OAK FLAT, Ariz. — On a recent morning about an hour outside Phoenix, the pounding of tribal drums reverberated across the desert from a stand of oaks in the Tonto National Forest, where nearly 20 men had packed into a squat green sweat lodge to pray.
Members of several Native American tribes, the men had come to take part in the grueling spiritual ceremony under the guidance of Wendsler Nosie Sr., a 64-year-old Apache elder who has emerged in recent years as an influential religious and environmental activist — not only in this small pocket of Arizona, but nationally.
“The spirits of our ancestors are right here,” Nosie told the men as they crawled shirtless and dripping with perspiration from an initial round of song and prayer in the sweltering lodge.
