Cave Rock:Climbers, Courts, and a Washoe Indian Sacred Place

Description

On August 27| 2007| the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier district court ruling that sport climbing on a Washoe Indian sacred site in western Nevada must cease.
Cave Rock| a towering monolith jutting over the shore of Lake Tahoe| has been sacred to the Washoe people for over five thousand years.
Long abused by road builders and vandals| it earned new fame in the late twentieth century as a world-class sport rock-climbing site.
Over twenty years of bitter disputes and confrontation between the Washoe and the climbers ensued.
The Washoe are a small community of fewer than 2|000 members; the climbers were backed by a national advocacy and lobbying group and over a hundred powerful corporations.
“Cave Rock” follows the history of the fight between these two groups and examines the legal challenges and administrative actions that ultimately resulted in a climbing ban.
After over two centuries of judicial decisions allowing federal control| economic development| or public interests to outweigh Indian claims to their sacred places| the Court’s ruling was both unprecedented and highly significant.
As the authors conclude| the long-term implications of the ruling for the protection of Native rights are of equal consequence.