Tribes demand respect for peaks
Ask U.S. government to reverse recent Forest Service decision

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

CROWNPOINT — Navajo, Hopi and surrounding tribes are asking the U.S. government to stop persecuting them and start respecting their First Amendment guarantee to Freedom of Religion by reversing a recent Forest Service decision affecting one of the Four Sacred Mountains, Dook'o'osliid, the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff.

On March 8, Coconino National Forest Supervisor Nora Rasure authorized the use of reclaimed wastewater from the City of Flagstaff to make artificial snow at the Arizona Snowbowl located on the Peaks. The Snowbowl consists of 777 acres of national forest lands and operates under a special use permit issued by the forest service.

This decision left the tribes, the Navajo Nation in particular, feeling very much disrespected. As a result, members of the Navajo Nation Council's Resources Committee and Lloyd Thompson of Diné Medicine Men's Association tried Tuesday at a committee meeting in Crownpoint to craft get-tough legislation the federal government will better understand regarding their opposition to the forest service decision.

Strong words
Rather than reaffirming language included in a 1998 Council resolution approved when Kelsey Begaye was Speaker, the committee approved amended wording proposed by Resources Vice Chairperson LaVern Wagner, Pueblo Pintado/Torreon/Whitehorse Lake.

Wagner recommended changing the title of the legislation from "Affirming the Navajo Nation Opposition ..." to state: "The Navajo Nation Strongly Opposes Desecration of Dook'o'osliid (San Francisco Peaks)."

At her recommendation the committee also modified a second part of the resolution authorizing the Navajo Nation President, Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council, Resources Committee and the Washington Office to advocate with the federal government against desecration of the peaks.

The committee inserted language recommending working with three agencies in particular U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Interior, and U.S. Forest Service in addition to the already named State of Arizona and City of Flagstaff, in an attempt to be heard.

Delegate Nelson Begaye, Lukachukai/Tsaile/Wheatfields, addressed the committee. "I would thank my sister, the Honorable Wagner for that language, because if we just reaffirm the resolution that's there, 'Now therefore be it resolved that the Navajo Nation Council respectfully urges ...'."

"I think we're beyond 'respectfully urging' the United States Congress," he said. Begaye also questioned whether the legislation has "enough teeth" to stop the Snowbowl expansion. Sponsor Amos Johnson of Black Mesa asked the committee "for all your wisdom and minds to help me with this legislation. If the word 'reaffirming' is not strong enough, let's say 'strongly oppose.' I'm asking for your wise choice of words."

Begaye suggested that Thompson, as a member of the medicine men's association "might have the right language. ... I really don't like 'reaffirming'," Begaye said.

Resources Chairman George Arthur, battling a case of laryngitis, mustered enough voice to tell Begaye: "You are right that this legislation should be in a manner that there is no direct misunderstanding on how the Navajo people feel about the development that's being initiated in Dook'o'osliid.

"I did not hear Navajo Nation leadership taking a public stand or a strong stand against this initiative. I have only read what is in the news media with comments being made from Navajo Nation leadership," Arthur said.

Thompson said the tribes' 45-day appeal period is under way. "Within 45 days another resolution is coming. We try to stay away from the legal sovereignty. We try to use our traditional sovereignty. The white people never understand us," he said.

After his presentation, Thompson elaborated further, saying the peaks have not been the only sacred mountain under attack. The medicine men also opposed uranium mining on the west side of Mount Taylor back around 1980.

Strong medicine
"The white people, they seem like they don't understand, really, because they've never been around the reservation and grew up with the ceremonial way of life. That's the reason why they don't understand. What it says in there (Snowbowl decision), Nora Rasure says economics is No. 1. That's money," Thompson said.

The white people talk about God creating people, he said. "He created different races, like us Indians. The Great Spirit gave us our language. He gave us a ceremony to pray for ourselves, to pray for our people. He even let us, sort of like 'own' this world, the Universe. That's why we have Four Directions.

"The Navajo pray with this mountain. Seems like this mountain is themselves. ... That's the reason why I say, 'How would you like it if people keep hitting you like this'?" He smacked his fist into his hand.

"That is what is happening to us. It is beating us, putting scars on us. ... Way back in 1978 they started. Way back in 1940 they started. Way back in 1830 when Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, then they started hunting us down like we're not human, we're like animals," Thompson said.

Now, the federal government once again is in a dispute with the Indians, but next Tuesday, the affected tribes will gather at the museum in Flagstaff, in the shadow of the peaks, to discuss the next course of action.

Thompson said the medicine men contacted environmental specialists in California and were told there are 22 ingredients used to clean up the wastewater. "But from the medicine man's point of view, there are human remains in there.

"You know those driver's licenses that say, 'Donor'? Those people when they get killed, these interns that want to be doctors, they take them to the hospital and they practice on them. And all that blood goes in there (wastewater). People that have to amputate their arms and legs, that goes in there. And birth. It all goes in there. Monthly from the woman goes in there," he said.

To Native Americans, dousing this wastewater on their house of worship is not only a sacrilege, but eventual cultural suicide.

Traditional medicine man Johnson Dennison, said, "The Navajo Blessing Way Ceremony says before anyone came, there was a Goddess, Changing Woman, who instructed to find Four Sacred Mountains." One of those, Dook'o'osliid, is in the west and is the color of twilight.

"It should be kept pure and clean. If one is not respecting it, there will be consequences," Dennison said.

— To contact reporter Kathy Helms: call (928) 729-2331; fax (928) 729-2446; e-mail, khelms@frontiernet.net