FULL TRANSCRIPT "Puha: Living At Ash Meadows"
Puha: Living at Ash Meadows
11 minutes ago
Puha Episode, Creative Frontline, KPFK, Los Angeles, 90.7
I am Tracker Ginamarie Rangel Quiniones. Field Reporter, Journalist.
I'm Robert Lundahl, Filmmaker and Storyteller.?I stand up for human rights and the environment.
Tracker Ginamarie, Rangel Quinone
Good to be here. Welcome to Creative FRONTLINE.
Robert Thorp Lundahl:
Welcome to Creative FRONTLINE.
Tracker Ginamarie, Rangel Quinone
Stand up. Stand strong. Stand in. We are Creative FRONTLINE.?
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Tracker Ginamarie Rangel Quinone:
Hey, Matt.
Tracker Ginamarie Rangel Quinone:
Introduction and welcome in Apache Language
Matthew Leivas, Sr. (Chemehuevi Hereditary Chief):
I know you!.
Robert Thorp Lundahl:
So you know the question.
Tracker and I have focused on ash meadows as a biodiversity hotspot in the desert. And after learning of the Chemehuevi people's history in the area, we asked hereditary chief Matthew Levis senior to explain the meaning and the importance to his people. We'll continue this series with commentary in upcoming episodes.
Matthew Leivas, Sr. (Chemehuevi Hereditary Chief):
Yeah. Ash Meadows, you know, it really became, more apparent to myself, on a personal level because, my recent work with, Friends of Amargosa Basin and, befriending, Susan Sorrells, and the organization, seeking assistance in protecting the area.
And, thanks to Susan and her invitation to come up and visit the town of Shoshone and familiarize myself with Amargosa Basin. It it was very, enlightening experience spiritual experience at that because when when it was revealed to me, it was, it felt like coming home. It felt like coming home, and feeling a spiritual connection with the land, the landscape, aand, just being there and all the hot springs and the Amargosa River flowing and everything.
But, it really inspired me to to learn more and do more research. So my my latest son, Daniel, and I, started researching more about our culture, about the Chemehuevi culture. And and because we're, I was working at Amargosa Basin, we're working closely with the Timbisha Shoshone, and I was more, inspired about working with them, to help them in light of what the government has been doing to them all all these years.
I felt, compelled to help them in some way, and and it was in protecting Amargosa and Death Valley. But in doing our “due diligence” research and, thinking back about a book that my mother had given to each of us, her siblings, her children, is that there's a book on the Southern, Paiute. (Published by) U.N.L.V., it gave a history about the Chemehuevi. And in that book, she inscribed to each one of us children, about the Chemehuevi, and not really knowing the origin of our people, but the general locale.
And that is up around Death Valley and namely, more so up towards Ash Meadows. There was a group of that had a village up there and interacted and intermarried with all the other Southern Paiutes.
We're all Nuwu, and when the people separated, the 29 Palms Band went south into the Mojave Desert and settled over at the Oasis at Mara at 29 Palms, which was a Serrano village. They allowed the Chemehuevi to live there and they coexisted, the Cahuilas also, and the Chemehuevis extended down into the Coachella Valley and on around to San Bernardino, and thus came another group of our people called, the Paiuchis, who settled in San Bernardino and up around the, Tejon pass up to the Mojave River up towards Victorville and Barstow.
But any rate, getting back to Ash Meadows, what was more inspiring and impressive to me was visiting the area and then, later on traveling across Death Valley, en route to Bishop for a Tribal Council meeting with the Timbisha Shoshone, on behalf of the Amargosa Basin Conservancy. And we're doing outreach, to the tribes and forming a tribal coalition, which we're still doing, to help protect Amargosa Basin.
But, just visiting the area, which is so impressive and inspiring to me. And then learning more about Amargosa Basin, not only, Devil's Hole and and the, pupfish, and the, Amargosa Basin.
Then learning more about the lithium mining?that was allowed by the BLM for the exploration studies.
That just irritated me to know what was going on and what the federal government was allowing. It just encourages me more and inspires me more to help in some way. We're forming this coalition of tribes and is first and foremost, Moapa, Nuwu, and the Chemehuevis.
We're reaching out to the 29 Palms Band to join with us also, and joining forces with friends of Amazon Basin in helping protect that valley Amazon basin. And as you know, you know, the lithium mining is big time. All the old gold mining that took place, it's still taking place up there, all the contamination that's that's going going on from the extraction of gold?from from, as well as the Nevada Test Site?and all the contamination.
And, little did I know at the time, just until a couple of months ago, finding out that, Amargosa is fed by Walker Lake. Walker Lake, mind you, and and that aquifer flows all the way down into Amargosa Basin's headwaters. And when it flows on down to, Beatty, you know, it flows right on down to the river. But, all these waters are being contaminated or have been contaminated by all the nuclear waste.
And, at Beatty, Nevada, there was that one, dump site, the low level radioactive waste dump site run by US Ecology, which exploded a few years ago. Well, back in the mid-90s, it was discovered that contamination had already reached the aquifer in the Amargosa and and in the basin and, was affecting the water, contaminating the water at Beatty.
So, you know, that was evident that, all these radioactive nuclides are already moving in the water, you know, in in the aquifer underground, 50 to a 100 200 feet below the ground, below the surface, I'm sorry.
But, you know, all these things are interacting, and they're all flowing down into Amargosa. And, more of our research shows that this, Amargosa Basin may also connect with Cadiz?and Fenner Valley aquifer, which is at threat right now from extraction by by Cadiz Water Inc., and Company, and now they morphed into a new name, Fenner Valley Water, whatever.
But they keep on morphing from one thing and another, but water extraction?is big and they're they're coming up with all these plans to extract water and drain the desert?basins, and there's no call for it. No need for it at this time. You know, that's sacred water.
It's ancient water. But our connection back up to the Amargosa Basin extends further to all the other Southern Paiute bands as well as our ancient connections to to the other cultures that were in the area.
You know, the Chemehuevis expanded, and extended further south along the Colorado River and into the Mojave Desert and befriended many tribes and learned a lot of their culture and a lot of their language in order to exist, in order to survive. And that was the mode of the day–survival.
And why did they move out of the area? They were driven now by westernization and colonization coming and all the bad things that were coming with it, all the way from, back east primarily.
But you look at what was coming from, down from upstream, from, Salt Lake City, Saint George, on down to Las Vegas, was the different phase, Mormonism. And that was one of the driving forces that split our people, divided our people still today, mind you.
That was the consequences of, converting our people, is, convincing that that they are Lamanites?and, you know, they , converted and they became Mormons and exist as Mormons and don't want to go back.
In our case, we want to go back and research our history and be in touch with all the relations (Check) of our other people and our cultures because it's a matter of survival.
That's our indigenous roots, getting back to the land and healing the land. That's exactly what we're doing here at Chemehuevi Valley, healing the land and making it conducive to producing anything we want. We can grow anything we want on these lands now. And, the story is still unfolding as you go of our, land restoration here, but it's a monumental feat and and, trying to take care of the land, trying to take care of the water, our people, and bring them healthy foods and, not contaminated by GMO and, you know, ridiculousness.
There's there's a lot of healing that has to take place, and and, we feel, you know, we can extend this to all other areas in Amargosa Basin, Ash Meadows?is on the target for us.
Robert Thorp Lundahl:
I grew up in Southern California, as you know, and there are a couple of things that we learned about the desert before I had even really been there much. And one of them is don't mess with the tortoise. I had a friend who captured a tortoise and painted his shell blue and let him run around the backyard. And tortoise are endangered. So that's definitely a no no. And over time, you know, people stopped that kind of foolishness to some degree.
And, another thing we heard about in the non native community was the famous Devil's Hole pupfish, which are an endemic species. They're an endangered species. There's 28 endangered species at Ash Meadows total. And so they're, what you might call iconic. You know, they're a symbol of something, a symbol of nature at its best. And how, species survive in harsh conditions that you you just wouldn't expect.
You know, they've been there for 1000s of years and became separated from other bodies of water where they might have once been, and then they adapted and evolved in these little tiny places.
So what's special then about Ash Meadows?to you as far as a living place and a supportive place for people? And what is “Puha?”
Matthew Leivas, Sr. (Chemehuevi Hereditary Chief):
Well, actually, it's a word in our language. That's a medicine man, shaman, a healer. And if, you know, when you get that, that's the medicine.
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There's a shaman?for healing primarily.
But, you know, medicine?is there. There there's great medicine of healing of all sorts. Just like all the rest of the desert that the non-Indians do not understand.
You know, they'd be viewed as a wasteland, as harsh as a wasteland that needs to be developed and tilled and and converted. And then, you know, they they've been doing that over time in these different communities and municipalities that are popping up throughout the southwest and converting the whole ecosystem and bringing in all these foreign plants and animals and whatnot and putting them onto these foreign soils. And, you know, next thing you know, we have trees that were grown around the world in our backyard.
I can attest to that in my backyard.
I have a California Elm?tree here in the desert that my mother gave me because she loved the California Elm tree, and she said she would never see it grow to us full life. And she's gave it to me when I got my house in 1980, and said put it in your yard and make sure you put it in a place that it's gonna grow and you're gonna have plenty of room.
And we're enjoying it today. It stands 20 feet tall, but, it's a beautiful shape that we love, but it's not a desert plant. It needs a lot of water, a lot of water.
And it comes from a different area, a different climate, but I'm treating it as if it's growing in its own element, so I give it a lot of water.
I've converted that, this area in my backyard, and people are doing this all over the place. This is just one tree. You think about the 100 and 100,000,000 of trees that are in places that they shouldn't be. In the Southern California, good example.
I remember going to Riverside Los Angeles the first time, and I was just amazed going by UC Riverside and and seeing all this vegetation growing with sprinklers going along the freeway, irrigating, oleanders all up and down the freeways.
And you look around the whole community, you see all these different types of trees. You go to Las Vegas and up around Lake Mead, and you're seeing the same damn thing. You know, and converting these areas. And this area of the desert environment, it grows things for a reason in a certain way, and medicines grow that way. You know, they take from the earth way down deep in those roots, and that's what we go for is that rich element that has that connection both to mother earth and father sky.
When it grows, you know, like a tree and it grows, it grows and we go and pray with the tree because the prayers reach out to the creator. They reach out and they expand. The tree grows and reaching out with the sunlight. You know?
Water flows. You know? It's supposed to flow downhill and but it's not, as all dammed up and it creates other havoc by all these dams and and congesting things like all the river systems and whatnot.
Amagosa Basin, you know, and Ash Meadows, it's a powerful place, and they ruined it.
The white men ruined it?by all the nuclear testing that took place. They contaminated the whole frigging area, you know, both the air and and the land and the water and the minerals and, all the creatures.
That's why I wrote that song, that Nuwuvi song that Dr. Trafzer wrote about.
I call it an awakening song, and, it it starts out, you know, "...what have you done, white man? What have you done? What have you done? What have you done? What have you done white man?"
?And it goes on all these these different lyrics about, you know, what the white man has done to mother Earth and to the environment and to our people and contaminating the land, contaminating the water, poisoning everything, and killing our people. General public across the world without any care because of greed and money.
I guess, the American Dream of of profiting off everything, resources, not giving a damn about the people. You know, if people would have just understood our people in the beginning when they first made contact and tried to communicate, like we were trying to communicate, instead of turning words into their tongue and, changing the whole meaning or dynamic of the word to meet what they think is right, well, come to find out, that they were wrong and they've been wrong all along.
And we try to tell them this and, you know, the, late Floyd Westerman?in in his songs says it in his songs, you know, you haven't listened. You haven't heard, you know, even if we tell you straight face to face, they haven't heard.
They haven't listened. They just don't understand the meaning of life on Mother Earth and what we have to do to survive, to live on this Mother Earth, and give gratitude to Creator, give gratitude to all the Elements for what they give to us to help us sustain themselves.
And, you know, the place of, it has everything up there, right there in that mountain, at Mount Charleston?and around the area. Just to the north of, Ash Meadows was a vast agricultural area, which is now known as Pahranagat Valley.
In my opinion, is known as Parangarang?(sp?). In the Nuwu, Chemehuevi language, pumpkin, vegetables, corn, beans, squash, gourds, anything that they can grow because the land was so rich and the water was so abundant, and the water is so abundant, it's still flowing today out of that same same spring named Crystal Spring, which feeds the whole, valley.
And, you know, there was a a village?right near the area, but because of the Mormonism and what took place, they wiped out all the that were in that valley. All of them. And, you know, we have documentation on this. And we even got the names of the families who took part in all these murders?up there of all the Southern Paiutes?and ran them out of that of that valley.
But they went further away, went to Moapa, Las Vegas, Ash Meadows, you know, and just like the, the Chemehuevis that were here in Chemehuevi Valley before Parker Dam was created.
Once the dam was created, they went, and they went to other different villages where they knew they had families. And that was the extent, long extension of our people is we were always going to visit families. It wasn't as if we were just nomadic, but we're going from different places to visit families and be with one another.
And that is the reason why they had runners?who had that, the knack, the ability to do that spiritual running?and take messages, especially those really important ones, you know, from from the shamans and, chiefs.
Message they had to get from point a to point b like ASAP. That's why they were calling those spiritual runners who would run like the wind and fly and and take the message.
But, you know, Ash Meadows is is a place of power and abundance.
And, once, the people start coming into the valley and and trampling the ground, that's what they did. They're so sensitive. All that land is so sensitive. They can start compressing the land, different areas. When you look at what took place, you know, there's crisscross by roadways, railways, water lines, gas lines, electric lines. You know, the whole frigging valley that valley has been impacted by man's footprint on that ground.
And those footprints, the heavy equipment, they while they use compressed into the ground. And that changes all the other things that are happening, beneath the surface, like the aquifers and the flows of water. And you would think that a roadway would do that, but it does because of the compaction that takes place or anything else. You know? It has an impact. You you know? Everything that's happened, there is a consequence to it. Well, it's happening there at Ash Meadows. But it's a really important place, and and, you know, we're we're looking at, reconnecting with the area and visiting.
More of our people want to come back and make a reconnection?with the area, a spiritual calling. And, mind you that, Mount Charleston is the mountain where our people were left on the basket?of all of the, different nations, the especially the Nuwuvi Nation.
You know, our Creator?left us there on that mountain, and everything there that we need to survive is around that mountain. So it's a spiritual place, powerful place, and we sing about that in Salt Songs?as the true Salt Songs?makes its way south after leaving Mount Charleston area and travels up through the Amagosa Basin, Ash Meadows, Pahrump (check transcript here), down to Shoshone, on down to New York mountains and all the way down to the 29 Palms and, down to the ocean and beyond to the Salton Sea and all the way to the Colorado River and back to its point of origin.
Robert Thorp Lundahl:
So now we're talking to a non native audience too. So what can they learn? Like, we're going forward. Right? I mean, this isn't backward. We're going forward. What can we do now?
Matthew Leivas, Sr. (Chemehuevi Hereditary Chief):
Well, you know, we've been we've been working really closely with the universities, different universities, primarily with, U.C. Riverside, and, as of late with the, Copper Mountain College?over at Joshua Tree, and work with folks over at Lake Havasu City?regarding our culture, the Chemehuevi culture, and letting them know who we are, where we come from.
?And, there there's, the 29 Palms Band who doesn't go by the name of Chemehuevi, but they were given the name of the 29 Palms Band, the Mission Indians, in order to be (unintelligible). But they're, and they're our family. There's another group of in Parker, Arizona who are members of the Colorado River Indian Reservation.
And, but, they they have a a committee called the Red Foot Committee, but they don't have any political, power, so to speak. They're just a committee, but they work closely with us. And then we've been trying to educate the local Southern California and Arizona area about who we are and where we come from and, you know, what we're doing to, restore our culture.
And, over time, you know, the Chemehuevi tribe, got recognized in 1970, but lot of the other Chemehuevi didn't didn't, enroll with us. They were fearful of losing property and position, jobs, and whatnot, that they stayed.
And and their families, their siblings are are upset, jealous, envious about not being able to be enrolled up here, and that was your family's choice. You know, we have no we have no power over that. But yet they are still Chemehuevi. We still share the same songs, and and we're reconnecting with families who had split apart because, of, who they were and the bloodlines being, less than a quarter blood. And, you know, that's been a major division amongst all of our nations in in this country is that bloodline. And and, you know, we feel that, you know, if we feel it in our heart that we're Chemehuevi, that's who we are.
There's nothing else can change that.
And we wanna do cultural things, so be it. You know? We wanna get educated, so be it. You know? But it's our call as individuals, but we're letting everybody know about who we are and how we got to be and what the divisions were that separated our people. But, you know, the the Mexican?influence is really great, and it created a lot of, division amongst our people and my family, especially, because the name, Leivas.?That that's a Hispanic name.
Tracker Ginamarie Rangel Quinone:
Wanted to say thank you for your, being here and the ability to share the family, the songs, and the trade routes, the history. I wanted to also say that your family has been affected also in the region where you are by the, conquistadors?and the Spaniards. And so, you know, the, the time in history that we remember is that the last name was always given over by the missionaries?in the Catholic churches. So all indigenous people within the Colorado River and all of the bioregion of the Southwest have been affected by this history.
Tracker Ginamarie Rangel Quinone:?
Stand up. Stand in. We are Creative FRONTLINE.
Robert Thorp Lundahl:??
I'm Robert Lundahl. I stand up for human rights and the environment.
Tracker Ginamarie Rangel Quinone:?
I am Tracker Ginamarie Rangel Quinones.
Let us know whose voice you wanna hear on the front line. And we connect all people where they stand on the FRONTLINE.
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