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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The U. S. government has agreed to help repair a sacred Native American site on the slopes of Mount Hood, Oregon, that was destroyed by road construction, according to court documents, capping more than 15 years of legal battles that have come to fruition. The road to the U. S. Supreme Court.
In an agreement filed Thursday in the Superior Court, the U. S. Department of Transportation said in a plea Thursday. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration and other federal agencies agreed to replant trees and rebuild an altar at a site along U. S. Highway 26. According to the tribes, it has been used for devout purposes since time immemorial.
Members of the Yakama Nation Confederated Tribes and Bands and the Grand Ronde Confederated Tribes said a 2008 task to add a turning lane to the highway destroyed a domain known as the Big Trees Square, which housed a cemetery, a historic landmark. camping, medicinal plants, ancient Douglas firs and a stone altar.
Carol Logan, an elderly woman and member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, who is a plaintiff in the case, said she hoped the settlement would prevent the destruction of similar sites in the future.
“Our sacred sites may not look like the buildings most Americans worship, but they deserve the same protection, dignity and respect,” Logan said in a statement shared by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented the plaintiffs in their lawsuit.
The defendants the Department of Transportation and its division of the Federal Highway Administration; the Ministry of the Interior and its Directorate of Territorial Planning; and the Historic Preservation Advisory Council.
The Federal Highway Administration and the Interior Department declined to comment on the deal.
In court documents dating back to 2008, when the lawsuit was filed, Logan and Wilbur Slockish, hereditary leader of the Confederate Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, said they had visited the site for decades to pray, collect sacred plants and pay their respects. to their ancestors until it was demolished.
They accused the agencies involved of violating, among other things, their religious freedom and the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires tribal consultations when a federal appropriation possibly places tribal or culturally or ancient lands for a tribe.
As part of the agreement, the government agreed to plant about 30 trees on the plot by irrigation and other means for at least three years.
They also agreed to help repair the stone altar, install a sign explaining its importance to Native Americans, and bestow Logan and Slockish on the surrounding domain for cultural purposes.
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Claire Rush is a member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a national nonprofit service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to cover underreported stories.
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