The USDA is currently trying to keep Obama from looking like an ass in a headdress and have put forth some effort to "listen to the tribes" about sacred sites issues in this country. This report does hold promise in that if pushed hard enough, they may actually make a recommendation to take action (you will see that step glaringly missing). But be forewarned, the report is like the best lies out there... filled with truth to prop up the lie. Lets point out those truths a bit louder and then demand some action...

Here is a link to download the report: Sacred Sites Draft Report (pdf)

Comments should be sent to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Hard copy comments should be sent to:

USDA Forest Service
Office of Tribal Relations
Attn: Ericka Luna
1400 Independence Ave. SW
Washington, DC 20250–1160

Then call or email President Obama and let him know how important it is that he intervene in this matter.

Switchboard: 202-456-1414
Comments: 202-456-1111

Here is my take on the whole thing:

Throughout the draft letter you will find numerous mentions of how they "hear" us when we talk about the severity of the desecration of the San Francisco Peaks (Nuvatukya'Ovi, Do'ko'oosliid, et al).

I want to be sure everyone is aware of how disingenuous this letter is. Precisely at the same moment as this letter was being drafted the USFS and Arizona Snowbowl were clearcutting giant swaths of land and laying the treated sewage pipeline on the Mountain as fast as they could.

It is additionally interesting that the whole report looks EXACTLY like what they did here in the Coconino National Forest in the NEPA process to allow Arizona Snowbowl to spray treated sewage effluent on the San Francisco Peaks to make fake snow. There reason was so they could provide a special use permitted user of public lands a "consistent and reliable ski season." And it was "necessary to fulfill the multiple use mandate."

So, "what happened?" you may ask, well on paper they could present the following (not on the ground though):

1. Regularly scheduled communication and consultation opportunities with Federally Recognized Tribes

- At the very beginning of the process (2001) it was largely quiet and few were notified. However a few got wind of it and a lot of tribes got involved quickly. The Forest Service would talk to anyone any time about the project, be it environmental group or tribe. They are always all smiles down there and many of the local USFS employees not only understand the sacredness of the Mountain, but they even speak openly of not agreeing with the project.

- There was public meetings on almost every reservation and in Flagstaff (the town who would be supplying the treated sewage effluent). Multiple public meetings with the ability to provide oral testimony and comment on the DEIS were held.

- Heck, not only did they include tribes, but they accommodated everyone and scheduled more meetings when the outcry was so great.

- Over 20,000 comments against the project were received during the NEPA process, with only a few letter from stakeholders for the project. All of them got some sort of response (not perfect process here either, but huge expense was made)

- After the appeals process over 200 groups and individuals still had standing to sue on various claims.

- The USFS even created a Memorandum of Understanding" as a way to "mitigate" tribal concerns, and ignored the fact that almost none of the tribes signed it as it did not mitigate any concerns they had. It was a one-sided document created by the Forest Service and is still used to this day to show how they "collaborated and communicated."

2. A recognition system for employees and Tribal partners engaging in effective communication.

- Hopi cultural preservation officers and Dine medicine men were involved throughout the process... (I am sure others were too, but I only speak of what I know.) The Coconino Forest worked directly with tribal liaisons throughout the process.

- There are smaller tribes involved who also see the sacred Mountain, and it was less easy for them to get a word in, but it was not different than the half-million Dine strong conclusion that this was desecration.

- While this was by no means a perfect process. Much consultation and communication was forced on them by our effort to get the word out. I am 100% certain that the USFS "heard" and "understood" and "communicated" like crazy with the tribes throughout this process.

3. A comprehensive training program for line, staff, and law enforcement personnel to provide the knowledge to build respectful relationships;

- The USFS were very well trained in what to say and how to say it long before scoping began. I would even posit that it was "comprehensive" in it's approach because I see it used on other Forests as well.

- The unfortunate part of this is the knowledge was not used to create a respectful relationship. It was used to frame a human health hazard for all peoples, especially Snowbowl employees as a "subjective" religious issue. They went so far as to even include the local newspapers and TV news outlets in this "comprehensive training program."

4. I am unaware of any trust issues ever being brought up in this case. Not to say their aren't. Their description of a trust is quite disgusting though, and Elouise Cobell proved how rarely they live up to their "master" part in the master/slave relationship.

5. I don't think they hired any extra natives in this process, and I caution others not to help them Red Wash the USFS.


So what am I getting at? Well, it comes down to one simple statement by Gene Waltrip, the USFS Peaks District Ranger at the time of this NEPA Process who said something like (sorry for paraphrasing, it is on video in the movie "Snowbowl Effect" which can be found on youtube):

"We are not bound by NEPA to choose a solution that does not harm the environment or people. We are only bound to record that harm will happen. Nora Rasure [USFS Forest Supervisor on Coconino Forest] can decide to move forward with a project even it will cause harm, it is her choice alone."

So that's exactly what they did. The USFS openly states in it's Final Environmental Impact Statement that the treated sewage effluent snow will cause great harm to the Native American cultures who look to the mountain as sacred.

The Coconino National Forest Supervisor who signed the order to go ahead with the project anyways, Nora Rasure, was then given a promotion to Washington DC because of her "sensitive handling of Native American issues." - Basically, she was a hatchet man. She was brought in as Forest Supervisor during this NEPA process and then removed as soon as she signed the paperwork. It was a done deal before NEPA began, and you can be sure the highest levels of the USFS were involved and very "trained" to handle sacred sites issues.

Then USFS and USDOJ lawyers, on the taxpayers dime, defended the USFS position all the way to the steps of the Supreme Court. With the verdict on Sacred sites being a very dangerous precedence for all peoples:

It is more important to the USFS to subsidize a private recreation business with a permit to use public land for profit than the cultures of nearly 1,000,000 people. Even if it means genocide. Even if it means spraying our treated sewage effluent on the birthplace of a people, a people still living right there today.

It set an additional precedence that if our public lands do not currently provide a forest product naturally, that they should spend millions of dollars to help build a mechanical method of delivery for that product. In this instance, snow.

My Issues with the report:

1. The Peaks look like a poster child. After "listening" in all 50 states, where are the other sites?

2. The handling of our San Francisco Peaks case is exactly how they plan to handle it nationwide. Yikes. Nora Rasure will probably be asked to write the training manual.

3. There is really no action step whatsoever. No list of places that could be protected under current laws. We need more than "consultation" and "listening" - all that does is give them the ammo they need to frame their reports in a way to mitigate Native Americans right into their graves, which they will promptly build a Wal-Mart on top of.

4. Where is the moratorium on all sacred sites desecration (or however the lawyers would put it). Why are they not asking to push the pause button until the Report is finished and some guidelines be set. I know they heard that a few of the sacred places were in dire trouble as we speak. I stood in the middle of a clear-cut on the Mountain this week and cried because with just a month and a handful of machines they cut down 100,000 trees. Some of the trees were many hundreds of years old and were home to countless animals.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Below is the letter that was provided along with the report you can read at the link above. It is gripping reading to be sure and smacks of the new style PC fascism that looks so happy nice on the surface. Lets break that frame and demand action. And please be sure to note to them that their poster child (the campaign to save the peaks) had 100,000 trees cut down while they reported they wanted to "listen."

Please provide them picture examples from my before and after albums: Before | After

================================== Copied from USDA letter

Hello,
This is to inform you and the members of your organization that the U.S. Forest Service and USDA have released the official Draft Report to the Secretary regarding Sacred Sites policies and procedures on National Forest System land (attached).  This report was developed based on what we heard at listening sessions all over the country, as well as letters, emails, and other input.  We now seek your review and input on the recommendations for policy changes described in the Report.  Please provide any input on this Draft Report you may have before November, 2011.

Specifically, we would like you to tell us:

Did we represent in the report your concerns, as well as your ideas for modified Sacred Sites policies and procedures?

Do you have ideas on how to enhance the recommendations in the report?

(editor's note: I do, you could stop all this lip service... as you were writing this report, the San Francisco Peaks that were mentioned throughout your document were razed of over 100,000 trees. Much of it was Old Growth with 40" DBH sizes, so while you say you want to listen, I think it is more important that you hear and act... you missed the boat on this one).

Please contact us at this email address, or contact any of the people listed below, for more information, for a hard copy of the report, or to set up a meeting to discuss the Draft Report's recommendations.  You may also visit

http://www.fs.fed.us/spf/tribalrelations/sacredsites.shtml

Thank you so much, and we look forward to hearing from you on how we can best improve this draft report and recommendations on Forest Service and USDA policies and procedures regarding Sacred Sites.

Respectfully,
The Sacred Sites Team

**************************

For more information, contact:

Fred Clark, Forest Service Office of Tribal Relations, 202–205–1514

FOREST SERVICE REGIONAL TRIBAL RELATIONS PROGRAM MANAGERS

Missoula, MT                 Cheryl Vanderburg                 406. 329.3348 - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .us
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Comments should be sent to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Hard copy comments should be sent to:

USDA Forest Service
Office of Tribal Relations
Attn: Ericka Luna
1400 Independence Ave. SW
Washington, DC 20250–1160