Protecting Juristac in the Homelands of the Amah Mutsun Nation

American Indian Airwaves

Valentin Lopez, Amah Mutsun Nation, is Chairman of the Amah Mutsun Nation, one of three historic California Indigenous Nations that are recognized as Ohlone. Valentin is Mutsun, Awaswas, Chumash and Yokuts (http://amahmutsun.org/governance/tribal-council) and he joins us for this exclusive interview regarding Amah Mutsun Nation history, culture, traditions, traditional ecological knowledge, California Indian histories, the ongoing work of the Amah Mutsun Land Trust (https://www.amahmutsunlandtrust.org/) to heal Mother Earth within their traditional territories and protect the sacred site: Today on American Indian Airwaves, we got to the traditional lands of the Amah Muston Nation in Santa Clara County, CA where since 2015, the Nation and community member continue fighting to protect Juristac, which lies at the heart of the ancestral lands of the Amah Mutsun Nation, which Amah Mutsun ancestors lived and held sacred ceremonies at this location in the southern foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, above the confluence of the Pajaro and San Benito rivers. Moreover, Juristac is colonially known as the Sargent Ranch and is under threat from the proposed Sargent Quarry that will impact 320 acres of traditional lands. The plan includes a 14-acre processing plant, three 200-foot-deep open pit quarry sites, a 1.6-mile-long conveyor belt, and a 30-foot-wide access road. An estimated 40 million tons of sand and gravel aggregate would be produced over the life of the mine, primarily for use in local road building and general construction. Sargent Ranch is owned by an investor group, Debt Acquisition Company of America (DACA) (https://daca4.com/), and based in San Diego, CA, is behind the proposed 320-acre open pit sand and gravel mining operation on the property. Presently, the Santa Clara County supports the project. Our guest for today, in this two-part interview, is Valentin Lopez, from the Amah Mutsun Nation and he is the Chairperson of the Amah Mutsun Nation, one of three historic California Indigenous Nations that are recognized as Ohlone. He joins today to us today to discuss recent action by the Santa Clara County announcing a six-week extension of the public comment period on the draft Environmental Impact Report to comment deadline is November 7, 2022. For Protect Juristic information, visit here: http://www.protectjuristac.org/ American Indian Airwaves regularly broadcast every Thursday from 7pm to 8pm (PCT) on KPFK FM 90.7 in Los Angeles, CA; FM 98.7 in Santa Barbara, CA; FM 99.5 in China Lake, CA; FM 93.7 in North San Diego, CA; FM 99.1 KLBP in Long Beach, CA (Tuesdays 11am-12pm); WCRS FM 98.3/102.1 in Columbus, OH, and on the Internet at: www.kpfk.org.