Hopi Tribe authorizes legal action to protect San Francisco Peaks

KYKOTSMOVI -- In a unanimous vote late in evening of July 7, the Hopi Tribal Council passed a resolution authorizing the pursuit of legal action to protect the sacred San Francisco Peaks (Nuvatukyaovi) from the proposed Arizona Snowbowl expansion.

Last month, Chairman Wayne Taylor, Jr. expressed "deep disappointment" with the U.S. Forest Service's regional office affirmation of an earlier decision to expand the Arizona Snowbowl.

"It is our duty and obligation to protect and preserve the spiritual integrity of Nuvatukyaovi as an afforded right of our First Amendment freedoms and we will never cease our efforts to defend what our beliefs, religious and cultural properties," he said.

Subsequent to the March approval of the proposed expansion by the Coconino National Forest (CNF), and after the completion of a final Environmental Impact Statement, the Hopi Tribe filed comments protesting the proposed expansion and appealed the decision of the CNF to the Forest Service's Southwest Regional Office.

The Hopi Tribe's resolution gives official sanction to the lawsuit filed on June 30 naming the U.S. Forest Service as a defendant and seeking to overturn the decision regarding the expansion.

Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, director of the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, who had previously described the recent decision by the U.S. Forest Service as an "attack on our place of worship," endorsed yesterday's ruling by the tribal council.

"This step by the Hopi Tribal Council to pursue legal action shows a continuity of support and unity for the ongoing Snowbowl expansion issue by the tribal government and the religious leaders," Kuwanwisiwma said. "Their actions are very much appreciated by the Hopi people. It is evident that the same unity that was shown in 1979 exists today on this issue."

The Hopi Tribe has consistently stated that the Snowbowl expansion will have significant adverse effects on the overall environment of the Peaks and the local watershed, as well as the condition and integrity of the Peaks as a historic property. Moreover, the Hopi people believe that the expansion will severely impact the ability of the Hopi to maintain their continued spiritual connection to Nuvatukyaovi.

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