Protect Juristac! South Bay Indigenous Solidarity March 2022 General Meeting

South Bay Indigenous Solidarity is a multi-ethnic group that supports Indigenous-led, grassroots efforts to promote human rights, restore Indigenous land stewardship and preserve threatened cultural, burial, and sacred sites. Our March, 2022, meeting will focus on several issues with which SBIS is involved. Focus will be given to the effort to Protect Juristac and to an upcoming electoral effort in San Benito County that could allow voters the chance to better protect the ecology and sacred sites of that region.

We are expecting the release this month of the draft environmental impact report for the proposed open-pit mine that would decimate the most sacred Amah Mutsun ceremonial site of Juristac (in Santa Clara County). Sometimes described as 'Silicon Valley's Version of Standing Rock', Juristac is unique from both an ecological and a cultural perspective. The planned 'Sargent Quarry' would potentially eviscerate four sacred hills and remove over 40 million tons of sand and gravel from the site. The location of this open-pit mine is near the centre of the only wildlife corridor to connect otherwise genetically-isolated populations of threatened species in the Santa Cruz, Diablo, and Gavilan mountain ranges.