Indian Sacred Sites: Balancing Protection Issues with Federal Management

In 2010, Secretary of Agriculture Thomas J Vilsack directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Office of Tribal Relations and the USDA’s Forest Service to engage in a dialogue with American Indians and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Tribal leaders to find out how the USDA can do a better job of accommodating and protecting AI/AN sacred sites while simultaneously pursuing the Forest Service’s multiple-use mission. Secretary Vilsack requested information about unintended consequences of land management decisions affecting sacred sites and AI/AN communities whose cultural survival is often deeply rooted in these sites. This book examines the effectiveness of existing laws and regulation in ensuring a consistent level of sacred site protection that is more acceptable to tribes.