Anita Snow

An Apache group that has fought to protect land it considers sacred from a copper mining project in central Arizona suffered a significant blow March 1 when a divided federal court panel voted 6-5 to uphold a lower court's denial of a preliminary injunction to halt the transfer of land for the project.

Competing interests have ignited a tug of war between the town of about 3,000 people who want a huge copper mine built there for its economic benefits, and Native American groups that consider the land sacred and are fighting to protect it from disturbance.

Oak Flat, a piece of national forest land in central Arizona, is at the heart of a years long struggle between Native American groups and mining interests that both consider it important for their future. Here is how developments have played out over nearly a decade.

Apache Stronghold sued the U.S. government under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to protect the place tribal members call Chi’chil Bildagoteel, an area dotted with ancient oak groves and traditional plants the Apaches consider essential to their religion. Some say it's the most important Native American religious liberty case in 15 years.

It was a stunning image: Pope Francis briefly wearing a full Indigenous headdress, its rows of soft white feathers fastened in place by a colorful, beaded headband after he apologized for the Catholic Church's role in Canada's "disastrous" residential school system for Indigenous children.