North Point
http://www.argusleader.com
August 2, 2002
Editorials/Opinion:
"Sacred sites bill is step in right direction"
Argus Leader Editorial Board
"A bill before the U.S. House would not solve all problems with sacred
Native American sites, but it would be a good start.
U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., has introduced the Native American Sacred
Lands Act, which would put President Bill Clinton's 1996 executive order
into law.
In essence, it would order federal agencies such as the Bureau of Land
Management and the Forest Service to work closer with tribes on the use of
public lands. It also would allow tribes to petition agencies to place
certain lands off-limits to some uses, such as energy leasing.
If approved, the law would work along with the National Historic
Preservation Act and the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act.
The Graves and Repatriation Act, in particular, came under fire recently in
South Dakota, when human remains and funerary objects were found during
construction at the North Point Public Recreation Area near Pickstown. The
Yankton Sioux Tribe filed a lawsuit in federal court over how the find was
handled - and over the meager preparations made for digging in the first
place.
As the tribe noted in its lawsuit, the so-called Missouri River Trench is
one of the richest archaeological areas in the nation, but neither state nor
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials contacted the tribe in advance to
determine if there might be burial areas near the digging. The tribe knew
quite well that there were.
Rahall's bill might not be the answer to the problems. But it at least
starts the discussion. What we're doing now certainly doesn't work."
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