These Sacred Hills wins Best Feature Documentary at World Culture Film Festival in Los Angeles

GOLDENDALE, Wash. – The film These Sacred Hills tells the story of Yakama Nation members that are trying to save sacred ground from being desecrated by a pump storage energy project in the Columbia River Gorge. The full-length film took home the Best Feature Documentary Award at the World Culture Film Festival on July 1.

“These Sacred Hills” is an independent film by Jacob Bailey and Chris Ward that focuses on the efforts of the Ḱamíłpa (kah-MILT-pah) and Rock Creek bands of the Yakama Nation and their fight to protect their lands and First Foods along the Columbia River in their own words.

Their story highlighted how the era of displacement in the name of energy production didn’t end with the construction of the Columbia River dams. Today, tribes continue to be impacted and displaced by a new wave of energy development in the current transition to renewable energy.

The film was completed in November of last year but has just begun to make its screening rounds at film festival and private screenings.

CRITFC Watershed Department Manager Elaine Harvey, CRITFC Chair and Yakama Nation Council Member Jeremy Takala, Ḱamíłpa Chief and Yakama Nation citizen Bronsco Jim Jr, and High Country News’ Indigenous reporter Toastie Oaster (Chocktaw) are central voices in “These Sacred Hills.”

Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) Executive Director, Aja Decoteau shared, “Congratulations to the Rock Creek Band and filmmakers behind ‘These Sacred Hills’ on their well-deserved Best Documentary award. Their powerful story highlighted a truth that resonates far beyond the screen that tribal culture and identity are inseparable from the land itself.”

Green Energy and the devastating cost to Indian Country

For CRITFC Watershed Department Manager Elaine Harvey, who is featured in the film, the fight against exploitative green energy projects is not about rejecting renewable energy outright; it’s about responsible siting and respect for tribal sovereignty. “Tribes aren’t against renewable energy,” she explained. “We’re against projects that destroy our lands, that push us out of the decision-making process until it’s too late.”

These Sacred Hills centers on the proposed Goldendale pump storage facility. The project would construct two large reservoirs, one at the top of the mountain overlooking the Columbia River and the other at the base next to the river. The two reservoirs would be connected by a tunnel drilled through the mountain. The Yakama call this mountain Pushpum and it is the sacred site also called “mother of roots.”

The Yakama Nation was not notified that Denmark-based Rye Development had submitted proposals to construct pump storage projects on federal lands in the Columbia River Gorge until the corporation had already been in the planning phase for years. The agencies involved in site selection and development had years to assess and begin the execution of their plans before Yakama Nation even knew the project was underway.

This discovery put the Washington tribe in a position where they only had 60 days to do years of work and get their comments into the government agencies overseeing the projects.

Once they began their investigation into these projects it became clear that they were going to further threaten their ancestral way of life and infringe upon their treaty-reserved rights to gather roots, medicines, and berries.

Elaine Harvey: Answering the Call to Protect the Land, Water and Foods

When Rye Development came to the Gorge, Elaine Harvey took notice and made a decision to fight. It was within this battle that she became a central voice for “These Sacred Hills.”

Harvey first learned about the Goldendale pump storage project through a public hearing notice in the local newspaper. She attended to hear an update on the planned projects for the valley and had not intended on speaking. What she heard, though, concerned her enough to take up advocacy on the matter. As she listened, she learned the developers were presenting the project as an economic boon worth millions for residents, yet when she asked if they were working with tribes, the responses were vague. That moment sparked her actions and began her inquiry into the project’s implications for Yakama lands, cultural resources, and First Foods.

Following that meeting, Yakama Nation mobilized cultural resource and wildlife staff to survey the area. Archaeologists confirmed what Harvey already knew the sites in question were sacred historical gathering and ceremonial grounds for the Columbia River Plateau tribes. The discovery of archeological sites further reinforced the urgent need to challenge the project’s progression.

In taking on this challenge, Harvey knew it would be hard but decided to fight for her peoples’ foods, rights and future as she has done since adolescence.

Since then, she has been involved in environmental and fisheries work for years, but she never imagined one day she would end up the subject of a film.

After Yakama Nation began their surveys and advocacy work, with Harvey on the frontlines, news outlets began to take notice.

Journalist Courtney Flatt of Oregon Public Broadcasting interviewed her about the project and filmmaker Jacob Bailey’s mother-in law heard the story and requested that Bailey reach out to Harvey. Bailey repeatedly asked if she would consider working on a documentary.

Initially, Harvey dismissed the idea. But Bailey’s persistence, along with the growing threats to the land, convinced her to reconsider. She gathered longhouse community members for a root-digging trip at the site, and that became the catalyst for what would eventually evolve into “These Sacred Hills.”

“That first trip, it was just supposed to be one day,” Harvey recalled. “But Jacob realized the story was bigger than just one trip, and from then on, he became part of our community.”

For the next three years, Bailey and his team embedded themselves in Ḱamíłpa life, documenting everything from lamprey harvesting to powwows and parades. The film crew became so ingrained in the community that by the end, Harvey described them as family. “You watch the kids grow over three years, and it feels like they’re your relatives,” she said. “They came in as outsiders, but now they have a connection with tribal people that will last beyond this film.”

The film also shed light on the racism and political maneuvering that Harvey and other Yakama citizens encountered while opposing the project. At public hearings, they faced hostility from local officials and community members who dismissed their concerns. “We sat through a whole day of hate,” she said. “They told us Yakamas don’t even live here, that we shouldn’t care. But this is our land. Our roots are in this ground.”

“I come from here,” said Harvey in the film. “This land, I’m not an immigrant. I will never leave.”

Jeremy Takala: Policy, Advocacy, and the Fight for Sovereignty

“Making sure that we aren’t forgotten, that we are very much a part of this tribe.” That’s how Jeremy Takala describes his role as a Yakama Nation council member and Chair of CRITFC.

For Takala, advocacy isn’t just a job it’s about continuing the work of his elders and ancestors. He takes his responsibility to ensure future generations inherit their culture, rights, and that their lands are protected with him in all his work, on the road and at home.

A single father, Takala is featured in the film raising his children while continuing his duties of advocating for Yakama Nation’s sovereignty as part of his policy work. In the film, he is shown taking his children on food gathering trips, teaching them the importance of First Foods and their role in the seasonal round. “We’re trying to maintain a balance of who we are,” he says in the film. “People of this land, people of the river. We have to make sure our kids understand who they are.”

His work extends beyond his home, taking him to Washington, D.C., Olympia, and tribal forums, where he testifies on behalf of his people. Whether it’s energy policy, fishery protection, or fighting against encroachments on treaty rights, Takala ensures that Yakama voices are heard at every level. “If we aren’t at the table, decisions will be made without us,” he explains. “And those decisions will impact everything our hunting, our fishing, our root digging, even the future of our tribal energy projects.”

Chief Bronsco Jim, Jr.: Culture, Tradition, and Resilience

For Chief Bronsco Jim, Jr., the quest to protect Indigenous land and resources is inseparable from all other work done by tribal leaders. As a spiritual leader and co-chief of his longhouse, he has been tasked by his elders to take on the responsibility of preserving tribal traditions and guiding his people through the challenges they face in a contemporary world.

“This day, my people stand as we have been here since the beginning of time,” Jim says in the film, speaking to a gathering of landowners and community members. “The reason our people could not go to the reservation was because of our foods and burial grounds that root us to this earth.”

In the film Jim recounts his journey from leaving the reservation for work, but returning home to his community and carrying out his duties as a leader and provider for his family. “I couldn’t be a Native there,” he recalls of his time away. “I couldn’t do the dances, the singing, or be with my people.”

That realization led him back to his home, where he now works to keep traditional ceremonies, songs, and teachings at the forefront of his community’s lives so they aren’t lost or forgotten.

As Jim was taught, he feels cultural, scientific, and policy aspects of this fight are not separate; they form a circle, much like the seasonal round of First Foods. The past, present, and future are all connected, and Yakama people value and pursue each aspect with equal dedication.

“Our work is not just about protecting land,” Jim says. “It’s about ensuring our way of life continues, that our children and grandchildren can walk in the footsteps of their ancestors.”

The Power of Indigenous Media and Moving Forward

DeCoteau said of efforts to share this story, “Storytelling is a fundamental part of tribal culture, teaching us both knowledge and wisdom. The voices of Yakama tribal members like Elaine Harvey, Bronsco Jim, and Jeremy Takala bravely sharing their experiences and testimonies of what their place means to them helps others understand that true environmental protection must honor the Indigenous communities who have been stewards of these lands since time immemorial.”

Since the film’s completion in November 2024 critical media coverage has helped bring broader attention to the issue. Indigenous journalist Toastie Oaster, featured in the film, has been covering the expansion of “green energy” in the Columbia River Gorge and its implications for Indigenous people living in the area.

When Oaster was first contacted by filmmakers they recall being apprehensive due to the history of non-native media within Indigenous communities.

“I was skeptical at first, I am always a little apprehensive when non-Natives come into our communities to make films,” Oaster said. Though Oaster wasn’t sold on participating in the film, they did agree to meet with the filmmakers before eventually signing on to be one of the central voices featured in These Sacred Hills.

After Bailey and Ward shared more of their project purview and work they had done to connect with the community, and Oaster learned of Harvey and Takala’s participation, they felt more trusting of the project.

“I found out Elaine Harvey and Jeremy Takala trusted these filmmakers with capturing cultural activities and harvests. For me, if Elaine and Jeremy trust these guys, that’s a good sign.”

Oaster spoke at length in the film about “Green Colonialism” and the effects it has had on Indigenous sovereignty in the expansion of wind and solar projects in the Gorge. Oaster was glad to see that the first screening was done in Rock Creek amongst the community that is central to the storyline.

Oaster recalls being emotional after the first screening.

“The first one was a little emotional, it’s a very tender story, but it’s also told in a tender way. Very human and intimate. I found it very moving and it was interesting to see this story and issue I have been investigating for years treated in a different way.”

A Growing Impact

The film has already had an impact. It has been screened within the Yakama Nation and at the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Winter Convention in Portland, and it is now has won the Best Feature Documentary award at the World Culture Film Festival. The proposed Goldendale pump storage project is still inching forward, despite ongoing opposition from the Yakama Nation. A recent report highlights the continued push by developers and state agencies to move forward with the project, raising further concerns about the lack of tribal consultation and the broader implications for treaty rights according this story from The Columbian. At the same time, the impacts of unchecked resource extraction on tribal lands, such as the commercial huckleberry industry, remain a pressing issue for Indigenous communities across the region as featured in an article High Country News. These ongoing struggles underscore the need for continued vigilance and advocacy to protect First Foods and Indigenous ways of life.

These Sacred Hills will continue to make its rounds at film festivals and in communities across Indian Country, in an effort to raise the voices of Yakama Nation members so they are heard far and wide.

According to those working on the project and promotion of the film, the story does not have an end date. With each season of gathering roots and berries and feasts to honor the First Foods of their tribes, the testimony will continue, both in the fields they are harvesting from and and the city council halls of the towns they are living in.

“Hopefully all the viewers take away the message that sacred places like Pushpum, which was featured in the film, or the Columbia River are not simply locations but living parts of tribal heritage and spiritual practice that are worthy of care and protection from everyone who calls this region home,” DeCoteau said.