Archives

WINTER 2000 / 2001

SAVE MOUNT SHASTA UPDATE
by Michelle Berditschevsky, Coordinator

Mount Shasta and the Medicine Lake Highlands are geographically interrelated landscapes, intimately connected in the Native American creation stories-and in people's experiences-as one sacred landscape. Successes in meeting the challenges to these pristine lands by ski resort development, timber sales, and geothermal development have made this area a precedent-setting stronghold of environmental and Native American tenacity in the will to leave a legacy of beauty and inspiration for future generations. Designation of even a partial Historic District on Mount Shasta, and defeat of the ski/condo development have sent a strong message.

Yet the Mount Shasta bioregion is seen as a remote undeveloped area that is repeatedly targeted by developers, making it vital that SAVE MOUNT SHASTA continue to have a protective influence. Threats loom from a proposal to expand the existing ski area onto culturally significant lands, and attempts by geothermal developers to gain a foothold on the Mountain. We are meeting these threats proactively, by pursuing expansion of the Historic District boundaries, and by developing a Cultural and Ecological Management Plan.

Earlier this year, seven Native American delegates and I traveled to Washington DC on a mission to gain higher level support for sacred lands on both Mount Shasta and the Medicine Lake Highlands. Regarding Mount Shasta, we met with representatives in the Department of the Interior including the National Register of Historic Places, the Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Parks, and the Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. On the Forest Service side of the table were an Associate Deputy Chief and the Heritage Resources Officer.

These negotiations revealed Forest Service's position that new justification must be sought to include parts of Mount Shasta below timberline into the Historic District, which now encompasses only 10% of the original designation. Field surveys and evaluations are lacking for areas below the 8,000 foot boundary. This was one reason why the original Historic District boundaries could not be maintained in the face of opposition. It will necessitate new ethnographic work with the Native Americans, which the Forest Service could fund under National Historic Preservation Act Section 110. With our strengthened support in Washington, we will continue to advocate for implementation of these obligations on Mount Shasta.

We are also revising our Mount Shasta Cultural and Ecological Management Plan and will once again present it to Forest Supervisor. The Plan contains guidelines for establishing strong stewardship of the Mountain, and for introducing traditional Native American management practices to restore areas damaged by logging. Damaged areas are not necessarily ineligible to the National Register of Historic Places, they just need restoration, which is a common practice in historic preservation. The Mountain needs to be considered as a whole ecosystem, and our Management Plan works in with the Forest Service's Ecosystem Management policy which exists on paper, but which the agency is slow in implementing. Mount Shasta could become an example of instituting a pilot program in Ecosystem Management which works very well with Native American land care practices. This will take sustained interaction with local officials. While they acknowledge the need for a Management Plan, they have not moved on this and many details will have to be worked out.

In follow-up to this meeting, we were advised to pursue steps on a local level which the DC people would monitor. However, the meeting we are to have with the Regional Forester and the local Forest Supervisor has not yet materialized. We are assured that it is still in the works, and are looking at a date some time this winter.