The Rapid City Journal
February, 24, 2005
By The Rapid City Journal Editorial Board
Representatives from American Indian tribes from seven states met with U.S.
Forest Service officials last week to discuss managing federal lands and
sites considered sacred to Indians. The Great Plains Tribal Leaders
Consultation and Listening Session at Crazy Horse Memorial near Custer was a
two-day conference that could lead to sites in the Black Hills being granted
special treatment as Indian religious sites.
Many Indians believe the entire Black Hills should be considered sacred.
Specific locations in the Black Hills that were discussed include Bear
Butte, Devil's Tower, Inyan Cara Mountain, Pesla near Deerfield Lake and
Harney Peak, among others. Bear Butte is managed by the South Dakota Game,
Fish and Parks Department as a state park, and visitors are asked to respect
Indian religious ceremonies held there. Devil's Tower National Monument in
Wyoming has a voluntary climbing ban during the month of June while Indians
conduct religious ceremonies, specifically sun dances, which are
traditionally held near the summer solstice.
The issue is important to both Indians and non-Indians because federal
judicial review has favored policies that respect Indian religious practices
on federal lands.
A presidential executive order in 1996 directs federal agencies to
"accommodate access to and ceremonial use of Indian sacred sites by Indian
religious practitioners and avoid adversely affecting the physical integrity
of such sacred sites."
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take a case that challenges
the sacred status of Rainbow Bridge in southern Utah. A National Park
Service policy asks visitors not to walk under or near the world's largest
natural bridge because it is sacred to Navajo, Hopi and Paiute Indians. The
decision mirrors a similar challenge to the Devil's Tower climbing ban,
which was rejected by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1999.
The conference at Crazy Horse Memorial was in accordance with the 1996
executive order and could be the first step toward designating more sites in
the Black Hills as Indian sacred sites. The fact that discussions are being
conducted to identify potential sacred sites in the Black Hills and
elsewhere is encouraging.
Non-Indians have little to fear if familiar sites are designated as sacred;
visitors are still allowed at Bear Butte, Devil's Tower and Rainbow Bridge,
even though they are being managed as Indian sacred sites. And in fact,
expanding non-Indians' knowledge and appreciation of the Indian lore
surrounding such sites could lead to greater cultural understanding.
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Rapid City, SD