Apache Stronghold

Apache Stronghold, san carlos, az, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community organization of individuals who come together in unity to battle continued colonization, defend holy sites and freedom of religion, and are dedicated to building a better community through neighborhood programs and civic engagement. We work from san carlos, az connecting apaches and other native and non-native allies from all over the world. Chi'chil bildagoteel (also knowns as oak flat) is a sacred site for our Apache people and many other native americans. This is a place that has special significance a place where we pray, collect water and medicinal plants for ceremonies, gather acorns and other foods, and honor those that are buried here. We have never lost out relationship to chichil bildagoteel, though the u.s. government, at times in our history, has imprisoned us on our reservations and not allowed us to come here. We have established and encampment to protect the holy ground at chichil bildagoteel with its four crosses, representing the entire surrounding sacred area, including its water, animals, oak treets, and other plants central to our tribal identity. The four crosses are now part of the body of chichil bildagoteel.

8th Annual Oak Flat March/Run --February 17-20, 2022 People join in solidarity with our spiritual journey of prayer and ceremony in protection of Chi'chil Bildagoteel (Oak Flat). Each year hundreds of people walk/run together for the 45 miles from the San Carlos reservation, through the mining towns of Miami and Globe, up to Oak Flat. This walk is of spiritual importance to the Apache Stronghold and a way for us all to commit to the protection of Oak Flat each year that the mine has still not been built! This year the Runners came from four directions, East, South, North, and West, gathering in solidarity at Oak Flat to protect all that is holy.

Sacred Site Summit, Without Water Nothing Matters- November 30 - December 2, 2022, Tucson, AZ Casino Del Sol. Pascua Yaqui. Leaders from various land/water defense efforts across the country gather in solidarity to fight the forces that mean to take away our sacred sites and ancestral practices.- Protection of Sacred Sites.