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Battle over Sacred Mountain Enters Next Phase
by Prescott Union for Peace and Justice
Saturday, Oct. 01, 2005 at 11:46 PM
In early October, the next phase of a centuries-old struggle unfolds in the federal courtroom in Prescott, AZ. Several environmental groups and Native American Nations have sued the US Forest Service to halt an expansion of the ski resort on the San Francisco Peaks.
People from near and far will be arriving in Prescott for this month’s trial. A sizeable delegation from Colorado AIM (American Indian Movement) will be driving down. Flagstaff Activist Network and Save the Peaks Coalition will be sending people down from Flagstaff. Local organizers are planning a series of events and are encouraging everyone to come to Prescott to show their support for Native American rights.
The existence of the ski resort on The Peaks has been a source of bitter contention since the first lodge was built on this highly sacred mountain in the 1930s. A full-scale ski resort, including shops and restaurants, was proposed in 1969. Strong vocal opposition and legal action from Native peoples prevented the plans from being implemented until the 1980s.
The wounds, however, can be traced further back to the settling of Flagstaff in the late 1800s when indigenous people were persecuted and forcibly removed from the area.
Robert Tohe, who is Navajo and is environmental justice organizer for the Sierra Club, sums up the feelings of many Native Americans in Northern Arizona when he said, “The ski area that exists on the mountain now is something we have been forced to accept after decades of attempts to be heard. Only if there is no new development will the reopening of old wounds and further alienation of our people be avoided.”
The lawsuit charges the Forest Service with violations of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Endangered Species Act, and other land and cultural protection laws.
At least 14 Southwestern tribes hold the San Francisco Peaks to be sacred. In February 2005, leaders from these tribes met with the supervisor of the Coconino National Forest and urged her to reject the proposed expansion of the ski area.
During the public comment period, the Forest Service received 9,887 substantive comments, most of them negative, about the project. In March 2005, the Forest Service issued its decision to proceed with the ski area expansion despite all the objections.
The San Francisco Peaks are deeply rooted in the culture of nearby tribes. These nations have revered The Peaks as a place to gather special herbs, the home of deities and a place of emergence.
The mountain soil bundle, used in the Navajo Blessingway Ceremony, is prepared on the San Francisco Peaks. To the Navajo, the mountain is a physical manifestation of sacred forces and a home to spiritual beings. “The San Francisco Peaks is the essence of who we are... and is the Holy House of our sacred deities whom we pray to and give our offerings,” said Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr.
The mountain is central to Hopi ceremonial life. The Katsinas, who bring rain and maintain social and ceremonial order, live on the San Francisco Peaks. A few select Hopi make periodic pilgrimages to visit sacred shrines on the mountain.
“In a time when the Hopi Katsina Spirits have answered our prayers for rain and happiness, Coconino [National Forest] has placed a dagger in the Hopis’ spirituality,” said Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, director of the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office.
The proposed expansion violates the sanctity of the mountain in a variety of ways. The cutting of large swaths of trees (74 acres of clearcuts) is both irreverent and environmentally destructive, especially since the clearcuts are never allowed to heal. The Forest Service has given the ski area permission to make artificial snow. Refusing to accept the natural climate conditions is itself sacrilegious in the eyes of people who hold the mountain at the center of a spiritual cosmology. A new pipeline will deliver treated wastewater to a holding pond for use in making artificial snow. (If the FDA doesn’t believe the treated wastewater is clean enough to drink, then how can it be clean enough to pipe a million-and-a-half gallons per day up 4,000 feet onto a sacred mountain?) Fifty snowmaking guns will be employed both day and night and will be heard a mile or more away. The wounds grow deeper.
“The National Forest Service… does not seem to get the spiritual significance of throwing millions of gallons of wastewater in an area used for Native American rituals,” says Maggie Macary, PhD candidate at Pacifica Graduate Institute.
“We as indigenous people will not tolerate further disrespect and desecration of our sacred peaks,” says Roland Manakaja, Havasupai natural resource and cultural director. “We will live up to our responsibilities to protect our Mother the earth.”
An important pre-trial hearing is scheduled for October 6 in Prescott. The trial begins October 12.
For more info about upcoming events and protests in Prescott, click here
For background info: click here
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The Sierra Club named the San Francisco Peaks a top priority for conservation in Arizona in a 2005 report calling for the protection of America’s national treasures. (The report is titled “America’s Great Outdoors: Sierra Club’s Vision for Protecting Our Natural Heritage.”)
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