US Judge Rejects Request to Block Oak Flat Land Handover to Mining Company
Last week, a judge turned down a request to prevent the federal government from handing over land in Arizona to a mining company. The request was made by various plaintiffs, including the Apache Stronghold group and the San Carlos Apache Tribe, among others. The land in question, Oak Flat, is considered sacred by Western Apache tribes and other Indigenous people and is central to their religious traditions. Oak Flat is located in the Tonto National Forest and is home to endangered Arizona hedgehog cacti as well as ocelots. In his ruling, Judge Dominic Lanza highlighted that while the land transfer…