Beau Bridges fights for Chumash

Beau Bridges Preserving Sacred Chumash Land In CaliforniaActor Beau Bridges is spearheading a campaign to preserve and protect sacred Chumash Indian land in California.

The Fabulous Baker Boys star is on the board of The Wishtoyo Foundation, which fights for the rights of the existing tribesfolk and their cultural and environmental legacy.

Bridges tells BlogTalkRadio.com, "A large part of what we do is we have lawyers that take on the oil companies that are drilling and people who are polluting the rivers. We are trying to save the sacred sites of the Chumash, who are the first inhabitants of the Channel Islands and Santa Monica Mountains.

"We actually constructed a Chumash village very much like the old days in their aps, which is what they called the houses. The founder, Mati Waiya, is a Chumash medicine man and the first Native American coast keeper of the Ventura area. It (village) sits on a beautiful piece of property the government gave us in Malibu."Comment:  Wealthy celebrities have opposed the Chumash in the past, so this is a welcome development.

For more on the Chumash, see Boy Scouts Build Chumash Village and Graywolf Gave Chumash Hairpin to Depp.