fire danger is expected to be relatively low.

But by May, searing temperatures and arid conditions are expected to dry out the often hip-high grasses now blanketing desert areas.

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