IEN Note: This past summer during August 1998 of the IEN Protecting Mother Earth Conference, over 1,000 people traveled to the Mt. Shasta/Medicine Lake area to bring national and international attention to the sacred site issues. See the article and pictures in this IEN NEWS issue on the conference gathering.

By Michelle Berditschevsky

Over countless generations, Native People have come to Mount Shasta for the training of medicine leaders and chiefs, for spiritual quests, for healing, prayer, and guidance... Since 1978, the entire geographical, cultural, and spiritual integrity of Mount Shasta has been threatened by plans for a major ski resort and adjacent condominium development, complete with a shopping center and golf course. This development would have desecrated the Mountain, which is of utmost spiritual significance to the Tribes surrounding the Mountain. The Native Coalition includes the Pit River Tribe, the Shasta Tribe, members of the Wintu, Karuk and Modoc Tribes, the California Council of Tribal Governments, the International Council of California, and extends across tribal lines to Native support throughout the country.

This summer Regional Forester Lynn Sprague issued a decision to terminate the proposed Mount Shasta Ski Area Project, finalizing a recommendation made earlier this year by Shasta-Trinity Forest Supervisor Sharon Heywood. Sprague, who heads the Pacific Southwest Region of the Forest Service, said that a prime reason for his decision is the two areas of Mount Shasta which are eligible to the National Register of Historic Places because of their significance to Native Culture-Mount Shasta's summit and Panther Meadows. "These are nationally significant historic sites," he wrote, "worthy of stewardship for the inspiration and benefit of current and future generations. The mountain is clearly considered sacred to many Indian people and is a very special place for non-Indians as well."

We at the Native Coalition and Save Mount Shasta are naturally very happy about the public acknowledgement of the sacred value of Mount Shasta through the Regional Forester's decision. This long process has largely been an effort in public education, and the forest Service's turn to a sensitive position toward the Mountain's cultural and natural qualities indicate a change of values at this stage, and we hope for future stages of the Mount Shasta case, and other cases as well.

Developer Carl Martin, who since 1988 has held a permit to develop almost 2,000 acres on the Mountain, chose not to appeal the decision. He wrote a letter to the Mount Shasta Herald marking the end of his 14-year effort to build a large-scale ski-condominium resort on mount Shasta, stating: "Now I must congratulate Michelle Berditschevsky (Save Mount Shasta Coordinator and Secretary for the Native Coalition) as she exercised her freedom and her vision of the mountain..... I will pray for the Native Americans and urge everyone to move on and enjoy the mountains we all love."

Through many levels, from local forums to Washington DC, from historic preservation to environmental justice, our ten-year involvement has taken is through two appeals, a lawsuit, and a long historic preservation process. Throughout the campaign at critical points, the coalition to protect Mount Shasta has also included the California Wilderness Coalition, Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society.

An important aspect of the Mount Shasta issue has been uniting our efforts as a coalition. The way the Native American cultural aspect worked together with the environment values is a statement, we believe, that acknowledgement and respect of native culture can help bring U.S. society as a whole to a more ethical relationship to the land. Native people took care of this land for thousands of years, furthering abundance and diversity such as has not been seen since European settlement.

In our experience, the coalition building process is more than just gathering support, it is building human bridges and cultural connections. This cannot be a superficial thing, it has to be a commitment that is capable of withstanding the inevitable tests of our sincerity, so that Native input can have its rightful part in decision making in keeping with the federal trust responsibility and other laws.

The coalition process also means finding allies within the administrative and legal structures that are supposed to protect cultural values, including the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the Native American Heritage Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office, the National Register of Historic Places, the Office of Environmental Justice at the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Office of American Indian trust.

According to the teaching story, versions of which exist among many tribes, there was a time when human being of all colors were together. Some of the people stayed in place. Others went around the world with a mission to record and invent things for the purpose of making life beautiful, clean, and good. These people will come back to be with those who stayed in place. But the abuse of power has led to materialism with its associated corruption, greed, selfishness, dishonesty, as well as the destruction of the land and of natural life. The myth has still to be lived out.

While the decision to halt this development is a very important one, much work remains to be done. There are ongoing threats to Mount Shasta from commercial logging and the looming expansion of an existing ski area onto the upper slopes of the Mountain. Protection has to be accomplished to make room for positive values, such as cultural management and restoration.

In March 1994, Mount Shasta in its entirety, from its summit down to 4,000 feet elevation, was declared eligible to the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic District. This determination was the result of a six-year effort by Native Americans and Save Mount Shasta to obtain recognition and protection under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). Eligibility to the National Register means that any federal projects have to consider cultural values and go through a strict NHPA Section 106 Process to determine whether they will impact historic sites.

However, in November 1994, the Keeper of the National Register drastically reduced the Historic District as a result of pressure from political and commercial interests. The reduction pushed the boundary to 8,000-foot elevation at treeline (a reduction of almost 90%, from 150,000 to 19,000 acres). We are still working to obtain a hearing on this revision, which was made without consultations with the Tribes whose cultural values were thereby affected.

The reduced Historic District omits many important areas of the Mountain as well as essential defining characteristics, such as ridges, buttes, springs, creeks, trees, animals and their habitats, that are spirituality important in Creation History and for the continuity of Native culture. The District is far from encompassing the dynamic interconnections that make up the Mountain's sacred geography. The struggle for full recognition of Mount Shasta's significance continues beyond the present decision.

The Mount Shasta issue has been more than just stopping development. It continues to be the affirmation of a sacred relationship to the land and of a special place on earth that symbolizes that relationship. Native culture has the sacred value of the land built into it, with knowledge that the Creator has left landmarks right here on earth that holds qualities we can learn from. Many people the world over learn special aspects of being and nature from this Mountain. We feel that the sacred value that the Mountain teaches is a value that can untangle the knots our world is in.

If you want to help, ask us for our petition to support restoration of the full Mount Shasta Historic District boundaries. Contact: Native Coalition for Cultural Restoration of Mount Shasta, P.O. Box 1143, Mount Shasta, CA 96067 Phone and fax (530) 926-3397/336-5070