"Out on the Carrizo Plain, the Chumash — the indigenous people of this land — make ceremony. We burn sacred fires and Grandfather Sage, cleansing the people and lifting their hearts. As old songs pierce the nighttime stillness and shadows dance across painted rock walls, we close the gap of distance and time. We become one with Hutash-Mother-Earth and all to whom we are connected — past, present and future, human and non-human.
This is what Native people do on Carrizo Plain: We cherish our common heritage. Our beloved national monument is fulfilling its promise as a natural, remote and wild place available for all people, and we treasure the protections that allow that promise to remain intact.
That’s why I’m alarmed by the Trump administration’s review of Carrizo Plain and other national monuments. Just recently, a report leaked from the White House makes clear the administration and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke are using this review to prepare for an unprecedented attack on protected public lands."--Michael Khus Zarate
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