Hall of Famer Suzy Chaffee with Larry Shapin giving gratitude to Mother Earth for the “Snow Dog,” a sign of snow, atop Mt Baldy.  Photo by his Cherokee friend Craig Collins

To help ensure it snowed, Suzy organized a Gratitude ceremony in advance at Warm Springs, with SV Ski Area’s Mark Thoreson, plus Jennifer Edmunds and Chiyo Parten, who took the photo, for December’s snow and the Snow Dog, led by my gifted advisor, Olivia Ellis (Cherokee) by cell.

Sun Valley’s Sun Dog, 4 ft of Snow, Controlled Burns – Sec Vilsack’s Model for U.S. Drought-Fire Prevention!

By Suzy Chaffee

On this 13th U.N. International Mother Earth Day, on America’s April 22 Earth Day, as well as every day like the Indigenous, the people of Sun Valley (and everywhere) have a chance to powerfully thank Her for over 4 ft of spring snow, to help inspire even more to protect yourselves from fires.  “Plus many of us in Sun Valley and the West may not need to spend $30,000 to dig deeper wells,” said SV ski area’s Mark Thoreson.

Yet hydrologists say “years of deep mt snowpack is the ONLY way to end years of Western droughts and fires.”  So here’s how America can go from having the “most fires” (UN), to the least fires like our reservations and Canada’s Native-managed forests, like all our ancient ancestors.

When I arrived in SV on March 23 for our U.S. Snowsports Hall of Fame (HOF) event, they hadn’t seen natural snow since December.  Yet SV gave me new hope for the future, thanks to high vibes and good karma from the most DIVERSE HOF event honoring Blacks, Natives and Mexicans, together with our Native-led snow ceremonies, which together helped inspire that “Sun Dog” and critical spring snow.

America could shift to having the least fires thanks to Biden allocating in March $50 Billion to Secretary of AG/Forests Tom Vilsack to “PREVENT droughts and fires instead of just fighting them.”  He said, “We are making a paradigm shift to Native American controlled burns after world scientists proved reservations have the least fires.  Yet we have only identified a fraction of ways to prevent DROUGHTS.”  Western wildfires: Will Biden’s $50B plan minimize the risks …  California is calling on Native American tribes to help …

After scientists realized that a century of brush build up in our forests, ignited by lightning strikes, was a main cause of the West going up in flames, Vilsack shifted to the Native way of controlled burns in hotspots, which need to be done before fire season.

The safest way year-round is Biochar, endorsed by the IPCC.  Developed by the NW and Tribes 2,000 years ago and spread worldwide, people collect brush and burn it underground or in kilns, creating a bio-rich soil amendment that can help regrow trees and crops even in prairies with 20% less water.

So starting during SV’s HOF, our Native American Olympic Team Foundation (NAOTF) helped the valley enhance more critical snow, in hopes of also providing Sec Vilsack with the missing ceremonial part of Native forest management practices, their snow-dances or ceremonies that have ended droughts, and raindances that have stopped fires for eons.

Brilliantly in the 60s, Vail and Mt Hood pioneered cross-cultural snow to save them-selves, gladly led by Elders inspired by ski leaders sharing skiing with their youth, as these snowdances are not for sale.

Vilsack with the blessing of Sec of Interior Haaland is already funding mobilizing con-trolled burns through the U.S. Forest Service with some Native forest workers, Stanford with their Yurok and Karuk partners, and Lomaskatsi Foundation.  Yet since few still know about this critical funding, including Rick Robertson, a Ketchum forest leader, Vil-sack needs to also run PSAs to educate Americans and fund FREE on-line courses, workshops and zooms at ski areas, Director Chuck Sams’ National Parks, colleges, rezes, schools and towns to fireproof themselves. biochar-us.org also has youtubes.

Education is key since my gifted chief advisor, Olivia Ellis PhD, (Czech-Cherokee), said “My father who trained fire fighters, said ‘controlled burns require highly trained Natives, Forest workers and locals so the fires don’t blow back on them.’”  He was also a “Fire Whisperer” and trained others to do prayers calling in the winds and clouds, to work with Nature instead of unknowingly against Her.

In 2013, Sun Valley was a forerunner of controlled burns, when the Forest Service helped save the town from Idaho’s massive fires thru dropping Shoshone fire fighters atop Baldy for a week, as a Hail Mary.

“The fire stopped just a three iron from our majestic Warm Springs Lodge and slopes thanks also to our snowmaking system fighting the fires,” said Thoreson, with 40 yrs experience with the SV Resort. “The water then went back into the river.  Yet the stand of hundreds of black skeletons reminds us that we need more prevention.”

Mark grew up near Mt Rushmore and went to school with Lakotas, so he understands their pragmatic and spiritual environmental solutions that scientists are finally praising. He said “My father, Dr Eliot Thoreson, wrote impassioned articles about preserving and restoring our great Native American heritage.”

That’s why Mark and I agree Vilsack needs to also prioritize hiring Natives to coach communities to fireproof themselves, to also make amends as part of Congress’ 2020 Truth and Reconciliation Act.  Our demonizing them to get their lands still affects them through discrimination, why they suffer from over 70% unemployment.  That’s why many don’t have running water and electricity on reservations, or access to enough fresh healthy foods and emergency health care – some clinics having not more than aspirin.  This Covid epidemic contributed to their highest suicides and Covid deaths in the U.S.   Yet in reviving their health and spirits the most thru snowsports can continue their ancient wisdom to help inspire max snows to lower the temperatures to save our forests and snowsports, and prevent epidemics to keep America open.

In 2013, the other key to saving SV was prayers by those Shoshones, along with locals.  That included gifted medium Alex Laws, whom I called from Mexico when I heard about the fire when he was the last person evacuated from Ketchum.  As a former Elkhorn condo owner, I was in tears.  He e-mailed “thank you for helping inspire the rains that stopped the fires within 24 hrs.”

Yet because SV still hadn’t hosted a Shoshone Ski Day or program/snowdance, when I arrived this March they hadn’t had natural snow since Christmas.  The only trails open were lined with snowguns just as we saw at China’s Olympics that only mts with snow were from guns. That was a preview of coming attractions unless Vilsack also includes this missing Native spiritual side of forest management.  Even Pope Francis said, “Listen to the Indigenous.”

America’s snow shortage is also from the heat from so slowly shifting from 80% fossil fuels to renewables when solar is the cheapest, causing the escalating fires raising the temperature of the planet, which Harvard warned us about a decade ago.  Canada just proved “Wildfires cause 2-3 times more emissions/heat than fossil fuel burning in all other sectors of B.C.”  How do CO2 emissions from forest fires compare to those … – CBC   So Native ski programs and snowdances are CRITICAL to save our snow and a billion trees while (slowly) shifting to renewables!

Another reason SV’s wells are drying up is thousands of city folks migrating to Covid-safer ski areas and building homes.  So when I arrived, my host Mark, like hundreds of homeowners in the valley (like thousands in Tahoe and Aspen that needed to be evacuated) was at wits end since his cabin down valley had no water and needed to dig a deeper well if it didn’t snow again, though not sustainable.

TAX CREDITS TO SKI AREAS FOR SHARING NATIVE SKIING/SNOWDANCES

Yet because Thoreson first called NAOTF’s Plan “Fantastic,” of Vilsack giving a TAX CREDIT out of the $50B, to SV and all 470 struggling ski areas for hosting at least ONE day of skiing and more for programs…  And thanks to the high vibes from HOF’s most DIVERSE event ever, I immediately called Olivia, since Jesus said, “where two or more are gathered…”

The HOF invited the “Fastest Skier of the America’s (154mph)” Ross Anderson (Comanche) to schuss Dollar Mt at our Demonstration Party, along with helping revive ski ballet, including my Mexican folkloric one with World Champ Bob Howard, which also warmed the hearts of SV’s workforce.  We also inducted the Black Brotherhood of skiers and SV’s Bobbie Burns, and celebrated my Olympic Teammate with “Spider Lives,” and HBO’s ‘Dear Rider’: Jake Burton’s Journey and the Rise of Snowboarding…, by Ben Bryan, highlighting the Nature-spirited side of America’s pioneer of surfing on snow.

“SUN DOG”  PHENOMENA

In our prayer, Olivia and I gave gratitude to Creator, Mother Earth, Her Nature spirits (who bring in the snow clouds) and Shoshone ancestral spirits for that progress and December’s snow blessings.   And since Mother Earth, like most women, is even more generous when given loving appreciation, two days later it happened in Sun Valley!  When our chair reached the top of Baldy, Larry Shapin (whose surgeon restored my hip 2 yrs ago), with his Cherokee friend Craig Collins, shouted, “Wow.”

I saw a dramatic circle around the sun called a “Sun Dog.” It was also a snow sign that Mother Earth listened, so we three did a gratitude prayer with tobacco offering from a cigarette the only smoker at the restaurant gladly donated to the cause.

Meanwhile, following the huge write up in the NY Times and Spain about SV helping revive ski ballet, their new GM Pete Sonntag and director Tony Parkhill graciously helped video my new White Swan ski ballet in a tutu to fulfill my dream with Thoreson of uniting it with my Black Swan ballet from SV’s Dorothy Hammil Christmas Special in the 80s. At the demo party with three graceful girls also in tutus, we did a preview of the White Swan to also give seniors hope they can keep dancing down mts.

In 2012, the U.S. Meteorology Assoc monitored Vail’s Ute Snowdance miracle, and found the “snowdance opened the door in the weather system to ensure it dropped instead of passing Vail by.”   So when SV’s weather forecast was SNOW after the sun dog, I organized a local UNish ceremony at the base of Warm Springs with…

Mark (Norwegian), Chiyo Parten (Japanese) and my other gracious host Jennifer Edmunds (Ukranian-Australian) and I (Polish-Fr-Eng).  We did a prayer that Olivia led by phone which brought us to tears. (above photo after). That night SV was blessed with a half foot of precious flakes that Jennifer noted made their river “rage.”

Though it still didn’t solve Mark’s water challenge, he and I gave profound appreciation with tobacco, which Indians say our spirit helpers like, for the snowblessings on the River Run Bridge, as waterways are sacred sites that greatly multiply prayers.

Hallelujah!  The next day it started snowing again just as my plane safely took off at Hailey.  Not so surprising since Mark’s great great uncle “Snow Shoe Thompson” he-roically pioneered mail delivery across the Sierras, and Thoreson’s Norse name means “son of God of Storms” and the Native name I was given is “Thunderbird Sky Woman.”

Four days later Mark called ecstatically, “The valley is white again. It snowed over 40.”  I now believe in these ceremonies as a major solution!”  Chiyo said, “Our Shoshone mountain prayer was my most memorable day. It worked. I have never seen so much April snow!  Skiing is like January.”  On May 9, when I asked Mark about Sun Valley’s water table, he reported in almost disbelief, “It hasn’t stopped snowing. That adds up to over 5ft.”  I was so happy for him.  I then shared that the key to continuing this is “more give and take with the tribes.”

Fortunately, SV can easily solve their snow and water problem with an outreach to their   Shoshone Nation in Fort Hall where I was a guest of my friend Roseanne Abrahamson, a descendent of Sacajawea.  After treating her family to Thanksgiving Dinner in 2001 “on behalf of Americans,” she partnered with me, at the request of Ski Utah and SLOC, in hosting a snowdance during “America’s Cup Opening” at Park City since there wasn’t enough snow to test eqt.  Thanks also to their kids happily skiing that day, it started to snow in the middle of the ceremony the Europeans loved, which saved their 2002 Olympics,  including Snow Basin’s downhill events hosted by SV owners Earl and Carol Holding.  (See p 55 in Plan.)

So Vilsack spending $50 B in tax dollars to Prevent Fires is a lot smarter than just fighting fires.  But also preventing Droughts thru Native Snowdances (and fires thru Raindances), also proven by 62 years of press at ski areas (available), is the wisest, cost-effective missing part of Vilsack’s best Native forest practices.  This was proven in 2020 by Oregon, a leader in Native forest practices of combining strategic tree thinning with controlled burns and Biochar.  Yet that alone didn’t protect them from their devastating fires.  Would more logging have averted Oregon’s catastrophic 2020 …

All Western ski areas need more snowpack and rain that can only quickly come from  snow and raindances inspired by Native ski programs thru Tax Credits, since tribes give gratitude prayers every day.  That how to save our forests while shifting from 20% renewables to 80% more like Norway, how they restored their devastated forests. That is why our partner, Bjorn Dahl, the Norwegian-American former director of Kirkwood ski area and Western Forestry urged us to send our “Bold Fast Tribal Fire Prevention Plan” to Secretaries Haaland and Vilsack for emergency funding. (available)

NATIVE-LED ECO HIKES

Since snow season is almost over, Bjorn also liked giving a tax credit, the sooner the better, to ski areas for hosting Native-led Eco hikes with a gratitude prayer, like a Telluride school had us start, and Aspen SkiCo wanted year round for their popular tours on skis, snowshoes and hikes.

The dry wells of the West, and rampant bark beetle infestation killing forests and feeding the flames, is also from low water tables and aquifers from bottlers ignoring “desist orders” to stop sucking billions of gallons of water yearly for humongous profits. Our plan includes a moratorium on all Western leases and reparations.

That’s why Native skiing/snowdances and Eco hikes are critical to max water tables and revive tourism, including foreigners – (The Native Opening Ceremonies at Utah gave NBC the highest ratings in history.)  And why in 2008, Stanford-Aspen SkiCo’s Prize winner Dr Stephen Schneider, with NSAA’s Michael Berry and U.N. urged “all ski areas to invite their tribes to ski to inspire snowdances as it would be foolish to ignore what costs almost nothing.” Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Stephen Schneider Hails Tribal Snow …

Therefore, please share this missing LIFE-saving Native solution with everyone, espec-ially your ski area and Secretary Vilsack, so he can restore the economies of ski areas and reservations through Tax Credits for sharing Native skiing/snowdances, Eco hikes, plus for shifting to renewables.  Contact: AGSEC@USDA.GOV.  By inspiring on-going max snow across our mountain ranges, America can go from having the “most fires” (UN), to the least fires like our reservations and Canada’s Native-managed forests.

Since no one country can save our snow, and given U.S. influence and the world loves our Native Americans, this can ripple to save our planet’s snow and forests so our children can happily ski into the next century too!

Special thanks also to (Vail’s) Stan Rumbough, Mary Anne Christie, Larry Shapin, Bar-bara Alley (Cherokee), and HOF for helping NAOTF make this progress & fun possible.

Contact:  suzynativevoices@aol.com, NAOTF.org, Snow-riders.org, 323 4933877