Oak Flat as a Traditional Cultural Property / Future Copper Mine

Summary

On January 25, 2012, the Forest Service sought assistance from the San Carlos Apache Tribe in evaluating Chi’chil bildagoteel (Oak Flat) as a Traditional Cultural Property (TCP). This request was motivated by a land exchange proposed to congress which would transfer Oak Flat, Forest Service managed land, to Resolution Copper Mine for purposes of ore extraction. Four years later on March 4, 2016 the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places officially designated Oak Flat a Traditional Cultural Property (TCP).

The interim four years would test the fortitude of both the Forest Service and the Tribe, as Resolution Copper and other mining supporters would work creatively and persistently to prevent the formal recognition of Oak Flat as a TCP. Politicians, organizations, and even local tribal members rallied to testify to the falsity of Oak Flat’s validity as a TCP. Hundreds of letters of objection to the nomination would cause the Forest Service and the Keeper to weigh the cost versus benefits of recognizing the cultural paradigms of the Apache people. In this paper, I will examine the nomination process of this highly contested TCP, the interference, the perseverance, and the outcome.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18745