Running to preserve sacred Mount Graham, Tohono O'odhams Valerie Lopez, 15, and Starla Smith, 10, pause for a smile, while running near Aravaipa
Canyon in the Mount Graham Sacred Run.

More than 200 American Indians ran to preserve the mountain sacred to Apache in the Mount Graham Sacred Run. Running near Aravaipa Canyon, the site of the massacred Aravaipa Apache, are Ascencio Smith, Tohono O'odham, among the youngest runners, and Adrian Hendricks, Gila River O'odham, both from Arizona. A consortium of interests in the United States, Italy, Germany and the Vatican, have developed and supported the construction of telescopes on Mount Graham. American Indian runners prayed and held ceremonies for the site to be left undisturbed as a place of prayer.

By Brenda Norrell
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report