Peak's Case News

INDIANS WIN APPEAL IN "SACRED PEAKS" CASE

For Immediate Release March 12, 2007 Contact Terence M. Gurley (928) 871-5640

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Monday upheld Native religious rights, ruling that an Arizona ski resort cannot use recycled water to make snow on a mountain sacred to various Tribes in the Southwest. The litigation, known locally in "The Peaks Case" involved efforts by the Snow Bowl ski resort in Flagstaff, Arizona aided by the United States Forest Service, to put recycled water on the San Francisco Peaks, a mountain of great cultural and religious significance to Native peoples. The trial court had ruled in January of 2006, after a two week trial, that Snow Bowl was permitted to use recycled water to make snow. The appeals court disagreed noting that the Native Plaintiffs in the Sacred Peaks case have the strongest possible claim based on their religious beliefs tied to their sacred sites. The Ninth Circuit appeals court heard oral argument in September of 2006 and issued its ruling Monday. The Court said that it would be like sacrilege to permit the ski resort to make snow with what the Ninth Circuit called "recycled sewage effluent". Several of the Plaintiffs, including the Hualapai Tribe, were represented by DNA People's Legal Services in Window Rock, Navajo Nation, Arizona. Executive Director Levon Henry issued this statement through his spokesman: "We are extremely gratified that the federal appeals court has upheld our position. We have fought all along for Native rights under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The Court got it right when it said:

'the record in this case establishes the religious importance of the Peaks to the Appellant tribes who live around it. From time immemorial, they have relied on the Peaks, and the purity of the Peaks' water, as an integral part of their religious beliefs. The Forest Service and the Snowbowl now propose to put treated sewage effluent on the Peaks. To get some sense of equivalence, it may be useful to imagine the effect on Christian beliefs and practices - and the imposition that Christians would experience - if the government were to require that baptisms be carried out with "reclaimed water.' "