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Introduction For
several decades, AAIA has assisted American Indian Tribal Nations with the protection
of their sacred and holy places. It was in the 1920's that AAIA (then the EAIA)
first became acquainted with this issue. Pueblos of the southwest were struggling
to keep "squatters" off their ancestral homelands. At the same time,
congressional leaders were attempting to pass a law that would grant homestead
rights to the squatters and allow them to divert precious water away from the
Pueblo villages. Included in these contested land areas were numerous sites used
by the Pueblo for highly religious and traditional ceremonies. After
a protracted battle, the Pueblos and EAIA were successful in defeating a law that
would have unilaterally transferred land that legally belonged to the Pueblos.
Since that time,
the Association has been involved with many other efforts to protect sacred places
including:
Taos
Blue Lake
Bear Butte (Mato Paha)
Devils Tower (Mato Tipi)
Bighorn
Medicine Wheel/ Medicine Mountain
Mt.
Graham (Dzil Nchaa si' an )
Rainbow Bridge (Nonnezoshi) Upcoming
Events
Sacred
Lands and Places Protection Coalition
Lewis
and Clark
More
Sacred Lands and Places
Petition(s)
You Can Sign
Recent
News - AAIA's Sacred Lands Protection Program
Links
Join
the Defense of Sacred Lands
Upcoming
Events back
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Sacred
Lands and Places Protection Coalition back
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Sacred
Lands & Places Protection Coalition Organizational Contacts: Association
on American Indian Affairs
Sacred Lands Protection Program
966 Hungerford
Dr., Ste. 12-B
Rockville, MD 20850
Contact: Guy
Lopez, Coordinator
240-314-7157
240-314-7159 fax
202-321-0190
cell Seventh
Generation Fund
P.O. Box 4569
Arcata, CA 95518
Contact:
Chris Peters, CEO
707-825-7640
National
Congress of American Indians
1301 Connecticut Ave. NW, Ste. 200
Washington, DC 20036
Contact: Lillian Sparks, Legislative Associate
202-466-7767
Morningstar Institute
611 Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E. #377
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 547-5531
Contact: Susan Shown Harjo, Exec. Dir. Sacred
Land Film Project
P.O. Box C-151
La Honda, CA 94020
Toby
McLeod
(650) 747-0685 Join
the Coalition Background
Documents General
Goals of the Sacred Lands Protection Coalition:
The Sacred Places Protection
Coalition was formed in 2001 to: - strengthen
government policies and regulations and encourage administrative decisions that
will protect sacred sites and accommodate the ceremonial use of such sites;
- ensure
adequate government-to-government consultation with concerned Indian nations;
and
- enact legislation
that will provide enforceable legal protection for Native sacred places.
Upcoming
Sacred Lands Protection Coalition Events: Lewis
and Clark back
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Essay: AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND THE PROTECTION OF SACRED PLACES
IN THE 1803 LOUISIANA PURCHASE AREA
AMERICAN
INDIAN RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND THE PROTECTION OF SACRED PLACES IN THE 1803 LOUISIANA
PURCHASE AREA "Every
society needs these kinds of sacred places because they help to instill a sense
of social cohesion in the people and remind them of the passage of generations
that have brought them to the present. A society that cannot remember and honor
its past is in peril of losing its soul." Vine,
Deloria, Jr. in God is Red, 1994, p. 272
THE LEGACY OF LEWIS AND CLARK IN INDIAN COUNTRY
The Lewis and
Clark expedition was the initial military foray by the United States of America
into the homelands of many Indigenous nations. Contrary to conventional historical
depictions, the Indian nations did not accept Lewis and Clark's pronouncements
that the Indians were now to consider themselves subject to the authority of the
USA, i.e. the "children of the Great White Father." They did not view
themselves as belonging to the dominion of the United States government after
listening to a decree read to them in a language they did not understand. They
did not regard themselves or their lands as the property of France to be sold
by Napoleon to Jefferson. Certainly the Indian peoples understood themselves to
be free human beings with their own national laws, spiritual ways and moral conventions.
From the
beginning, Indian nations have resisted efforts to terminate their tribes, destroy
their cultures and relinquish their lands. To this day, Indian nations retain
land title and claims to large areas throughout the original Louisiana purchase
boundaries. Although much has been lost, the tenacity, foresight and perseverance
of Indian nations has led to the recognition by the United States of treaty agreements,
Indian reservation lands and other vital aspects of American Indian self-determination
and sovereignty.
THE CORPS OF DISCOVERY II Upon
initial contact with the Lewis & Clark/U.S. Army Corps of Discovery Expedition,
the American Indian nations were not completely aware of the legal implications
of the term, "discovery", namely a term justifying the appropriation
of Indian lands by the United States, as well as efforts to destroy Indian cultures.
Through Lewis & Clark's surveying of lands (for the making of maps), planting
flags, and other symbolic expressions of dominion, the United States sought to
apply the "right of discovery" to justify the exercise of national sovereignty
over lands that belonged to American Indians. Although the current "Corps
of Discovery II" has as its namesake the original US military expedition,
it ought not further the dishonorable dealings that began 200 years ago between
the United States and the Indian nations. Hopefully the Corps of Discovery II
will redefine the term of "discovery" to accrue positive benefits to
Indian people.
The
goal of the Lewis & Clark commemoration is for American society to discover
what has been accomplished in the past 200 years that has been truly beneficial
for the sake of the entirety of the country, including American Indians. The
Lewis and Clark Bicentennial should also be a moment to reflect upon and discover
what has been lost to American Indian nations, including most of our original
homelands and many of our sacred places and, in the interest of justice, to restore
what can be restored.
SACRED LANDS AND AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Thomas Jefferson
and other founders of the United States are often quoted expressing their devotion
to the principles of religious freedom and other universal rights of human beings.
Yet their actions did not correspond to their rhetoric when it came to applying
the same principles to the life and liberty of the American Indian peoples.
During much of the past two hundred years the United States has engaged in
military and political campaigns that have sought to undermine the spiritual foundations
of American Indian communities. By outlawing religious ceremonies and destroying
other cultural facets of Indian societies, including the natural environment,
the United States succeeded in diminishing the lands, populations and health of
American Indian nations.
Since
1978 and the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA), the
United States has made a small step towards coming to terms with its history of
human rights violations against American Indian peoples. Yet AIRFA is a law that
was enacted 25 years ago and has been deemed to be a law "without teeth"
i.e., a law that is so weak that it cannot be enforced.
At
the present time, American Indian nations still have to endure the continued destruction
of places they regard as sacred and vital to the practice of their religions.
Often, Indian peoples still have little or no legal recourse to prevent the destruction
of their significant places of worship and reverence.
Still today,
200 years after Jefferson's commissioning of the Lewis and Clark expedition, the
laws applying to freedom of religion in the U.S. do not afford American Indian
religious worship the same level of protection afforded to non-Indian religions.
For these
reasons, The Sacred Places Protection Coalition was formed in 2001 to: - strengthen
government policies and regulations and encourage administrative decisions that
will protect sacred sites and accommodate the ceremonial use of such sites;
- ensure
adequate government-to-government consultation with concerned Indian nations;
and
- enact legislation
that will provide enforceable legal protection for native sacred places.
This
is a good time to put our minds and hearts together for the sake of protecting
and restoring American Indian cultural legacy places. Places such as the Black
Hills, the Medicine Wheel and Medicine Mountain, the Pipestone Quarry, the Valley
of the Chiefs, Pompey's Pillar, Badger Creek/Two-Medicine and the Missouri River
Valley.
And
many others. More
Sacred Lands and Places (just a few) back
to top
In
Alabama -
* Hickory Ground ceremonial and burial ground.
http://mytwobeadsworth.com/Muscogee830.html
http://indian.senate.gov/2002hrgs/071702hrg/trepp.PDF In
Alaska -
* Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (threatened with coastal plain
oil drilling) contact: Gwich'in
Steering Committee P O Box 122 1st Ave Ste. #2 Fairbanks, Alaska 99701
(907) 458-8264.
* Denali (Mt. McKinley) In
Arizona -
* Hualapai Nation landforms in Truxton and Crozier Canyons (threatened
by private extraction of boulders for decorative landscaping); Hulapai Tribe 928-769-2216
* Hopi and Navajo lands and the Navajo aquifer (threatened by water extraction
for slurry coal mining by Peabody Coal Company). Contact: Black Mesa Trust (480)
421-2377 http://www.blackmesatrust.org/
* The San Francisco Peaks from FS (threatened by private expansion of the Arizona
Snow Bowl) Contact: Andy Bessler at andy.bessler@sierraclub.org
928-774-6103
* The Baboquivari Mountain of the Tohono O'odham Nation. (520)
383-2028 * Mt.
Graham (Dzil Nchaa Si An), Apache Nations. Contact Mike Davis and Ola Cassadore-Davis
asc123@theriver.net
* Montosa Canyon. Contact: Brian Segee, Center for Biological Diversity (520)
623- 5252 x308 or David Hodges, Sky Island Alliance (520) 624-7080
* Rainbow
Bridge National Monument. Contact: Philmer Bluehouse, Secretary
Dine Medicinemens
Association at pbluehouse@yahoo.com In
California-
* Cave Rock, Lake Tahoe contact: Washoe Tribe (775)265-4191 or
Barbara James Snyder at imagesofpeace@hotmail.com
* Coastal Chumash lands
in the Gaviota Coastal region in southern California.
Contact Paul Pommier,
Sr. 818-783-1015 temia@earthlink.net
* Yurok Nation's
salmon fisheries in the Klamath River http://www.yurokctc.com/yurok_offices.html *
Berry Creek, Mooretown, and Enterprise rancherias of California. Site: lands near
Oroville Dam Reservoir.
Contacts: Tyme Maidu Tribe of the Berry Creek Rancheria
(530) 534-3859
Mooretown Rancheria (530) 533-3625
* Indian Pass, Quechan
Nation.
For additional information, please contact by phone:
Mike Jackson,
Sr., President Quechan Tribe 760.572.0213
Pauline Jose, Chair Quechan Culture
Committee 760.572.0661
Lorey Cachora, Consultant Quechan Tribe 760.572.0243
Courtney Ann Coyle, Attorney Quechan Tribe 858.454.8687
* The Sacred Puvungna
of the Tongva and Acjachemen Peoples, Longbeach
Contact: Juaneño Band
of Mission Indians Acjachemen Nation Tribal Council:
(949) 488-3484 dshilo@juaneno.com
*
Pitt River Nation of California Site: Medicine Lake Highlands
Contact: Gene
Preston, Tribal Chairman or Michelle Berditschevsky, Tribal Environmental Coordinator
(530) 335-5062
* Mount Shasta & Medicine Lake Highlands
Contact: Native
Coalition for Cultural Restoration of Mount Shasta & Medicine Lake Highlands
Defense 530-926-3397 ShastaMedicine@snowcrest.net
* The Sacred Katuktu (Morro
Hill) of the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians.
Contact: San Luis Rey Band
of Mission Indians (760) 724-8505 http://www.slrmissionindians.org/
* Yucca Mountain
Contact: The Shundahai Network PO Box 6360 Pahrump, NV 89041
775-537- 6088 shundahai@shundahai.org In
Georgia -
* Ocmulgee National Monument and Ocmulgee Old Fields, Muscogee Creek
Nation
http://www.sitesaver.org/preservation/ocmulgee.html
http://www.mindspring.com/~teeth/foof.htm
In Louisiana
-
* The Conly site in Louisiana
Contact:
United South and Eastern
Tribes 711 Stewarts Ferry Pike Suite 100
Nashville TN 37214 615-872-7900
James T. Martin USET Executive Director In
Maine -
* Penobscot River in Maine, Penobscot Nation. Contact: Penobscot Nation
Cultural and Historic Preservation Office bnewsom@penobscotnation.org
207-827-7776 In
Massachusetts -
* The Sacred landscape within the Massachusetts towns of Acton,
Carlyle, Concord, Lincoln, Litteton, Stowe, Boxborough, and Westford.
Contact:
Doug Harris, Narragansett Nation (401) 742-4035 In
Minnesota -
* Pipestone National Monument, Pipestone contact Jerry Flute at
AAIA 240-314-7155
* Cold Water Spring, Minneapolis First Nations Dakota Tribes
of Minnesota. Contact: http://www.preservecampcoldwater.org/ Jim Anderson, Mendota
Dakota Nation (651) 452-4141 or 612-823-4891 http://www.preservecampcoldwater.org/ In
Montana -
* Weatherman Draw
Contact:Anita Canovas, National Trust for
Historic Preservation, (202) 588-6035
Mary Wiper, Sierra Club Coordinator,
(406) 248-4339
Jimmy Arterberry, Comanche Nation, (580) 492-3754
* Badger
Two-Medicine Contact: The Wilderness Society (Northern Rockies office), 406-586-1600
* Yellowstone National Park, Yellowstone Bison Habitat. Contact: The Buffalo Field
Campaign http://www.wildrockies.org/Buffalo/
406.646.0070
In
New Mexico -
*The micaceous clay-gathering place of the Picuris Pueblo call
(505) 587-2519 or http://www.welc.org/
attorney Simeon Herskovits
*Petroglyphs National Monument. Contact (505) 260-4696
http://www.sagecouncil.org/
* Zuni Salt Lake, Zuni Nation contact: Cal Seciwa calbert.seciwa@asu.edu or Sierra
Club Environmental Justice Program Andy Bessler andy.bessler@sierraclub.org
928-774-6103
In
the Northern Plains -
* Bear Butte (currently threatened by proposed construction
of shooting range facility) contact: http://www.defendblackhills.org/defenders/
Charmaine White Face (Coordinator) 605-343-5387 cwhiteface@aol.com
or Jamie Ducheneaux, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe He can be reached at 605-964-7554
and his address is Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Preservation Program, P. O. Box
590, Eagle Butte, SD 57625.
* Badlands (see above)
* Devil's Tower (Bear's
Lodge) Contact: Steven J. Gunn, an attorney with the Indian Law Resource Center.
He can be reached at (617) 423-0648, extension 134, or (617) 730-4351.
* Black
Hills http://www.defendblackhills.org/
* Medicine Wheel/Medicine Mt. contact: Medicine Wheel Coalition for Sacred Sites
of North America, Francis Brown, President (505) 770-2060 or AAIA at 240-314-7155
* Missouri River. Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara, Dakota and Lakota Nations along
Missouri River. Contact:
In Texas -
* Carrizo and Comecrudo Nations of
Texas. Site: Amistad Lake and Falcon Dam on Rio Grande River. Contact: Juan Mancias
of the Carrizo Comecrudo Nation, PO Box 512, Clarendon, TX 79226-0512
In Washington -
* Semiahmah Village burial ground, Lummi Nation
* Snoqualmie
Falls, Snoqualmie Nation
http://www.yvwiiusdinvnohii.net/news/snoqtrib.htm
http://www.goia.wa.gov/directory/pdf/snoqua.pdf
Petition(s)
you can sign Protect
Cave Rock! back
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Submit
a petition? Newsletter
of AAIA's Sacred Lands Protection Program back
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JOIN
the Defense of Sacred Lands back
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Links
& Resources back
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Some
Indian Organizations working to protect Sacred Lands & Places: 7th
Generation Fund
National
Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers
Native
American Rights Fund
National
Congress of American Indians
NCAI
- Cultural Preservation
United
South and Eastern Tribes
Honor
The Earth
Tonatierra
Indigenous
Environmental Network GrassRoots
Indian Organizations defending their homelands: Defenders
of the Black Hills
Dakota/Lakota/Nakota
Human Rights Advocacy Coalition
Gwich'in
Steering Committee
Sage
Council -- Save
the Petroglyphs
Shundahi
Network
Western
Shoshone Defense Project
Zuni
Salt Lake Coalition
Black
Mesa Trust
Apaches
For Cultural Preservation
Gabrielino
Tongva Springs Foundation
Canku
Luta (Red Road, Inc.) Petition(s)
You can Sign: Protect
Cave Rock! A
few Film Production Allies…. Sacred
Land Film Project
"US
Laws and Court Cases involving Sacred Lands" - from Sacred Lands Film Project
website Dreamcatchers
Kifaru
Productions Joint
American Indian/Environmental Campaigns
Mt.
Graham Coalition
Project
Underground
Buffalo
Field Campaign
CorpsWatch
Campaign United
States Laws and Policies and Sacred lands: American
Indian Religious Freedom Act Amendments of 1994
Archaeological
Resources Protection Act, 1979
Clean
Air Act
Clean
Water Act
Coastal
Zone Management Act
The
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
Endangered
Species Act
National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969
National
Historic Preservation Act
Native
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990
Religious
Freedom Restoration Act of 1993
Executive
Order No. 13007 Indian Sacred Sites
The
Orator's Bill Page
Native
American Sacred Sites and the Dept. of Defense
Report
on US Army Implementation of Exec. Order 13007 "Sacred Sites"
US
Geological Survey Manual -American Indian and Alaska Native Sacred Sites
Bibliographies
of Laws and Policies of the U.S. that can help protect Sacred places: http://www2.cr.nps.gov/laws/laws.htm
--- http://www.cr.nps.gov/linklaws.htm
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/publications/bulletins/nrb38/nrb38%20bibliography.htm National
Religious Freedom Advocates Becket
Fund for Religious Liberty -- http://www.becketfund.org/other/sitesanddocs.html
Friends
Committee on National Legislation - Religious Freedom for Native Americans
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