The public land area of Oak Flats, Arizona contains a ancient Apache holy place, where coming-of-age ceremonies, especially for girls, have been performed for many generations, along with traditional acorn gathering. It falls under the multiple-use mandate of the Forest Service, and has had special protections since 1955, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower decreed the area closed to mining because of its cultural and natural value.
This area is currently being traded to a foreign company for destructive stripmining. See the NYT article at
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/opinion/selling-off-apache-holy-lan...