The National Park Service can continue to ask rock
climbers to stay off Wyoming’s Devils Tower during June, the month
when Native Americans hold religious ceremonies at the foot of the
volcanic monolith.
On April 2, U.S. District
Court Judge William Downes dismissed the case brought by climbing
guide Andy Petefish and the Bear Lodge Multiple Use Association.
They charged that the voluntary ban was an unconstitutional
endorsement of Native American religion (HCN 6/24/96). In his
19-page ruling, Downes wrote that the ban was “in the nature of
accommodation, not promotion, and consequently is a legitimate
secular purpose.”
“Once again, we can worship in
our traditional way and practice our traditional culture without
interference at this sacred site,” said Arvol Looking Horse, a
member of the Cheyenne River Sioux
tribe.
“Climbing on Devils Tower is a spiritual
experience for me,” said Petefish, after hearing Downes’ latest
ruling. “But when the rock gets crowded, I don’t ask for my peace
and quiet to be regulated. I just want equal treatment on public
land.”
Since 1995, when Devils Tower
Superintendent Deborah Liggett first posted signs asking climbers
to stay away from the tower, climbing in June has decreased by more
than 80 percent. That’s when members of 23 Northern Plains tribes
assemble at the tower to perform their sun dance and sweat lodge
rites.
Petefish says his clients tell him they
still want to climb in June, “and word is out that it is still
legal to do so,” said Petefish. Mountain States Legal Foundation,
the Denver-based law firm representing Petefish, is appealing the
decision.
* JT
Thomas
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Climbing ban upheld at Devils Tower.
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