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SACRED SITE Sawmill suit threatens Medicine Wheel plan By MICHAEL MILSTEIN Gazette Wyoming Bureau SHERIDAN, Wyo. - A lawsuit filed by Wyoming Sawmills of Sheridan to overturn a cooperative preservation plan for the ancient stone Medicine Wheel in the Bighorn National Forest threatens to undo the years of work that went into the plan, a model for protection of Native American sacred sites, a Native American official said. "It would be a tragic ruling from the courts to say, 'Too bad, you spent seven years of your life for nothing, because it was illegal,' " said Jerry Flute, executive director of the Association on American Indian Affairs in South Dakota. Flute was one of many Native American representatives who participated in years of discussions that began with the aim of protecting the Medicine Wheel from a rising tide of tourist visits and led to a sweeping plan that assures that Native Americans will be consulted on any projects planned within sight of the wheel. Tribal, federal and local government officials signed the so-called Historic Preservation Plan at a 1996 ceremony where it was hailed as a model agreement for the cooperative protection of sacred sites such as the Medicine Wheel, where Native Americans sometimes hold religious ceremonies. Among the provisions of the plan, though, were the closure of a road that runs alongside the wheel to logging traffic, which Wyoming Sawmills now contends in a lawsuit prohibits logging in the sections of national forest accessed by the road. The sawmill also argues that consultation with Native American officials led the Forest Service to cancel a timber sale because the road that would have been used to haul logs passes within sight of the Medicine Wheel. The lawsuit argues that the plan is unconstitutional because it requires the Forest Service to advance Native American religion at the expense of traditional forest uses such as logging. The Mountain States Legal Foundation, a Denver group that advocates multiple use of public lands, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Wyoming Sawmills. The foundation filed a similar lawsuit to block a National Park Service plan to discourage climbing on Devils Tower in deference to Native American religious concerns. Both cases involve the same issue: How far can the government go in establishing respect for Indian religious traditions? "In my opinion, it's almost identical in both cases," Flute said. "After many, many years, the government is finally coming around to the position that native, traditional religion is something that needs to be considered, that needs to be looked at, that needs to be preserved." He said the agreement intended to preserve the Medicine Wheel and the natural scenery surrounding it preserves Native Americans' rights to freely exercise their religion at such sacred sites. But he said the protection of the Medicine Wheel extends beyond religious issues to include environmental protection of public lands that have in the past been damaged by uses such as logging. "There's a modern way of doing things, and there's an old way," Flute said. "In particular areas, it's critical to the serenity that if certain logging was to take place it should be done in the old way. If you want to log, take it out by horse instead of trucks. If you're going to log, do it selectively. Don't go in and clear-cut everything." Wyoming Sawmills says in its lawsuit that the Medicine Wheel curtails its access to multiple-use lands in the Bighorn National Forest that for 34 years have served a major source of timber for the sawmill, which employs 100 people and has an annual payroll of more than $7 million. Native American tribes do not oppose logging in national forests, Flute said, but believe that logging should take place with respect for the long-term environmental values of the land. As a sacred site, the Medicine Wheel has helped to highlight such values on surrounding land. "Is that a religious issue? No," Flute said. "Is it a partial religious issue? Yes. But it's more so a management issue and issue of environmental concern where the community is saying, 'We want this area to be managed prudently.' There are religious concerns, but the environment is just as important." He said some local residents and businesses have resented renewed Native American involvement in land management issues, but the Medicine Wheel plan proved that groups from different sides can work together to reach a compromise that is reasonable for everyone.
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