It’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and right now, the government and corporate polluters are aggressively driving policies that will destroy our communities and our public lands.

We’re supporting Tribal and Native organizers and expanding our partnerships with Tribes, Native communities, and multiracial coalitions to strengthen the grassroots movements we need to protect Native lands.

Current threats include:

• The Department of Homeland Security is building a destructive border wall in and near Big Bend National Park and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and on the Tohono O’odham Nation’s reservation itself.

• After the protected area surrounding Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments was cut by 90%, mining companies lined up and applied for permits, which were granted for mining and profit-driven development of this land, and now they are trying to destroy Bears Ears’ groundbreaking federal-intertribal collaborative management authority created by community gatherings.

These actions violate Tribes’ inherent and legal right to sovereignty, including the right to decide on projects that may affect our communities, resources, and territories.

Ensuring Native people can steward lands as their ancestors have is a major pathway to conservation and sustainability, mitigating the impacts of climate change, and protecting Mother Earth for future generations.