Protect Oak Flat

Chi' chil Bildagoteel, known in English as Oak Flat, is a Traditional Cultural Property listed on the National Register of Historic Places located within the Tonto National Forest (TNF) in southeastern Arizona and is a Sacred Site to the Apache and other Native Nations.

The Oak Flat area plays a particularly vital role in informing spirituality and culture of many Native Nations—past and present. Since time immemorial, Native Peoples have traveled to Oak Flat to participate in ceremonies, to pray, to gather medicines and ceremonial items, to honor those buried within its boundaries and to seek and obtain personal cleansing and healing.

Oak Flat is also regularly utilized as an important recreational and ecological place. The site is often used for camping, hiking, rock climbing and bird watching, among many other uses.

To build the mine, the companies worked behind closed doors to ensure the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange was included as Section 3003 of the FY15 NDAA, P.L. 113-291. The land exchange transfers 2,422 acres of TNF land, including sacred Oak Flat, to Resolution Copper in exchange for Resolution Copper-owned parcels that will go to the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service.

The mine, associated infrastructure, and toxic waste material will not only permanently destroy Oak Flat but will directly, adversely and permanently affect numerous Sacred springs, traditional areas, burial locations and other cultural places and experiences of high spiritual and cultural value. The massive mine will cause irreversible destruction to thousands of acres of public lands and contaminate already scarce water sources.

Statistics

Resolution Copper plans to use a block-cave mining technique, which will:

Result in a 1.8 mile-wide crater (the distance from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial) over 1,000 feet deep
Consume more than 637,000 acre-feet of water
Require over 40 miles of pipeline through large parts of the TNF to slurry out toxic waste and ore concentrate
It will also require the construction of massive utility and road corridors that could span 500 feet wide
Result in a toxic waste dump that could cover 15,000 acres and be taller than the Washington Monument

Save Oak Flat Act

Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) introduced the Save Oak Flat Act H.R. 1884 to permanently protect the Oak Flat area of Tonto National Forest from destructive mining proposals. Senator Bernie Sanders introduced its companion bill in the S.915 in the Senate. Oak Flat, or Chi’chil Bildagoteel, is of significant cultural importance and considered sacred by many tribal communities in Arizona, including the San Carlos Apache Tribe, which has resisted a years-long effort by Resolution Copper – owned by international mining conglomerates BHP and Rio Tinto – to mine the region. Grijalva has been leading the issue since the insertion of an unrelated provision in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act mandating the federal government transfer 2,422 acres of Tonto National Forest land to Resolution Copper in exchange for less valuable land elsewhere.

On June 21, 2021, we sent a letter to Senator Schumer, Senator Manchin, Madam Speaker Pelosi, and Congressman Grijalva expressing our support for the enactment of H.R.1885/S.915, the Save Oak Flat Act.

On January 10, 2023, the Tohono O’odham Nation, Tonto Apache Tribe, San Juan Southern Paiute, Association on American Indian Affairs, and the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers filed an amicus brief in Apache Stronghold v. United States. The brief urges the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to recognize the protections of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to prevent a foreign mining company, Resolution Copper, from destroying a sacred place the Apache call Chí’chil Biłdagoteel, which translates into English as “Oak Flat.”