Demand EBRPD Include Indigenous Voices In Their Master Plan

On Wednesday October 3rd and Tuesday October 9th, East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) will hold its final public comment meetings on the upcoming revisions of its Master Plan. We are asking for a massive display of public support at the meeting to amplify regional Indigenous people’s concerns. For more than a decade local Native people have insisted that EBRPD implement appropriate protection and management of cultural sites and resources within their jurisdiction. EBRPD has consistently failed to acknowledge these perspectives. Please take the opportunity to commemorate upcoming Indigenous People’s Day by demanding that EBRPD finally include local Native voices and create effective policies to guide the stewardship of sacred land.

The recent video Buried Voices https://vimeo.com/43092751 documents EBRPD’s handling of Brushy Peak, the site of Ohlone, Miwok, and Yokut origin stories that was developed into a recreation area against the wishes of local Indigenous people. This is only one example of the many sacred areas that EBRPD has mismanaged.

At this point we are asking supporters to take several critical actions as follows to help us hold EBRPD accountable for their continued lack of attention to the concerns of Indigenous people and encourage them to create a responsible position for the future, starting with appropriate changes to their agency’s Master Plan:

1) Please join us at both of the upcoming EBRPD public meetings. While we would like a strong attendance at the Oct 3rd meeting, we are particularly emphasizing a large turn-out for the final meeting on Oct 9th. We ask that supporters wear black t-shirts and bring signs with the slogan: EBRPD: Listen to Native Voices. Please make sure you get the acronym for their name correct- yes, it's long... :)

October 3rd - 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. – Dublin

Dublin Unified School, District
Board Room
7471, Larkdale Ave. Dublin, CA 94568

October 9th- 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. – Richmond
Richmond Memorial Auditorium,
Bermuda Room,
403 Civic Center Plaza
Richmond, CA 94804

2) Please write letters to EBRPD prior to October 9th to insist that they give Indigenous people a defining voice in how the District manages their sacred sites. The more specific that you can be in reference to the proposed revisions, the better. See: http://www.ebparks.org/Page50.aspx and http://www.ebparks.org/Assets/Features/Master+Plan+2012+-+Issues+Defined.pdf. Please send a copy of your letter to protectsacredland [at] yahoo.com so that we can document how many letters the EBRPD receives.

Hard copies of your letter should be sent to:
Board of Directors and General Manager Robert Doyle
Master Plan Policy Update
East Bay Regional Park District
2950 Peralta Oaks Court
PO Box 5381
Oakland, CA 94605-0381

Emails should be sent to:
General Manager Robert Doyle
bdoyle [at] ebparks.org

The Board Clerk
apulido [at] ebparks.org

3) Submit comments to the EBRPD’s online Master Plan comment forum at: http://ebrpdmasterplan.org/

4) Please forward this message widely and repost it on facebook and relevant places.

Many thanks for your support!