These special events include strategy sessions, informational workshops and indigenous cultural events. In the fall of 1995, a group of activists began a permanent occupation of the site which continues to this day. In the Mojave Desert, periodic windstorms scour the landscape and polish the stars in the night sky. Outside the Avi Hotel and Casino on the banks of the Colorado River the wind is blowing with ferocity. Huge flags of the United States of America, the State of California and the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe strain at their tether.
Long ropes whip their poles in a furious cadence.
Tumble weeds dance helplessly across the sand, and a raven, buffeted by gusts, takes refuge in a thicket of mesquite trees. Inside the hotel, a meeting between representatives of the lower Colorado River Indian Tribes and the federal government is coming to a close. They speak of their profound and solemn relationship with the natural landscape, the plants, animals, and water. They explain that the dump would threaten the desert tortoise, an animal sacred to the Mohave and Chemehuevi people, endanger the Colorado River, their health and economic future. They describe how the dump proposal would violate their sovereignty and federal environmental justice directives.