Snowbowl receives green light
Forest Service decision angers Native leaders

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

FORT DEFIANCE — Despite receiving nearly 10,000, mostly negative comments on a proposal to expand the Arizona Snowbowl and use reclaimed wastewater for artificial snowmaking on the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff, Coconino National Forest Supervisor Nora Rasure gave the go-ahead to proceed Tuesday during a noon press conference.

It was probably the most difficult decision of her career, Rasure said. "While I must carefully consider impacts to traditional values, I am also charged to make decisions about uses of the national forest that meet other needs of the American public.

"There is no question that the Arizona Snowbowl provides an opportunity for the general public to access and enjoy our public lands while still maintaining the vast majority of the peaks in an undeveloped character, thus accommodating the needs and desires of those who come to the peaks for physical, mental and inspirational rejuvenation."

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. and Hopi tribal Chairman Wayne Taylor Jr. both said they were deeply disappointed by the decision and will weigh the options available to them before deciding their next move.

However, Shirley said he believes the tribes of Arizona and other tribes that consider the peaks sacred, "a dwelling place of holy beings, I think we need to get together."

Fighting the 'curse'
At the 2005 Tribal Summit on the San Francisco Peaks held in February in the shadow of the peaks, Shirley told tribal representatives, "We need to come together. We need to be the one to fight this curse that's being brought upon us by Nora Rasure and the cohorts that she's doing it with and I guess, the U.S. government. We need to stand together to fight the curse, whatever it takes."

Chairman Taylor said Tuesday, "Once again the federal government has made a decision that is clearly in opposition to the passionate pleas of Native American nations who hold the Peaks as sacred." The Hopi Tribal Council will review the ruling and explore available options.

Shirley said he probably will shoot a letter to district tribal leaders, council members and "the powers that be in Native America," in the state of Arizona and elsewhere, who consider the Peaks sacred, and bring them back together to discuss what can be done "to fight this monster that has affected us again."

In making the decision to proceed on Alternative 2 of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Rasure has trampled the First Amendment right to freedom of religion for Native Americans, according to tribal leaders.

Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, Hopi Cultural Preservation Office director, said, "In a time when the Hopi Katsina Spirits have answered our prayers for rain and happiness, Coconino has placed a dagger in the Hopis' spirituality.

"It is not just a breach of the forest service's trust responsibility for the tribe, but a breach of the Hopi people's trust in Coconino National Forest," Kuwanwisiwma said. "The Peaks are the home of the Katsinam (spirit messengers) and the focus of our prayers for rain and snow. The use of reclaimed water on such a sacred site can only be described as sacrilegious."

Shirley asked, "What happened to that First Amendment right in the world of Native Americans? We're also supposed to be citizens of the great superpower of the U.S. government. What happened to our rights?"

He questioned whether it was going to take a "million man and a million woman march on 'Washingdoon' to be heard. I think that's one of the things we need to look at: 'What can we do?' ... If we can appeal it to be heard at the higher echelon of the federal government, the forest service or whatever, I'd probably pursue that."

Shirley said Rasure gave him a courtesy call Tuesday morning to inform him of the decision and alert him to the press conference. He said he expressed his disappointment to her and, echoing the sentiments of the 14 tribes that gathered for the February summit, he told her:

Scarred and bleeding
"Speaking on behalf of the Navajo people, and in my own right as a Navajo person, and as a medicine person, I said, 'This is my essence. The San Francisco Peaks is my essence. That's who I am. That's me. You've already scarred me. You've made me bleed. To tell you the truth, today I'm still bleeding. I'm scarred up and down. ... You've made me bleed, you've scarred me. You've taken away already. When is this going to stop?'."

Shirley said he told Rasure that he knew the City of Flagstaff and the State of Arizona all want to make money off the expansion project. "But there are plenty of other ways of making money. You just need to put your creative hats on and try to find a way to make the money that you want to make instead of having to do away with a culture, instead of working on doing away with a way of life.

"You're just desecrating me and you desecrate the tribes that consider the Peaks holy, a sacred place. You're destroying us. You know it."

He said foreigners came across the ocean to escape religious persecution in their country. "They couldn't pray the way they wanted to pray. There was persecution for what they believed in. So some guys just took to the waters and started sailing because of that. And then they found what they thought was new land, when it wasn't. There were Natives over here Native Americans."

To get away from religious persecution, they came to America. "And now they are the ones who are persecuting us for the way we believe. What does that say about their culture, their way of life? It seems to me like they really ought to have respect for the way we believe and what that means to believe in something."

The president said an untold number of medicines and herbs were done away with when the ski lift was put in place at the Snowbowl. "I don't know how many trees they've uprooted and cut. I don't know how many herbs and medicines can only be found on the peaks (that) they've done away with." By doing this, he said, the forest service is going against its own law on endangered species. "It doesn't matter how you cut it, they're desecrating our herbs, our dirt, us," he said.

Religious freedom
Norman Brown, founder of Diné Bidziil Coalition, said the United States government was based on the very concept of freedom of religion. Now, "The very government that was created under that concept is denying us our basic right to sacred sites." He said Flagstaff City Council also has to be held accountable for this ruling because it was at their request that the issue came about.

"What are Navajo leaders going to do now? The traditional people, the grass roots do not want just words from our tribal government. We want action," Brown said. He said it's time the Navajo Nation government should examine its relationship with Flagstaff, because Tuesday's decision creates unhealthy divisions among indigenous people.

"If you look at Rasure's statement, there's nothing there that even reflects the sacredness or the concerns of the tribe regarding their religious property," Brown said. "This is crazy, because they decided that the profit of the industry was more important than the Native peoples' historic right to preserve their sacred sites and practice their way of life."

The forest service considered three alternatives before choosing the second alternative, which provides for artificial snowmaking using reclaimed water, a snowplay/tubing facility, additional lifts, an enlarged guest lodge, and terrain modifications to the existing ski runs.

Potential impacts of using the reclaimed water for snow-making was studied, along with impacts of the ski area improvements to tribes who consider the San Francisco Peaks sacred.

Brown said, "This is another example of why the Freedom of Religion act should be amended. It should be strengthened even more. If it went far enough, this wouldn't have happened. So it's time for the tribes nationwide to look at revisiting that."

The Final Environmental Impact Statement, Response to Comments, Record of Decision and other information can be accessed at www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/nepa. There will be a 45-day appeal period beginning after a legal notice appears in the Arizona Daily Sun. Any appeals will be filed with the Regional Forester of the Southwestern Region in Albuquerque.