“These Sacred Hills” Film Screening

The Center co-hosted a screening of “These Sacred Hills” on Thursday, November 6, 2026.

The documentary featured elected member of the Yakama Nation Council Jeremy Takala, Rock Creek Band elder Elaine Howtapat, Rock Creek Band Chief Bronsco Jim Jr., and Rock Creek Band activist and UW alumnus Elaine Harvery. The film was directed by Jacob Bailey and Christopher Ward, and is centered around the implications of the Northwest’s largest proposed pumped storage facility.

The energy storage project would be located in Goldendale, Washington, and would destroy five Indigenous archaeological sites, as well as three cultural ones.

“These Sacred Hills,” which alternated scenes of Indigenous cultural practices, public hearings, and interviews with Tribal members, followed the broader trend of the “green rush,” or influx of clean energy development, in Washington.