Shifting Risks: Hoover Dam Bridge Impacts on American Indian Sacred Landscapes

Item Type Presentation

Authors Stoffle, Richard W.

Publisher Bureau of Applied Research in Applied Anthropology, University of Arizona

Download date 09/10/2021 06:46:23

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/298026 Shifting Risks: Hoover Dam Bridge Impacts on American Indian Sacred Landscapes

New Perspectives on Siting Controversy May 17-20, 2001 Gumslov, Sweden Richard Stoffle University of Arizona Purpose of This Talk To understand how risks are shifted by development projects To provide a situated case of risk assessment that can contribute to the theory of the risk society To suggest new ways of looking at social impact assessment Cultural resource risks for Indian people are the result of a long history of disregard for native cultures. Policy-making shifts risks to them and away from the dominant society.

Risk Theory-Key Topics Addressed by this Case Study Greater Good : Shifting risks from the center to the periphery Contested Risks: the science versus the lay knowledge debate Timescapes: short-term risk and solutions versus long- term risks and impacts, and spatially narrower versus wider project footprints Manageability: the insurability versus the non- insurability of risks Other Key Issues – Less Addressed by this case Trust: in science and bureaucracy Ontological Security: the sense of personal and community well-being and confidence in the future

The Project: The study sites include three bypass bridge alternatives located where U.S. Highway 93 crosses over the Hoover Dam at the Arizona - Nevada state line. Ha’tata (the Backbone of the River): American Indian Ethnographic Studies Regarding the Hoover Dam Bypass Project Report prepared by: Dr. Richard W. Stoffle - Cultural Preservation Dr. Nieves Zedeno - Cultural Preservation Amy Eisenberg - Botany Rebecca Toupal – Natural Resources Alex Carroll – Cultural Anthropology Fabio Pittaluga - Cultural Anthropology John Amato - Photography Tray Earnest - Archaeology Genevieve Dewey - Cultural Anthropology In any American Indian ethnographic assessment, the first decision is to establish which groups are culturally affiliated with the study area. This report is based on interviews with American Indian representatives from 13 American Indian tribes (including Southern Paiute Tribes, the Hualapai Tribe, and the Fort Mohave Tribe) and the Las Vegas Indian Center. Each tribe sent tribal members to evaluate potential impacts to American Indian cultural resources if a bypass bridge were to be built near the current Hoover Dam area. Our study provides the Hualapai, Mohave, and Southern Paiute evaluations of the three alternative proposed bridge locations in the Hoover Dam Bypass Project. Goal A : to convey in a systematic way, American Indian perceptions of potential project impacts to their cultural resources. Goal B : to have findings of this report incorporated into the official Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Hoover Dam Bypass Project. Indian people contribute to resource specific studies because they recognize that it is the best way to protect the resource in a given cultural resource assessment situation. This report was reviewed by the 13 involved tribal governments and the Board of Directors of the Las Vegas Indian Center. Indian people were interviewed regard specific traditional places and cultural resources as a part of larger units referred to as cultural landscapes. They spoke of both near and far places with meaning, that are directly culturally connected with the Hoover Dam study area. Federal, state and local governments seek a solution to the impacts of increased traffic across the dam. The goal of the UofA study is to evaluate the potential impacts to American Indian cultural resources in relation to the 3 proposed bridge alternatives. Cultural Affiliation

The relationship between Native Americans and the land is cultural. They want to provide the fullest protection possible for their cultural resources that are beyond the bounds of tribal reservations. These are US Federal laws that have attempted to redress the cultural losses and establish new policy paths which emphasize tribal empowerment and cultural respect:

-The American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978,

-The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, and

- The Executive Order 13007 - Sacred Site Access of 1996.

At each orientation point, a number of tools were used to inform the tribal elders about the three proposed bridge alternatives. Here photographs with computer simulations of bridge alternatives are being used. - A topographic map showing each alternative Gender is a variable always considered in questions, as it may influence responses. Each elder was given the opportunity to have a private interview at each site and an interview instrument was used. Each tribal representative who was interviewed was asked the same questions in the same order, thus reducing one potential source of bias, by systematizing data collection this way. Data Analysis - Data collected through the 3 instruments was coded into a Microsoft Access Data Base. The database permits quantitative and qualitative data to be coded simultaneously. What Indian people say about a place stands on its own, backed by the authority of the tribal governments who reviewed and approved this report. Indian Findings Objects Artifacts - chippings, rock piles, circles Geofacts - healing stones, crystals Places Goldstrike Hot Springs Sugarloaf Mountain Gypsum Cave Plants and Animals Landscapes Black Canyon ecoscape Sacred mountains regional landscape

Objects - healing rocks & crystals Places - Hot Springs Sugarloaf Mountain Sugarloaf – Ceremonial Clearing Gypsum Cave - Song Cave Plants and Animals Black Canyon Ecoscape Elements of a Regional Landscape

Elements of a Playa Ecoscapes Recommendations Protect the whole Black Canyon cultural landscape Protect Hot Springs Protect Sugarloaf Mountain Protect Promontory Point Involve Indian people in all future aspects of the project and interpretation of area Indian people desire holistic conservation:

“These are our lands even if others control them and we wish no further development or damage to occur here” (Stoffle and Evans, 1990). When developments cannot be eliminated, Indian people are faced with a forced choice situation which results in cultural triage - that is they pick between different impacts

Thus, they can make recommendations to protect some cultural resources or areas before others.

In other words they absorb cultural risks deriving from the project The places are alive and contain cultural information designated by the Creator for new generations of Indian youths. The youths must be prepared to receive this information and have access to the place in order for the lessons to come to them from the place. If the place is destroyed the cultural risks are great because there is a limited number of places that talk with Indian people. Risk Theory and This Case Close match of issues Questions about the Greater Good Raw debate about knowing Timescapes – Adam is right on Manageability – Rise in insurable risks Trust – Where does it go & can we get it back? Ontology – Does protest bring back the future?