The Turtle Mountains

The Turtle Mountains

Ward Valley is the site of the prospective low-level nuclear waste dump, which was derailed indefinitely by a Native American group who held vigil and chanted a night-long ceremonial there in 1998, and would not end it, even when sheriff's deputies and the National Guard came for them. Phone calls were made. The Guard and the Sheriff went away. The Indians now own their holy site in the Old Woman Mountains. The fate of Ward Valley is undecided, and, since 1994 the Turtle Mountains are wilderness area. Few people go there anymore.