EARTHKEEPING NEWS A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY Volume One, Number Five May/June 1992 Call to Repentance and Action: Save Rocky Mountain Sacred Lands Most major denominations are calling for the Columbus Quincentenary to be a time of Recollection, Repentance, and Renewal. This is the time to repent of our economic imperialism and stand for justice. The following plea from the Pikuni (Blackfeet) Spiritual Leaders explains the threat to the Rocky Mountain wilderness and to Native American culture: From before our first treaty in 1855 with the United States Government, to the present, our religion / culture has been adversely affected by the policies of the United States. Our religion is inseparably connected to the land. One of our highest concerns is for the Badger-Two Medicine area which borders our reservation, and is located between Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. The mountains provide the solitude of a pristine natural setting which enables our people to communicate with the Creator. The re-emergence of our culture is beginning to unify our people again. It is retrieving them from the grip of alcohol and drug abuse. Even non-Indian organizations have come to recognize the power of these mountains as a place to treat adolescent substance abusers. The Badger-Two Medicine is now US Forest Service (USFS) land. Their Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) calls for extensive road building and development of this area for oil and gas exploration. The documented potential impacts include: air, water, and noise pollution, wildlife disruption, visual disturbances, exposure to deadly hydrogen sulfide gas, and impact on our traditional religious practices. We have appealed their plans on the grounds that they will violate our rights to free exercise of religion as guaranteed by the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. All our claims have been systematically denied. If Fina and Chevron companies are allowed to drill in a wilderness area that is Situation 1 habitat for the grizzly bear and currently witnessing the return of the gray wolf; in an area subject to Indian Treaty rights, then they will be able to drill anywhere they please. Our goal is the preservation of the area as a spiritual wilderness. We are presently appealing to the US Congress to provide congressional protection of this 128,000 acre area, and we need your support. Win or lose, this battle will set a precedent for the future. All of America's wild country and Indian cultures are at stake. Abstracted from statement by Pikuni Traditionalists Association, Box 611, Browning, MT 59417, (406) 338-5801. In March the Department of Agriculture eliminated the Forest Service Appeals Process in its entirety. TO PROTEST THE ELIMINATION OF THE APPEALS PROCESS BY THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION, WRITE: Edward Madigan, Sec. US Dept. of Agriculture; F.Dale Robertson, Forest Service - USDA, 201 14th St. SW, Washington DC 20250; Dale Gorman, Forest Supervisor, Lewis and Clark National Forest, PO Box 869, Great Falls, MT 59403, (406) 791-7700, and ASK YOUR OWN SENATOR AND REPRESENTATIVE TO CO-SPONSOR A NORTHERN ROCKIES ECOSYSTEMS PROTECTION ACT; and write Sen. Max Baucus, (D-Mont.), chairman of Environment Subcommittee on Environmental Position; and Rep. Bruce Vento (D-Minn), chairman of Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands of House committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. TO FIND CONCERNED MEMBERS OF THE US FOREST SERVICE, contact The Association of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, PO Box 11615, Eugene, Oregon 97440, (503) 484-2692. Home     Table of Contents