Interesting, Informative, Impressive

–Greg Brandt, Listener

Creative FRONTLINE Radio Series on KPFK Los Angeles, All Images, Text and Video, Copyright ©Robert Lundahl, and Tracker Ginamarie Rangel Quinone, All Rights Reserved.

Creative FRONTLINE Episodes may be republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that they provide proper attribution and link to our web site.

Emmy® Award Winning Stories

Sacred Places to Indigenous Peoples are under threat in America.

Mining, Water Marketing, and Energy Development threaten Large Scale Environmental Damage

Activist, educator and media producer, Gina "Tracker" Quinone (Chiricahua Apache), whose family once lived on tribal lands siezed for the development of the Atomic Bomb, knows what it feels like to lose access to traditional lands, but also to her place based culture, a devastating and heartbreaking loss, stripping away connections to a homeland that exists only in memory.

Robert Lundahl, Filmmaker and Journalist, made his name with documentary films about this loss of land and culture across the West, from the Elwha River in Washington State, to the Mojave Desert of California, Lundahl's work informs and inspires about these critical issues.

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Creative FRONTLINE Investigates

In Print

Original articles published in Salem-News.com

Bonnie King, Publisher

Mar-25-2024 rewilding LA: Matilija Dam History and Ecosystems

Oct-07-2023 A Story Told: Benefits or a Curse at Thacker Pass?

Press Screeners

LITHIUM IN AMERICA tells the not unfamiliar story of industry and government pushing forward huge energy projects with market driven exuberance despite local opposition and failure to consult with tribes.

The film shines a light on these questionable practices as we interview leaders and members from 5 tribes with respect to 4 major projects in 3 states that are bellweathers of policy today, and which represent a common mindset and set of practices, however misguided.

According to Popular Mechanics Magazine,

"This high concentration (of lithium) is found primarily at Thacker Pass in Nevada, and is already a controversial mining location. The area, also known as Peehee Mu'huh, is the homeland of many indigenous tribes and played an important role in its historical clash with U.S. soldiers. An indigenous organization dedicated to protecting the site even called potential mining operations a form of “green colonialism,” and is also engaged in stopping a mining site on the Oregon side of the caldera as well.

Apart from its cultural impact, any mining project in the area could also affect groundwater levels for local farmers and ranchers, not to mention its disruption to local fauna, such as pronghorn antelope, golden eagles, and sage grouse.

Right now, the McDermitt Caldera is a 40 million metric ton lithium conundrum with no clear answer."

Featuring:

-Dorece Sam (Pai-Sho)
-Josephine Dick (Pai-Sho)
-Will Falk, Attorney
-Max Wilbert, Author
-Preston Arrow-weed (Quechan)
-Faron Owl (Quechan)
-Luis Olmedo (Comite Civico Del Valle)
-Pat Gonzales Rogers, Yale School of the Environment
-Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland
-Naelyn Pike (Apache)
-Matthew Leivas, Sr. (Chemehuevi)
-Sean Milanovich (Cahuilla)


Narration by Robert Lundahl
Written and Directed by Robert Lundahl

Produced by Robert Lundahl and Tracker Ginamarie Rangel Quinone (Apache)

With Bradley Angel, Greenaction
and Preston Arrow-weed (Quechan)