FALL/WINTER 1997-98

SEEKING SOLUTIONS SHORT OF A LAWSUIT - NEW TOOLS AND FORUMS by Michelle Berditschevsky, Coordinator

MOUNT SHASTA BECOMES AN
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ISSUE

Since the drastic Mount Shasta Historic District boundary reduction (see "Background" below), our efforts have been directed towards obtaining higher level review of the November 1994 decision by the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places in the Department of the Interior. Save Mount Shasta works in cooperation with the Native Coalition for Cultural Restoration of Mount Shasta, with attorney Charles Miller representing both organizations. Our strategy works on dual fronts of restoring the Historic District and stopping the proposed ski/condominium development.

You may recall that we made some progress last year in obtaining a meeting between Assistant Secretary of the Interior George Frampton and the Coalition in San Francisco to discuss the Historic District and ski area issues, as well as holding discussions with several other high level officials in Washington DC, including Jack Ward Thomas, then Chief of the Forest Service. But, with the resignation of Frampton, Thomas and other changes in agency personnel, it looked like we would have to start from zero again.

Thankfully, a new ray of hope has entered the picture through our contacts with the Office of Environmental Justice in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice gives government agencies two directions that directly apply to the Mount Shasta case: to assure that no one group should suffer disproportionate impacts as a result of agency decisions, and that no one should be excluded from the process that leads to decisions affecting the natural, cultural and social environment. Executive Order 13007 on Indian Sacred Sites is also relevant to Mount Shasta since it directs agencies to consult with Native Americans on actions that would affect traditional cultural sites and to avoid impacts on those sites.

These directives apply to Mount Shasta because the Historic District boundary was changed by the Keeper of the National Register as a result of political pressure and without consultations with Native Americans and other interested parties. A more meaningful Historic District boundary must now be created to assure that natural and cultural values are protected.

In addition, the Forest Service continues to propose a (second) large ski development on Mount Shasta, ignoring evidence produced by its own ethnographic and historical studies of the Mountain's spiritual, cultural and historic significance to Native Americans and people all over the world. The proposed ski development would have enormous impacts to cultural values on the entire Mountain and particularly impacts Native Americans whose religious values are closely associated with the Mountain.

The Forest Service has so far ignored our proposal for Cultural Management Plan for Mount Shasta as a whole. A management plan is necessary to protect cultural values, and to make a place for Native American traditional land management practices.

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation has stated in writing to the Forest Service that a Historic Preservation Plan is needed under Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

On November 5-6th, Floyd Buckskin, Chair of the Native Coalition and Cultural Spokesperson of the Pit River Tribe, attorney Charles Miller, and Michelle Berditschevsky, Native Coalition Secretary and Save Mount Shasta Coordinator, participated in a panel on Environmental Justice at the Annual Tribal EPA Conference and afterwards met with Environmental Justice staff from both the capitol and Region 9 to discuss next steps in the process.

The Office of Environmental Justice has agreed to help bring department representatives together and facilitate an informal discussion to explore what can be done. We hope this will lead to a meeting in the near future between department heads and the principal parties involved to formalize a solution to the Mount Shasta issues. In addition to expansion of the Historic District boundary, we are asking for a directive from the Department of Agriculture to abandon the ski development proposal as incompatible with the cultural significance of the Mountain, resulting in a new Record of Decision, and for a commitment of personnel and funds for the development of a Cultural Management Plan for Mount Shasta.

FOREST SERVICE TAKES NEXT STEP
IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION PROCESS

This past August the Forest Service took the next required step in the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 Process by sending its Effects Analysis for the proposed Mount Shasta Ski Area to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation for comment. The Effects Analysis includes the finding that the proposed ski area would have adverse effects on historic properties on Mount Shasta.

The Effects Analysis includes only alternative MSR, the proposed Mount Shasta Ski Area. Even though it claims to have incorporated comments received from the public, it does not contain any substantial changes from the March 1995 draft, except that the present version contains only the Forest Service's preferred alternative. This disregards the fact that several of the original six alternatives considered earlier were shown to have fewer adverse effects.

The Finding of Effect addresses only direct effects of the development, and omits indirect effects and cumulative effects. Nine years ago, appeals brought out that the economics of the ski area would be questionable as a stand-alone ski area, and that adjacent commercial and real estate development would be needed for it to be a profitable venture. Even though the Forest Service says that plans for Lemuria Village have been dropped, the developer still holds an option on private lands (just below Panther Meadows) adjacent to the proposed ski area.

ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION
SEES ADVERSE EFFECTS

The Advisory Council concurs that the proposed alternative MSR would have adverse effects on the two identified historic properties (Mount Shasta above the 8,000 foot elevation, and Panther Meadows). The Council adds that the Area of Potential Effects is too narrowly drawn and fails to include "the development of resorts, commercial facilities, and other activities not included within the present ski area permit boundary… and as a result [the Forest Service] has failed to consider the full range of effects of the undertaking on historic properties."

The Council also states that the Forest Service still had not met the requirements of the Section 106 Process communicated in the Council's May 1995 and April 1996 letters. These indicated the need for more efforts to identify and evaluate other cultural properties which may be affected by the proposed ski development for eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places below the 8,000 foot Historic District boundary, including but not limited to Gray Butte, Bunny Flat and Panther Creek.

We want to commend the Advisory Council for truly doing its job of helping the Forest Service comply with the National Historic Preservation Act.

What all this means is that the Forest Service has to decide whether to incorporate the Advisory Council's comments in the Effects Analysis. A major amount of work would be required for the Effects Analysis to be in compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act. According to the Forest Supervisor's office the decision may not be made until after the first of the year. It really amounts to a decision on whether the Forest Service will proceed with the ski area permit or not.

PROPOSED MILITARY TIMBER SALE ON MOUNT SHASTA

Of great concern is a timber sale proposed on the south and east sides of Mount Shasta for forested areas near the Military Pass Road. The sale proposes two clearcuts, as well as "thinning" some of the large trees in old growth groves. This area is within the original Mount Shasta Historic District and contains some beautiful forests, creek sides, aspen groves, as well as gathering areas and prehistoric sites. SAVE MOUNT SHASTA with the Native Coalition for Cultural Restoration of Mount Shasta submitted comments as part of the Forest Service's scoping process to identify issues related to the proposed sale.

We brought up the many unresolved issues regarding the Historic District boundary and the proposal for a Cultural Management Plan which we have submitted to the Forest Service at their request, and which the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation has supported. Without such a plan, timber sales will continue to fragment the Mountain, largely ignoring ecological or cultural values in favor of timber production.

Given that the damage done as a result of past forestry practices was the only reason by the Keeper for diminishing the Historic District boundaries, Forest Service actions should be limited to considerations of forest health and restoration, without further undermining the integrity of the Mountain, at least until boundary issues are resolved.

Based on our field visits to the areas, we are adamantly opposed to the two proposed clearcuts (resulting in more plantations), as well as to overthinning within old growth forests or younger forests which are on their way to a late seral condition. We recommended two restoration projects within the area, and located several threatened and ethnobotanical plant species.

We asked that cumulative effects of past timber sales in the area and on the whole Mountain be considered in the Environmental Assessment. Old growth is to be promoted under the Northwest Forest Plan (for the spotted owl), which has standards spelled out for retaining late seral stages, and requires that inventories of "Survey and Manage" species were to be underway by 1996. To our knowledge, the Forest Service has not met these requirements.

Letters expressing public concern about the proposed Military Timber Sale would be helpful at this point. Please address your letters to: Robert Hammond, District Ranger Mount Shasta Ranger District-USFS P. O. Box 1620 - McCloud, CA 96057

BACKGROUND ON THE MOUNT SHASTA ISSUE

Mount Shasta in its entirety, from a level of 4,000 feet to its summit, was found to be eligible to the National Register of Historic Places in March 1994 (Exec. Order 11593). This determination was the result of a six year effort by Native Americans and others to obtain recognition and protection under the National Historic Preservation Act for Mount Shasta. This Mountain is considered by all the tribes around it, and beyond, to be the Home of the Creator and a Center balancing the energies of heaven and earth. The Mountain contains many individual sites which have importance as mythological, ceremonial, healing, spiritual quest and prayer sites, as well as gathering areas for food, medicinal, basketry and other materials important to traditional Native cultures.

In November 1994, as a result of pressure from commercial developers, the Keeper of the National Register drastically revised his original determination of eligibility to include only the area above 8,000 feet (above treeline) and one ceremonial site, Panther Meadows. This shrank the Historic District from its original 150,000 acres to 19,000 acres.

This decision was based on a unilateral determination that the Mountain lacked integrity due to past logging and road building, without consultations with Native Americans whose cultures are thereby affected. The 8,000 foot boundary omits many important areas of the Mountain that have integrity by any standard, as well as essential defining characteristics of the Historic District, such as ridges, buttes, springs, creeks, trees, animals and their habitats. The new boundary is far from encompassing the dynamic interconnections that make up the Mountain's sacred geography.

THREATS FROM LARGE-SCALE SKI/CONDO DEVELOPMENT

The reduction of the Historic District means that Mount Shasta below treeline is again vulnerable to a second commercial ski development, for which plans have been aggressively pursued since 1984. A major ceremonial site, Panther Meadows, would be reduced to an island surrounded by ski runs and lifts, and further damage can now be done without adequate review on historic and cultural values. Timber sales are also a constant threat.