[Previous entry: "Fish kills result of improper procedures and administration bullying"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "ChuckBaldwin.com Announces Two New Pages"]

07/19/2005: "Forest Service Allows Human Waste to Spray on Sacred Site"

The Forest Service has approved a measure to allow the expansion of the Arizona Snow Bowl on Arizona's tallest mountain, San Francisco Peaks, a site sacred to 13 Native American Tribes.

The expansion will include the cutting of thousands of ponderosa pines and aspens to make room for ski slopes. Under the proposal, the expansion will include the installation of snow making equipment that will spray reclaimed sewage water containing unregulated chemicals all over the sacred site. Moreover, the inner basin of the mountain is the watershed for the city of Flagstaff and contains its clean water supply.

San Francisco Peaks is a popular destination for hiking, camping and hunting and is the home to black bear, goshawks, deer, elk, prairie dogs, peregrine falcon and the endangered Mexican spotted owl. The Peaks are still the site of numerous traditional religious ceremonies by the Native Americans that hold the site sacred.

The natural condition of the mountian is sacred to the Native Americans and any development is offensive, but spraying human waste on the sacred site, treated or not, is downright disgraceful.