Center For Biological Diversity

Federal Appeals Court Blocks Oak Flat Land Exchange

We’re celebrating a surprising milestone in the fight for Oak Flat, public lands in Arizona sacred to Indigenous peoples and habitat for species like endangered ocelots and Arizona hedgehog cacti.

Hours before a devastating land swap would’ve moved forward, on Monday the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an emergency injunction blocking the Trump administration from handing Oak Flat over to an international mining conglomerate while three lawsuits proceed — one by the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups, one by the San Carlos Apache Tribe, and a third by Apache women.

“Everyone who loves Oak Flat can exhale for now,” said the Center’s Russ McSpadden. “But the battle over this extraordinary place is far from over. Resolution Copper will continue to try to get approval toextract ore from beneath 2,200 acres of forest and wetlands.