Thu Mar 14, 1996

Status: I have never sent out an "Action Alert" before, but this threat is so serious and sinister, that we have to act. Please do all you can to stop this: Attack on Native American Lands and Peoples.

The only legal protection for sacred sites, religious landmarks and traditional cultural properties that exists in the United States is under a sneak attack. The radical property rights interests have quietly introduced a bill in Congress that would end historic protection for all traditional native places and sacred sites.

H.R. 563 would amend the Historic Preservation Act to specifically exclude any natural landscape that has not been "modified" or does not have artifacts. This means that if a lake, mountain, river, tree or any place that has meaning but that does not have discoverable physical evidence of human modification, it will not be protected. This includes Mt. Graham, for instance, and many sites in the western United States that are largely used for ceremonial purposes or for gathering and other non-modifying activities, and it is intended to discriminate against traditional land based religions. But it could even include battlefields and other "historic" sites that may not meet the criteria of artifacts as defined by western anthropologists.

The law specifically targets Mt. Shasta, California, declaring that it can not be protected under any designation of the National Historic Preservation Act. The bill is sponsored by Congressman Herger who has launched an all out attack on efforts to protect Mt. Shasta, a mountain continuously used for thousands of years by many Northern California tribes, as well as recently by western religious groups .

This law is an example of a few powerful interests privately legislating their own agenda and seeking exemptions from laws already passed and well respected by the American public. Please call, fax and write to your U.S. representative about H.R. 563, the Herger bill, and tell them to keep the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470) in tact and to vote against the Herger amendments. Hearings will be held in the House Resources Committee in April. Please distribute this message widely.

   
To amend the National Historic Preservation Act to prohibit the inclusion
of certain sites on the National Register of Historic Places, and for other
purposes.  (Introduced in the House) 

   HR 563 IH
   
   104th CONGRESS
   
   1st Session
   
   H. R. 563
   
   To amend the National Historic Preservation Act to prohibit the
   inclusion of certain sites on the National Register of Historic
   Places, and for other purposes.
   
   IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
   
   JANUARY 18, 1995
   
   Mr. HERGER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
   Committee on Resources
    _________________________________________________________________
   
   A BILL
   
   To amend the National Historic Preservation Act to prohibit the
   inclusion of certain sites on the National Register of Historic
   Places, and for other purposes.
   
   
   Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
       United States of America in Congress assembled,
   

SECTION 1. ELIGIBILITY FOR INCLUSION ON NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES.
   
 Section 101(a)(6) of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C.
     470 and following) is amended by inserting `(A)' after `(6)' and
     by adding the following at the end thereof:
 
 `(B) After the date of the enactment of this subparagraph, any
     unimproved or unmodified natural landscape feature which does not
     contain artifacts or other physical evidence of human activity
     that have unique significance in history or pre-history shall not
     be--
 
      `(i) eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic
          Places;
 
      `(ii) included on the National Register of Historic Places; or
 
      `(iii) considered to be a historic or pre-historic property or
          historic resource for purposes of this Act or any other
          Federal law.
 
 Nothing in this subparagraph shall invalidate or otherwise affect any
     determination made under this Act or under any other Federal law
     prior to the enactment of this subparagraph with respect to any
     site.'.
 
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF DESIGNATION OF MT. SHASTA

 The Mt. Shasta area in the State of California, as generally depicted
     on the United States Forest Service map entitled `Geographic
     Limits Multiple Property Form Mt. Shasta Native American Culture
     and History', numbered 1, and dated April 1993, may not be
     designated by any agency or authority of the United States as a
     historic district, historic site or national monument under the
     National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470 and following)
     or the Antiquities Act (16 U.S.C. 431-433). Any designation made
     prior to the enactment of this Act which is inconsistent with the
     preceding sentence shall cease to have any force and effect upon
     the enactment of this Act. The map referred to in this section
     shall be on file and available for public inspection in the
     offices of the United States Forest Service, Department of
     Agriculture.

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