Tribal Members Run to Honor Red Desert Sacred Sites

By Tova Woyciechowicz

Photo by Tova Woyciechowicz

On September 28, about 25 Eagle Staff Runners Association members ran more than 100 collective miles to pay respect to their ancestral heritage in the Red Desert, threatened by unprecedented levels of oil and gas development. The Eagle Staff Runners is a group of Shoshone and Arapaho youths that regularly takes part in a tradition of spiritual runs and camps to honor their ancestors.

According to group member Jason Baldes, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has failed to properly consider the tribes' cultural sites in the agency's proposal to permit thousands of new oil, conventional gas and coalbed methane wells in the desert.

"Many tribal members feel that proper respect and consultation should be given to these interests in the BLM's pending

Photo by Tova Woyciechowicz

resource management plans," said Martin Blackburn, a coordinator for the group. "The run covered old ground, respecting our ancestors and the spirits that are there now."

The runners' primary focus is spirituality and humility, according to the group's founding elders, Harrison Shoyo Sr. and Anthony Sitting Eagle.

"Running long distances and sleeping under the stars on Mother Earth will humble any human being," the elders said. However, in this case, the political significance of the runners' choice to venerate the Red Desert is unavoidable.

Photo by Tova Woyciechowicz

The Red Desert contains a number of features sacred to many tribes, including petroglyphs, the Boar's Tusk, Steamboat Mountain, the Honeycombs, Indian Gap Trail, numerous medicinal plants, rock formations and ancient hunting and camping sites. The ancient heritage of Shoshone, Arapaho, Ute, Comanche and other tribes is being sacrificed in favor of oil and gas development in the BLM's draft resource management plans.

All of the affected tribes weighed in with comments to the BLM advocating protection of sacred cultural and spiritual sites within the 622,000-acre Jack Morrow Hills Study Area, and the Arapaho and Shoshone Business Councils passed resolutions on the issue.

During the Eagle Staff Run from Fort Washakie to Steamboat Mountain, runners sent prayers for people in hardship and for more protection of the tribes' respected places. We hope their prayers are heard.