man: there are songs about this spring right here. there are songs about the springs over here. there's a deep connection, a relationship that the indigenous people have with this environment, and everything is connected. second man: it's really helpful to think of the desert as an archipelago of tiny, little wet places that are separated. sort of the ocean inside out. third man: we are part of this land. it's a part of us. we have to learn how to understand it and how to work with it. it's here for us. it's here for everybody. so if we mismanage it, we don't take care of it, we abuse it, we're contaminating it for the next person that's coming down the road.

second man: we've done a really bad job of maintaining this land. fourth man: a lot of those people that come from the city, you know, they just think of boats and off-roading. woman: to them, it's just a playground, and to us, it's so much more than that. it's a grocery store, it's our church. that's why we come out here and, you know, check on the well, check on the spring. first man: as indigeno people, we've lived here on this landscape. you know, we have an intimate knowledge of all the plants, the animals. and so our creator said that, you know, we're the protectors of this area. woman: we have to do our part, and that's our part, is to be stewards of this place. announcer: this program was made possible in part by a grant from anne ray foundation, a margaret a. rgill philanthropy.

third man: you have to think back and imagine as you go out into the desert that all these basins were occupied by people. there are different areas throughout southern california where people could harvest. and everything was edible back in the day. go and study it more, you'll find out there was surface water. all you needed to take is your water jug and also know where the water sources were, where the springs and seeps were. you have to know the landscape. and now because of westernization taking the water, all these aquifers are being depleted. i always feel that we have sacrificed our land for development of los angeles, southern california. all these sacred areas, you know, it's in your heart and it's in your spirit. we are part of this land. it's here for us. this is here for everybody. you know, if we mismanage it, we contaminate it, we're

contaminating it for the next person that's gonna come down the road. and we're looking at 7 generations that we're trying to protect here. second man: wow. i never get tired of looking at this place. we're in one of the driest places in north america. a little ways down the road is what used to be the settlement of bagdad. and bagdad is famous for hing the ngest stretch in north america in recorded history with no precipitation. but herwe have this amazing wetland. this splash of green in one of the driest parts of the mojave desert. it's just an absolutely

stunning place. we're looking at the tire watershed of bonanza spring right here. is about 60 acres. we've pretty much established that there is a very large aquifer under this spot that stretches down into the eastern edge of joshua tree national park and most of the way to las vegas from here. it's almost entirely water that fell when there was a lot of rain. back in the ice age, there wasn't a whole lot of ice here. there was a lot rain. so it's called the fluvial here. the were freshwater lakes all over the place that just soaked down in. and that water's still here. the last time that saw daylight, that water, it might have rolled off the back of like a saber-toothed cat. hit the ground, soaked in. first man: so we're talking about a lot of life, not only animal life but there's humans that go to these places. we call it... [eee-vuhh] and pooha. that's the power that people would get from coming to these

springs. there was a lot of movement here out on the landscape, and the people would visit their relatives, or they'd want to go up to yosemite for the summer just as we li to do that now. it was these springs that were just key. if these springs weren't here, the people wouldn't be able to move around. these springs are all connected, so this spring is connected to the spring over there. the old woman mountains is connected to e spring over there at that mara. and for a lot of indigenous people, their whole beginning starts at a particular spring. the springs themselves are the underground spiritl highways for the spirits that live inside that water. and, you knowthese springs are still places of power. they're still places where you can stop and rejuvenate and heal. chris clarke: it's really helpful to think of the desert not so much as a huge expanse of dry but as an archipelago of tiny, little wet places that are separated. sort of the ocean inside out. if you lose one of those islands, it's gonna be really devastating. [film projector whirring]

for the first couple centuries settler experience in the mojave, very few people actually wanted to be here. about 10 years ago, there was a sign in barstow on the interstate that said, "the boredom ends in 90 miles," or however f away ves was. and it's just that attitude that the desert is something that you speed through as fast as you can, whether it's during the westward migration of people from oklahoma during the dust bowl or route 66 era. itas just a place to get through. if people were gonna be here, they needed to get rich. and so there was gd mining, there was silver mining, there was borax mining. the desert really became a place where u went to take things away. it was seen as a big mine. so the idea that this would be sacrificed so that some company could make a little money is ridiculous.

for the last 2years oro, a mpany caed cadiz, inc., has wanted to pump water out of the ground here and sell it to southern california cities, water agencies. the project stands to do serious damage to bonanza spring here and several other springs in mojave. just by lowering the water table, by pumping way more water than is naturally recharged into the aquifer. and that would have a devastating effect on the wildlife and on the people who depend on these springs for cultural continuity. when the groundwater gets drawn down to the point where the spring dries up, it doesn't come back in 3 years or 10. it may take centuries for that water to come back, if it ever does. recently, we've gotten legislation passed on the state level that will prevent this project from happening as long as they aren't able to subvert the process, but at this point,

it would be very surprising for the cadiz project to actually successfully pump water for export. cadiz is just part of that first tradition--people seeing the value in the desert only in what they can take out of it and sell, and there's a lot more value to the water here. i mean, even in just this one remarkable spring than in all of the subdivisions that cadiz would support. sean: oh, it's nice and cold. [speaking indigenous language] man, that feels good. i dig this up right here, like a nice little pool. ohh, that felt great. as indigenous people, we've lived here on this landscape.ou know, we have an intimate knowledge of all the

plants, the animals, where the trails go. and so our creator, they said that, you know, we're the protectors of this area. these springs were really cared for. they were managed, they were pruned. because we would dig them out and clean them out so that the water would always continue to flow to the surface. and that means not planting certain plants in that area that consume more water. it took a lot of human energy to care for these places. they were talked to, they were sung to. we loved them. we treated them like they're one of our own. and so to understand that relationship, i think, will really help us manage our water into the future. [rattling rhythmically] [singing in indigenous language]

oh. [speaking indigenous language] just thank you, creator. thank you for allowing me to be here this morning to bless the spring, to sing to the spring right here, creator, and feel th goodness to my heart. and it makes me feel--it makes me feel good, creator. and, you know, i just--i want to say

thank you for allowing me to be here--this morning, and bring these people out here and share this wonderful place with them. aho. woman: it's bittersweet to be in the modern world. we can never go back to our old lifestyle. we can never live like our ancestors lived, but there's little things that we can still carry on that says we are still here. i think the craziest thing about this areis this is really the only concentrated ar of petroglyphs here. i was told when it comes to petroglyphs that we didn't create them, that the little people created them, and they were t ones that were guiding us and telling us we have food resources, we have, like, where the water is. there's little ones here. we call it the fish. kind of looks like a lizard up there. on the other side,

there's a really faded bighorn sheep. and there's some desecration. there's some more desecration ere where it says "leap." man: man, i can't imagine how many more there must have been before the discovery and the chipng took ace, you know? man 2: this is a main traffic hub, too. a lot of people come out here, and they like to go shooting up in the hills right back here. [engine revs] bridget sandate: we've come out here. a couple summers ago, we brought some elders with us. and, you know, we said our prayers and hung out. and we were coming back. some off-roaders just bulldozed through us, and just running over the creosotes. like, just no care in the world. man: literally weaving in and out in between our vehicles, just not even minding the trail. bridget: we're not against off-road vehicles. we get it. but be respectful to where you're at. it's still a wildlife corridor. you know, follow the trails. to them, it's just a playground. and to us, it's

so much more than that. it's a grocery store, it's our church. that's why we come out here and check up on things, and th's why we have, you know, paperwork on paperwork, making sure that, ok, this petroglyph still here? is this still here? let's check on the fence. let's check on the well. let's check on the spring. we have to do our part. and that's our part is to be stewards of this place. i just feel like, at this point, if the government really doesn't care, if blm really doesn't care but we do, gift it back. give it back to us. [men singing in indigenous language] rio sandate: well, there's studies coming out every single day where it's really t that healthy to live in the city.

it's not healthy to live on top of each other because, you know, things get concentrated. that's not the way it's supposed to be, you know? you're supposed to be this nomadic kind of cmunity that moves about while utilizing the land each place you go depending on the season. bridget: if you have a village site, you're not going to stay there long. you're going to want to move resources because all your mesquite beans are going to be gone. the quail and the rabbits, they get smart. the deer get smart. you want to move so that area can replenish itself. that's what kept these areas going. that's why, you know, the waters were constantly being replenished and not overflowing. man: [indistinct]. joseph jimenez: what we knew back then, knowing these water sources, knowing these sacred areas, knowing what you can get out of the desert for resources, for food, you know, we use it as we need it. we dn't exploit it. we didn't take it, you know, just because we wanted it, because we wanted to make extra money or anything like that. we just use it because it was there and it was given to us, you know, naturally. rio sandate: and here's our flushest spring. joseph: the story that i remember about my grandma

telling me is that this is one of the spots that was sacred to us. the hunter had shot up the arrow, and it landed here on this spot and created a spring. but a coyote came and pulled the arrow out. and when he pulled that arrow out, the spring popped up. and so that's why we say, like, this whole area, right, is significant to our peoe. i mean, this is part of our oral history. it sucks that it's off our reservation. and, like, it would be nice to have all this all back for our people so we can maintain it ourself because blm is definitely not doing it. rio: maybe one day, you know, we could get tapped in and utilize this as an actual water source once again for us that maybe, you know, it'll kind of set that spark throughout the desert and get everybody to, you know, we need to protect our springs, protect our well water, protect all these little areas like this because this is where the life is of the desert. these are where the main points are. so, hopefully, our plan of action is to get in here and actually turn it into, you know, something where people can see and look at from aistance and be like, "holy cow. this place! there's water in the desert," you know?

[chuckles] keep those donkeys out. chris: there's a bunch of reasons it's important to really seek guidance and leadership from our native brothers and sisters. one is that it's their land. this land was never formally ceded to the united states. but also, we've done a really bad job of maintaining this land. the original architects of this ecosystem still remember what needs to be done to make sure that the land is as biologically productive as possible. it's just a really important voice to pay attention to. nicole johnson: despite our intelligence and capacity as humans, sometimes maybe we should step back and let the environment lead. and i think that's a perspective that indigenous people often have always had, which is let the

environment lead. it knows what it's doing, and it can help guide you in making better decisions. it can help guide us in making better policies. if we can educate more about the historical significance of these sites and what their cultural values are, that can give people a deeper understanding of why the landscape has value and what it means, even if it's not from their tradition. the native american land conservancy's mission is to acquire and protect cultural and sacred landscapes. how we look at it is that we're not owning the land such that, as an organization, we can just do what we want at will with it. we're really just taking care of the land for a mited time because long after we're gone, we want the landscape to still be here, and i think that's a critical difference in ownership. it's not just "i have it, it's mine right now." it's "no, i'm merelfulfilling a role to make sure the land is protected so it can be here for

everyone later." our real hallmark of acquisition is the old woman mountains preserve, which is about 2,500 acres far, far out in the desert. it's a beautiful place. it has very special properties in terms of its cultural values, and that was the acquisition around which nalc formed back in 1998. so having sites like this, it's an opportunity to teach the general public maybe who haven't been exposed to these places how to interact th them in a respectful way and then in a meaningful way. man: a lot of people would come out with a lot of guns, clay pigeons, would leave lots of glass, trash, do things like desecrating petroglyphs, driving off trails, creating their own trails, just not really respecting the place. once the nalc got control of this place, we were able to put

up fence lines with funding from california ohv, and it's helped to limit the flow of traffic through this area. it helps protect the place not get as torn up. now we're just trying to restore the native vegetation. this is a section of vertical mulch we did a couple years ago. vertical mulches establishes new growth. you're using dead plants from the area to give chances for the new, younger seedlings to grow. it shelters them from the sun, from wind. it helps establish them. you're basically planting sticks in the ground and trying to blend it to the rest of the fauna in the area. and it creates a physical barrier as well as a visual barrier to help restore areas

that have been decimed by ohv use or heavy trails. it's multi-faceted. you're hiding old trails so the people don't take them, but it's also reestablishing the vegetation. we mostly just do it wheret's needed, where there's any large amount of destruction that's noticeable. you know, just trying to restore the beauty of the desert because there's enough out here that you still have a chance to explore. there's still so much to see. you don't have to be lazy and drive your vehicle through, killing things just to see what's on the other side of that hill. people call it a desert, but it's really--it's a garden. there's so many sources of food and medicine. it's healing just being out here, especially this place.

matt leivas senior: places like this were a refuge. if you need a place to go, you need healing, go to a place like this and talk to the crater, talk to the mountain. the spirits are here. and they welcome us, but you got to come here with clean thoughts and clean minds and take everything in and accept it. it's part of the learning curve of being here is re-indigenizing yourself, is get familiar with these places, start try to figuring them out yourself. nobody's going to teach you, but the most important thing is know your geography, know where you e in this particular place.

the old woman mountains site was an awakening to me because i discovered that rivemap there and other petroglyphs there that were just exposed to me and allowing me to understand what it was. but without knowing the landscape, you'd be lost. what you are is what you see. you have to use it with an indigenous mind and indigenous eyes in order for you to see these things. because they just don't jump out at you if you don't know what you're looking at. it's a river map of the colorado river from the confluence of the bill williams river and the colorado river near parker dam, extending all the way down to the gulf. also, it shows the gila river coming into the colorado river. i found this image the first time i was out here, and the lighting conditions were just right. it just stood out. but

it's on the sandstone behind you, and it's a lighter image. it starts from the left-hand top. i believe there are other points in that image there that shows all the other springs and seeps from that river map 40 miles out here to the old woman mountains. so without knowing that, you know, people would have a hard time trying to navigate the desert if this wasn't there, but they'd have to know how tread it. and that comes with the traditional ecological knowledge that they had at the time because they knew how to decipher all these images that are out here. it's just like reing textn books today to them. but this tells everything that's here in this place, and that river map tells you how to get here and tells how you to sustain yourself out in the desert. [speaking indigenous language]

it's all connection. water has memory, water has plots. we can communicate. we can pray to it. we can pray to these rocks, pray to the siwa'tup, everything around here. pray to the sky, pray to the creator. because we are who we are. [speaking indigenous language] that's all i have to say. i'm a chemehuevi man. that's all i am. announcer: this program was made possible in part by a grant from anne ray foundation, a margaret a. cargill x■?qoñé>z■z■z■ñcñcñcñc