Letter to Coconino National Forest Supervisor

Laura Jo West
Forest Supervisor
Coconino National Forest
1824 S. Thompson St.
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
laurajo.west@usda.gov

Dear Ms. West,

Dr. Robert Breunig shared his letter concerning the recent Snowbowl expansion, as well as your response. Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I am writing to share some reflections on this matter.

Last January 31, I was also present when the Forest Service met with members of the Navajo Nation’s Diné Hataałii (Medicine and Healers) Association, as well as other Indigenous leaders who had traveled from throughout the state to attend. They met with you to express their objections to the proposed Snowbowl expansion. The Forest Service set rigid time limits and attempted to limit the parameters of the meeting with statements such as “water and cultural issues are not on the agenda today.” It was disturbing to witness colonial control being exerted over everyone in the room. It made such an impression that I later wrote an article about it, which was published in Communities Magazine.

The Indigenous leaders persisted with prayers, songs, and teachings on water. As you know, water, land, and culture are essential aspects of Indigenous identity. Such a meeting could not take place without these topics being front and center. Cultural frameworks were shared, in which the mountain known as Doko’o’słíiíd in the Diné language is a sacred being who is interconnected with all Creation, including the two legged people who are all related to each other. In addition to Diné, the Peoples who revere this mountain are Acoma, Fort McDowell Mohave Apache, Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai, San Carlos Apache, San Juan Southern Paiute, Tonto Apache, White Mountain Apache, Yavapai-Apache, Yavapai-Prescott, and Zuni.

Your staff appeared to listen and even became emotional near the end of the meeting. However, after this perfunctory one hour “consultation,” the Forest Service moved forward with business as usual.

Indigenous peoples had longstanding, sustainable, sophisticated relationships with this land for many thousands of years before Europeans arrived, stole the land, and took over. The absence of true consultation, the use of coercive communication, and the expansion of Snowbowl’s activities are nothing new. They follow a historical pattern, in which the United States Federal Government wields massive power to silence Indigenous peoples and maintain oversight of land and resources. This is how institutional racism operates.

Some of my ancestors were early settlers and colonizers on this continent. In atonement, I am committed to speaking out about the impacts of colonialism. I see the collusion between Arizona Snowbowl, the US Forest Service, and the City of Flagstaff as a present-day manifestation of the same mindset that reduced the Indigenous population to 2% of its original size. I use the word “collusion” because the discourse has always been rigged. An unbalanced dynamic persists when colonial governments and corporate entities work together to claim all the power and consistently use that power to override communities who have been forcibly displaced from their ancestral homelands.

After centuries of settler colonialism, we are in the midst of climate change, pandemic, growing inequity, economic crisis, social unrest, and political upheaval. Future generations of all species are at risk. I see Snowbowl’s expansion as an attempt to prop up a business that is no longer viable in a changing climate. In exchange for a few years of profit and recreation to benefit outside investors and members of the settler community, Snowbowl is being empowered to disrupt complex biological, ecological and human communities that have been developing here for millennia.

Snowbowl’s new parking lot is now sprawling across 14 acres of the upper end of Hart Prairie. Part of an aspen grove was destroyed to construct this parking lot, and it has already damaged the land irreparably. The footprint of the parking lot reaches to the boundary of the Snowbowl lease area. Furthermore, it appears that effluent runoff from the new construction and the pre-existing lodge is flowing onto Hart Prairie. As you say, it is shocking to see the level of development.

Some of us who benefit from settler privilege are starting to see that the way we have always done things urgently needs to change. This is the moment to reevaluate “business as usual.” It’s humbling to learn about the devastating violence our forebears perpetrated. Personally, I feel cognitive dissonance when I try to undo generations of implicit conditioning. We are being given opportunities to understand our complicity with the ongoing harm. We can commit to equitable solutions by partnering with the most marginalized communities and following their leadership.

I share your hope that we can all work together to honor the sanctity of this holy place. From my perspective, that would require the Forest Service to commit to a dramatic change of approach in how it interacts with the Indigenous community. How could you share the power inherent in your position? What groundbreaking steps could you take to restore relationships and become a true partner before evaluating Snowbowl’s final proposal for additional development?

Please let me know if I can offer support to this process.

Kind Regards,

Hilary Giovale
Flagstaff, AZ