DEVILS TOWER NATIONAL MONUMENT

Rising to the top

By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER
Star-Tribune staff writer Monday, May 30, 2005

DEVILS TOWER NATIONAL MONUMENT -- Just as the potato salad and left-over fried chicken is packed away in the cooler after the Memorial Day picnic, hundreds of rock climbers from all over the world will be asked to pack their ropes and carabiners somewhere else for the next month.

June is the time of summer solstice, the most religiously reverent season for American Indians who see Devils Tower as something other than a majestic natural wonder and a physical challenge.

For many descendants of the Plains Indians, it is a holy place. Yet more than 4,000 people climb the tower every year.

For the past 10 years, climbers have been asked to voluntarily refrain from climbing the tower during June, which has cut the number of climbers during that period by 69 percent. That's down from an 85 percent compliance rate a decade ago.

"Should there be climbers allowed on the Wailing Wall? How come climbers are not allowed on Mount Rushmore? That's not a religious site. But Mato Tipila is sacred to us, and it has been for over 10,000 years. Yet our religious freedom is violated by those climbers that are allowed to go up there," said Charmaine White Face, coordinator for Defenders of the Black Hills.

The voluntary June no-climb policy is the court-prescribed outcome of a legal struggle between those who believe the world-famous volcanic monolith should remain open to climbers throughout the year and those including White Face who believe non-Indian visitors -- climbers in particular -- are trespassers upon the religiously sacred site.

That legal fight ended in 1995, and the issue sunk into a slumber for the next 10 years. But in recent months, Devils Tower National Monument officials have indicated a desire to change the bedding.

Slippery slope

In March, Devils Tower National Monument Supervisor Lisa Eckert had said changes to the voluntary closure would be considered in a formal review of the overall climbing management plan at the monument, and that all options were on the table. But monument officials stepped back from that proposal last week and said they are now seeking guidance from within the National Park Service administration.

Scott Brown, chief ranger at Devils Tower National Monument, said any attempt to change the current voluntary closure would be separate from the climbing management plan review.

"There's no specific intent to include that into (the climbing management plan review) process right now. And I guess it's kind of a hedgy answer. But it comes down to, the Park Service isn't certain about what we want to accomplish with the climbing management plan update yet," Brown said.

For now, the monument staff is boosting its educational effort regarding the June closure and the American Indians' cultural ties to the area. And for the first time ever, people who want to climb during June will be required to register face to face with park climbing rangers.

Devils Tower officials are still consulting with the Park Service administration about how they will address the June closure issue. In the meantime, a formal review of the rest of the climbing management plan will move forward, according to Brown.

"We are still looking at updating the plan to some degree," Brown said.

That process was initiated in 2000, but stalled while the monument dealt with fuel-reduction and other issues. Brown said the effort has been rekindled. Monument officials will consider less contentious issues such as minimizing impacts to the top of the tower, managing human waste on the tower and reducing the impact of approach trails to the base of the tower.

Many of those changes can be done administratively. Any action regarding the June voluntary closure would require a formal, legal process, such as an environmental assessment which requires public disclosure, Brown said.

One tower, many interests

More than 20 American Indian tribes have cultural ties to Devils Tower, according to the National Park Service. The Lakota performed sweatlodge ceremonies and vision quests at the tower, praying for health and personal direction. Some Lakota believe Devils Tower is the "birthplace of wisdom."

Charmaine White Face considers climbing management reviews and any other action taken by the Park Service regarding Devils Tower as inconsequential. The bigger issue for White Face is what she calls the United States' occupation of the Black Hills territory, which she and many other Indians consider to be a broken treaty.

In that context, the discussion of a voluntary or mandatory June ban on climbing seems ridiculous to White Face.

"One month out of the year? Why don't we ask for six months out of the year?" White Face said.

Others contend there's nothing wrong with the system that's been in place for the past 10 years.

Michael "Bad Hand" Terry is a professional lecturer on American Indian culture. He said the Park Service shouldn't make policy decisions that cater to what he considers to be a small special interest group: American Indians.

"Devils Tower is sacred to many people, not just native people," Terry said. "A lot of people downgrade the fact that lots of other cultures find religious significance in the natural world. God created the world and made these beautiful, wonderful, amazing places like Devils Tower, and they're there for everyone to enjoy and appreciate."

Terry speaks to visitors at Devils Tower every year as part of the monument's cultural program. He said American Indians represent a small percentage of people who visit the tower and find significant meaning with the place. He said he doesn't begrudge American Indians or anyone else their right to have access to the area for their own, personal reflection.

Terry said to implement a mandatory climbing ban during June would be "un-American."

"And it's really not the Indian way, either, because old-time Indians were very social-minded," he said. "They were for the good of the whole, always. They had to work together in the old days, and I think they need to today, too."

He said climbing is an awkward issue for the National Park Service, first because it is a big, government bureaucracy worried about national and even international perceptions. And secondly, because the Park Service must try to please a wide variety of interests.

"They have a lot of people they have to make happy," he said.

Reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 682-3388 or Dustin Bleizeffer