Saving Juristac: Tribal Chair Valentin Lopez Speaks

He's spoken to the United Nations about this--but the citizens of Santa Clara County will be his most important audience. It will be their elected representatives that decide the fate of the ancient ceremonial site known as Juristac.

We invite you to hear Amah Mutsun Tribal Chair Valentin Lopez speak regarding the efforts to deny permits for a 317-acre sand and gravel quarry that would level sacred hills and remove 40 million tons of material from this ecologically-sensitive sacred site.

Thousands of Indigenous cultural and burial sites have already been destroyed in Santa Clara County. We invite you to learn about the unique historic and spiritual significance of Juristac. And to learn about the sensitive ecology of the area: a home to threatened species, a sensitive watershed, and an important wildlife corridor, uniquely connecting the biomes of three mountain ranges.

In Tribal Chair Lopez’s words: “Juristac ...is in a pristine state in relation to the surrounding region. The vast majority of our sacred ceremonial sites have been lost to development. Our Amah Mutsun tribe maintains that once disturbed by mining, there will be no way to rehabilitate the cultural and spiritual aspects of the landscape.”