Amidst COVID-19 restrictions, the movement to protect Juristac has continued to grow. Tribal members have been speaking about Juristac at numerous online conferences and events over the past few months, and letters of support and petition signatures continue to pour in.
A free online event, "Protecting Sacred Landscapes, from Juristac to Medicine Lake," is scheduled for August 5 and already has over 200 registered attendees. The event will feature Morning Star Gali of the Pit River Tribe, alongside Amah Mutsun Chairman Valentin Lopez, conservation ecologist Dr. Stuart Weiss, and Alice Kaufman, Legislative Advocacy Director of Green Foothills. Morning Star Gali will speak about the inspiring, related struggle of the Pit River Tribe and allies to protect their sacred site, Medicine Lake, from a proposed geothermal industrial facility. Click here to register for this Zoom-based event.
We’re also excited to announce the Protect Juristac art contest. The winning design will be adopted by the campaign and may be printed on t-shirts, posters, stickers or bandanas, depending on the type of design. Anyone who submits artwork will receive a free print of the winning design and our great appreciation. Please send in your piece by August 1, 2020 to protectjuristac [at] gmail.com and email us with any questions.
Significant new letters of of opposition to the proposed mining project at Juristac include a letter signed by 369 faculty members, staff, students and affiliates of Santa Clara University, as well as a letter from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), signed by the president of CIIS and 25 other professors and affiliates. Another strong letter from the Northern California Environmental Justice Network of Community-Academic Partnerships was signed by over 70 affiliates from universities including Stanford, San Jose State, the University of San Francisco, Santa Clara University, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis.
We’d also like to highlight a new article by Dana Zartner that was published in the June 2020 issue of the Santa Clara Journal of International Law, entitled “Justice for Juristac: Using International and Comparative Law to Protect Indigenous Lands.” The article argues that it is imperative that mining permits at Juristac be denied, pointing to principles of international law as well as comparative decisions from regional and state courts and relevant California laws. You can download the full report from Santa Clara University.