Posted on 12/10/2012 5:30:09 AM PST by IbJensen
(CNSNews.com) – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Dec. 6 released a report that urges the U.S. Forest Service to work more closely with tribal governments in protecting, respectfully interpreting, and giving appropriate access to sites that are sacred to American Indians and Alaskan Natives.
"American Indian and Alaska Native values and culture have made our nation rich in spirit and deserve to be honored and respected," Vilsack said. "By honoring and protecting sacred sites on national forests and grasslands, we foster improved tribal relationships and a better understanding of native people's deep reverence for natural resources and contributions to society."
The report provides Vilsack with information about how U.S. Forest Service is currently protecting American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) sacred sites on federal lands and how USDA and the Forest Service might improve the way those sacred sites are protected.
Among the recommendations is for U.S. Forest Service employees to receive training about tribal history, law, and cultural sensitivities.
The report also recommends expanding the definition of “sacred sites,” which now is limited by executive order to “specific, discrete, narrowly delineated locations” of “religious significance.”
That definition, the report says, “may be too narrow and inconsistent with the AI/AN view of sacredness.” The report said a “broader concept” of “sacred places” should be considered.
"It is our hope that the recommendations contained in this Final Report will lead to meaningful changes in the way AI/AN sacred sites are protected and accessed," the report says.
It is now up to the Agriculture Secretary to move forward with specific policy changes to address the report’s recommendations.
The report released last week is a response to Vilsack’s request in 2010 for the USDA’s Office of Tribal Relations and the USDA’s Forest Service to talk with American Indian and Alaska Native tribal leaders to find out how USDA can do a better job of accommodating and protecting AI/AN sacred sites while simultaneously pursuing the Forest Service’s multiple-use mission.
The appointed team conducted more than 100 meetings or conversations with tribal members; and it also asked for input from Forest Service employees. ‘Reaching a balance’ USDA’s U.S. Forest Service manages 193 million acres of forests and grasslands, which are visited by millions of Americans and foreign tourists -- "each of whom has a different relationship with the land and a different perspective on what activities are appropriate," the report said.
The Forest Service is required by law to administer the national forests for purposes of outdoor recreation, grazing, timber, watershed, and wildlife and fish purposes; to analyze the environmental impacts of its decisions; to protect threatened and endangered species; and to conduct research.
In doing so, the Forest Service is supposed to strike a balance between the public’s needs and desires and the need to protect sacred sites, manage sacred places, and provide for Tribal traditional and cultural practices, the report says. “The protection of sacred sites must be a value we will strive to protect; it cannot be an afterthought or be less than our other values. When sacred sites protection is in conflict with other uses, Forest Service employees must be mindful and creative in reaching for balance."
The report also says: "Economic and recreational drivers are important in land management decision making, but not more or less important than sacred sites concerns. In the past, however, the Forest Service has not always thoroughly considered sacred sites concerns, balanced sacred sites concerns with other values or used its discretion in land management decisions to find creative ways of incorporating protections for sacred sites in its decisions."
‘These voices instruct us’
The report notes that the Forest Service has “fiduciary obligations” to tribes, even though “we know so little about AI/AN (American Indian/Alaskan Native) sacred sites as an agency.”
“It is through the voices of the AI/AN people that we are learning about and affirming the real importance of sacred sites; these voices instruct us."
The reporting team says it heard many concerns from the tribes about the Forest Service’s authorization of recreational activities, including rock climbing, interpretation, outfitting and guiding, and off-highway vehicle use.
“Specifically, we heard numerous concerns with the Forest Service’s decision to allow the use of reclaimed wastewater for creating artificial snow at the Arizona Snowbowl Ski Area in the San Francisco Peaks from many who strongly urged the agency to reverse this decision.”
Native Americans consider the Peaks to be sacred ground, and they say the use of treated sewage to make snow is a desecration. So far, the federal courts have ruled against them.
The Forest Service owns the land where the resort is located.
And another thing. The federales should own NO government land! All should be given to the states in which that land is located.
Of course we know it’s all about the endless growth of a bloated government and the unions.
Why is the Forest Service under Agriculture and not Interior?
Woo, woo, woo! Wait a minute. 'Sacred', as in pertaining to a religious purpose. Where's the lawsuit from the Freedom from Religion group?
Dotted lines run all over the ‘disorganization’ chart utilized by the Bronco Bama regime. There is no control and there is no proper functioning central socialist government.
America would have a military coup takever, but all the generals are political disfunctional arse wipes.
Why do I doubt that the federal government really has Indians best interests at heart?
More Casinos!
Fact Checker sez: Native Americans, AKA “Savages” were known to run entire herds of buffalo over cliffs.
That’s correct - the entire herd!
Whites were amazed that the smell could gag them from a distance of many miles.
Don’t forget the ‘Native American skill at ‘club and sharp stone’ warfare as a continuous state of affairs.
Cannibalism - don’t forget cannibalism.
Did I mention Native Americans were expert torturers?
“We love our Tonto...!”
I gotta admit that sounds pretty good, but this is probably just more BS.
In fact lots of very sensitive intelligence work is done on Indian Reservatins, because it’s very hard to info regarding what goes on at all on such lands.
You have some really sensitive facility you don’t want lawyers and presstitutes knowing about? Put it on an Indian Reservation; discovery work there is sorta like suing the King of Lichtenstein —takes years and gobs of money. Tons of moaning and groaning and ya come up with zip.
This is just BS that has the goal of making it easier for Uncle Sugar to get away with hush-hush sneaky stuff and away from our prying eyes.
Don’t forget education:
High School Graduation Rates Low Where Most American Indians, Alaska Natives Live, Report Says
A new national report has found that fewer than 50 percent of Native American Indian and Alaska Native students from the Pacific and Northwest regions of the U. S. graduate from high school. Released on Thursday, “The Dropout/Graduation Crisis Among American Indians and Alaska Native Students: Failure to Respond Places the Future of Native People at Risk” report was conducted by The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
http://diverseeducation.com/article/13555/
Dont forget slavery, gang rape, attempted genocides, and racism....
Has anyone been to the reservations and seen the filth piling up?
Ok not all, but just the ones I have been to in CA, AZ, WA, ID, CO.............
Yeeesh!
Has anyone been to the reservations and seen the filth piling up?
Ok not all, but just the ones I have been to in CA, AZ, WA, ID, CO.............
Yeeesh!
Tribal government means no one owns anything. The ‘tribe” owns the land and any enterprise must be shared with those who don’t help carry the load.
But...but...but what about that “sacred” separation of church and state bull**** the commie libs are always whining about. Whitey can’t have a “sacred” memorial with a cross honoring American war dead but the NAs can have theirs? BULL****!!!!!
The US government can honor every religion but Christianity. They pull up every cross on federal land they can find, but the Indian “sacred places” will be cherished.
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