THE SNOWBALL EFFECT, benefit for SAVE THE PEAKS

On September 14, 2006 the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco, California will hear arguments in a legal battle that may decide the future of American Indian religious freedom and the ecological integrity of the San Francisco Peaks, a mountain located in Northern Arizona which is held sacred by over 13 Native American nations. Tribes and environmental groups have unified to halt Arizona Snowbowl’s development plans to expand the current ski area and use treated sewage effluent to make artificial snow on the sacred Peaks.

(See http://www.savethepeaks.org and indybay calendar for more info on events taking place on the 13th and 14th in SF).

This Sunday, speakers from Save the Peaks Coalition and screening of:

"THE SNOWBOWL EFFECT"
When Recreation and Culture Collide

A documentary by Klee Benally

Approximate Run Time: 55 Minutes

The San Francisco Peaks stand high above the northern Arizona landscape, a forested refuge rising over 5,000 feet above the Colorado Plateau, south of the Grand Canyon and just north of the small city of Flagstaff.

Since time immemorial the San Francisco Peaks have been held sacred by over 13 Native American tribes. These nations have revered "the peaks" as the home of their deities, a place to gather special herbs, a place of emergence and, for tribes like the Navajo and Hopi, this mountain is deeply rooted in essence of their ways of life.

In spite of strong tribal opposition, The San Francisco Peaks have endured a history of development. Although tribal leaders, environmentalists and then Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt, successfully stopped mining activities in the late 1990s, the struggles to protect the sacred mountain are not over.

Today, the sacred mountain is part of public lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service, which includes winter recreation in its mission by leasing out 777 acres of the mountain to the Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort.

The Snowbowl Effect explores the controversy surrounding the recently proposed ski resort expansion and snowmaking with wastewater on the San Francisco Peaks as Native American tribal officials and spiritual leaders, Forest Service officials, and concerned citizens discuss the issues: sacred lands protection, public health concerns associated with groundbreaking studies on wastewater, economic misconceptions, threats to the environment, global warming and a small community caught in the conflict.

With input from biologists, economists, tribal officials and traditional practitioners, ski resort representatives, environmentalists and a former U.S. secretary of the Interior, The Snowbowl Effect is a clear and moving documentary that is sure to inspire and inform.

Director/Editor Klee Benally (Project Director of Indigenous Action Media, Guitarist/Vocalist of the award winning group Blackfire, and dancer with the internationally acclaimed Jones Benally Family) offers a compelling and moving view of
contemporary conflicts between the U.S. Forest Service, Native American sacred sites, the environment and business interests.

The Save the Peaks Coalition was formed to address environmental and human rights issues caused by proposed ski resort development on the the San Francisco Peaks, a mountain in Northern Arizona held sacred by over 13 Native American Nations.

Donations are welcome, but no one is turned away for lack of funds.