Tribal elders want U.S. Supreme Court to help return land on Mount Hood

(OCTOBER 14, 2022) In 2008, the government made U.S. Highway 26 bigger. The government wanted to improve safety. So it added a left-turn lane near Government Camp.

But that construction caused problems. It destroyed a sacred Native American burial ground. (Native Americans have lived in the Americas long before the people from Europe arrived.) The place on Mount Hood was called Ana Kwna Nchi Nchi Patat. That means "Place of Big Big Trees".

Tribal elders are the leaders of Native American tribes. They said they visited the site to remember their ancestors. They prayed there near a stone altar surrounded by trees. Now these things are gone.

The tribal leaders told transportation officials about the site before construction. They tribes wanted to protect the site. However, the government continued with the construction. It said a bigger road helps to prevent traffic accidents.

Tribal leaders went to court. They asked the government to remove the new road construction. They wanted the government to replace the trees. They wanted to re-build the stone altar.

“We’ve always taken care of this land ... because that’s what we were charged with by our creator — to make sure they weren’t disturbed,” says Wilbur Slockish. He's one of the tribal elders. “To me, it’s like them going into the Catholic church or the Protestant church and cutting their altar.”

Both sides tried to reach an agreement. They couldn't. Then a higher court decided the road was OK. The tribes asked another court for help. But the court dropped that request because of a legal error. Now tribal leaders are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to help. The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest court in the country. It makes final decisions in important cases.

Luke Goodrich is the tribal elders' lawyer. He believes this case is about religious freedom. That means the government does not prohibit religious activities. (To prohibit something is to not allow it.) Goodrich says there is an important question. "Will Native Americans receive the same kind of legal protection for their religious practices that everybody else in the country already gets?”

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide by January if it will review the case.