On December 7th, 2024, there was a public event at The College of the Siskiyous, I attended a Public Listening Session regarding permanent protection of Sattitla National Monument. Sattitla/Medicine Lake HIglands is a Native American Cultural District. This area is a sanctuary for healing to the Pit River Tribe, Modoc, and Shasta. This area is geologically unique, and ecologically significant landscape that provides clean water to millions of households.
When I arrived at 8:30 am I was able to sign in and register to speak on the microphone before three representatives of the Biden Administration. The Ford Theater was only about five percent full when I sat down around 9:30 am. An introduction and ceremony was performed by Tribal Ambassadors of the Pit River Tribe, and then the room started buzzing. By 10 am the theater was about 90 percent full, with families from many Tribal Nations, members of the Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center, and so many other educational and conservation groups.
Before things got rolling, I had a blue bic pen and my Elk whistle, which provides me strength, when I am doing my activism and public speaking. I prepared to write the Public Statement on the form, by listening to what the activists at the Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center were suggesting to make a compelling case "for" the monument. I found that I was struggling to find all the "perfect" words to go on this "little" 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. Soon I felt myself leaning into my new friends who were all around me in the blue T-shirts we were given. It was fairly instinctive to feel called to include people around me in making this statement.
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