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SAWMILL SUES Medicine Wheel debate goes to court By MICHAEL MILSTEIN Gazette Wyoming Bureau SHERIDAN, Wyo. - Wyoming Sawmills of Sheridan has gone to court to overturn a 1996 U.S. Forest Service plan for managing the Medicine Wheel atop the Bighorn Mountains, arguing that the plan advances Native American religion at the expense of logging and other longstanding uses of the Bighorn National Forest. In a lawsuit filed against the Forest Service in federal district court in Cheyenne last month, Wyoming Sawmills argues that the plan and related agreements "unconstitutionally require the Forest Service to establish and promote Native American religious practices." The lawsuit says that the Forest Service has already halted one timber sale north of the Medicine Wheel due to Native American religious concerns, although Forest Service officials said they had actually put the sale on hold due to an unrelated moratorium on new forest roads.
Wyoming Sawmills is represented in the lawsuit by the Mountain States Legal Foundation, the same multiple-use advocacy group that is fighting a National Park Service effort to limit climbing on Devils Tower in northeastern Wyoming in deference to Native American religious concerns. The plan governing management of the Medicine Wheel carries even broader consequences than the Devils Tower climbing limits because it affects 18,000 acres of public land within sight of the ancient Medicine Wheel and even more land beyond, said Wyoming Sawmills General Manager Ernie Schmidt. "You're talking about restricting use of many thousands of acres of land that would otherwise be subject to multiple-use management," he said. Many Native American tribes consider the Medicine Wheel a sacred site and in 1996, following years of debate, Forest Service, tribal representatives and other government officials signed a Historic Preservation Plan intended as a blueprint for management of the stone structure. The plan required the Forest Service to consult with the Medicine Wheel Alliance and the Medicine Wheel Coalition, both Native American groups, and other agencies on projects planned within the roughly 18,000 acres visible from the Medicine Wheel. The plan referred to the 18,000-acre section of forest as an "Area of Consultation" that would be managed with special emphasis on protecting the sacred values of the Medicine Wheel, a National Historic Landmark that tribes sometimes use for religious ceremonies. The Historic Preservation Plan also prohibited timber hauling on the forest road that runs by the Medicine Wheel to minimize noise, safety concerns and other effects of heavy truck traffic at the wagon-wheel-shaped structure. In a proclamation, tribes and others at the time hailed the plan as a model "for the permanent protection of American Indian Holy Lands located upon public domain lands." Wyoming Sawmills filed an appeal of the plan shortly after its approval, but Forest Service officials denied the appeal in 1997. Sawmill officials then sought help from the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the multiple-use mandate for public lands in the West. The foundation does not charge for its legal services, but Wyoming Sawmills must pay court fees and other procedural costs in the case. The lawsuit seeks no monetary damages, but demands that the Historic Preservation Plan be withdrawn and that the Forest Service be permanently barred "from restricting forest usage for religious purposes." The Forest Service must submit an answer to the lawsuit by next month. In the lawsuit, Wyoming Sawmills contends that an agreement leading to the Historic Preservation Plan and the plan itself change "the standards and guidelines within the area of consultation and surrounding areas from multiple-use forest management to a special emphasis area solely to foster Native American religions and their rituals." The lawsuit contends by closing the road by the Medicine Wheel to logging trucks, the Forest Service has effectively banned logging on all public lands accessed by the road. "As a result of the prohibition against timber hauling along Forest Development Road 12, the areas served by Forest Development Road 12 underwent a de facto change in their designation because timber could no longer, as a practical matter, be cut on federal lands to the Northeast of the Medicine Wheel that are well outside the area of consultation," the lawsuit states. In September 1997, the Forest Service advertised the Horse Creek Timber Sale, scheduled to include 2.3 million board feet of timber to the north of the Medicine Wheel, outside the Area of Consultation. The timber sale had cleared an environmental assessment, but officials discussed it with Native American groups because trucks hauling logs from the sale would follow a forest road that edges the Area of Consultation. "The Medicine Wheel Coalition and Medicine Wheel Alliance objected to that timber sale because of the possibility that their members and others might be able to see or hear timber hauling on Forest Development Road 11, which lies along the boundary of the area of consultation, from the Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark during their religious rituals," the lawsuit states. Forest Service officials then withdrew the sale because of the Native American objections to truck traffic, the lawsuit says. "The cancellation of the Horse Creek timber sale and the de facto closure of portions of the Bighorn National Forest to legal timber harvest transportation and forest management activity, including timber harvesting, was undertaken for the sole purpose of furthering Native American religions," the lawsuit says. The earlier agreement and Historic Preservation Plan "fulfill the purpose of furthering Native American religions by closing areas of a multiple-use forest to legal timber harvesting, setting aside those areas for purposes of Native American religions." Consequently, the actions violate the First Amendment guarantee that the government will not establish or promote any religion, the lawsuit argues. Medicine Wheel District Ranger Dave Myers confirmed that the Native American groups were concerned about logging traffic and said the Horse Creek sale was delayed while he consulted them. But he said the timber sale was ultimately suspended by an 18-month moratorium on new roads in national forests, not Native American concerns. He said the Forest Service has struggled through the years to balance cultural concerns about the Medicine Wheel as a sacred site with the agency's multiple-use mandate. Officials recently told parties to the Historic Preservation Plan that roads through the Area of Consultation must remain available for public use. "It's very difficult to find a solution that will not affect someone," Myers said. But Big Horn County Commissioner Ray Peterson, who helped develop the Historic Preservation Plan and signed it on behalf of the county, said Wyoming Sawmills may have valid concerns. "My fear has always been that the Forest Service is giving the Native Americans a leg up - not just consulting them but letting them make some decisions on what happens up there," he said. Neither Medicine Wheel Coalition nor Medicine Wheel Alliance representatives would comment on the lawsuit. The lawsuit contends that the Historic Preservation Plan also violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which specifies how federal agencies must seek outside advice. And it says Forest Service officials violated both the National Environmental Policy Act by not carefully considering the effects of the Historic Preservation Plan and related logging traffic restrictions and the National Forest Management Act by not fully disclosing those effects to the public. Finally, the Forest Service violated both the National Forest Management Act and the Administrative Procedures Act by deeming the changes an "insignificant" amendment to the Bighorn National Forest's overall management plan. Mountain States Legal Foundation attorney Neil Holmes said limits on land use near the Medicine Wheel could also turn out to hinder recreational uses such as snowmobiling. The Forest Service could have addressed protection of the Medicine Wheel without jeopardizing established uses of the northern reaches of the Bighorn National Forest. "The Mountain States Legal Foundation is not an anti-religious organization in any way," Holmes said. "We just don't think religion is a good tool for forest management."
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