Access Fund v. United States Department of Agriculture

499 F.3d 1036, 37 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20223, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 20449, 2007 WL 2410135
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedAugust 27, 2007
Docket05-15585
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 499 F.3d 1036 (Access Fund v. United States Department of Agriculture) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Access Fund v. United States Department of Agriculture, 499 F.3d 1036, 37 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20223, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 20449, 2007 WL 2410135 (9th Cir. 2007).

Opinions

[1039]*1039OPINION

McKEOWN, Circuit Judge:

Cave Rock, a large rock formation on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe, is many things to many people. To the Washoe Tribe, it is a site of powerful religious and cultural significance. To historians and archaeologists, it sheds light both on historical Washoe culture and on the history of American transportation. And, to rock climbers, it offers some of the most challenging climbing in the nation. In this appeal, we consider the United States Forest Service’s efforts to balance these competing historical, cultural, and recreational needs in developing a resource management plan for the area. After considerable study and comment, the Forest Service banned “the recreational activity of rock climbing” at Cave Rock. The Access Fund, a climbing advocacy group, challenged that decision as a violation of the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution and as arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. § 706.

Background

I. Factual Background

Partially located within a National Forest, Cave Rock is a culturally, historically, and archaeologically significant site. Some of this significance derives from its role as a sacred site for the Washoe people, Native Americans who have lived in the Tahoe area for at least 1500 years. Traditional Washoe view Cave Rock as the site of important mythological events that are central to their cosmology. It is also a symbol of their cultural and religious identity.

Under traditional Washoe beliefs, Cave Rock is “the most religious feature within the Washoe religion,” and many Washoe compare Cave Rock to a church. Cave Rock is considered so powerful and sacred that the health and integrity of Washoe society may be jeopardized if traditional practices are not observed there. The Washoe believe the rock is the location of an epic confrontation that occurred during the creation of the Tahoe landscape between water babies who figure prominently in Washoe mythology and a small weasel brother (a mythological ancestor of the Washoe).

Traditional Washoe assert that Cave Rock is to be avoided by all people, except Washoe practitioners who have been called to “seek power or knowledge at the rock.” The presence of others at Cave Rock, including non-Washoe, is thought to endanger the lives of all. The cave, the top of the rock, and the water beneath the rock are particularly sacred.

The site is also historically and archaeologically significant. Two Washoe doctors named Welewkushkush and Big Mike were known to visit Cave Rock during the initial period after Euro-American settlement. Henry “Moses” Rupert, an ethnographer and the last known traditional Washoe practitioner at Cave Rock, also visited the site until his death in 1965. The rock is the only Washoe site that has been subject to archaeological and ethnographic study, and it contains ancient wooden rat middens that have paleo-environmental value.

The rock also reflects developments in the history of American transportation. It has served as an evolving travel corridor that moved aboriginal peoples, early immigrants, commercial freight, and tourists along the east shore of Lake Tahoe. The rock originally formed part of a trail used prior to Euro-American settlement; later on, settlers constructed a trestle road around the lake side of the rock. In 1931 and 1957, two tunnels were blasted through the rock to handle the increasing automobile traffic generated by Tahoe tourism, and as a result, Highway 50 now runs through the rock. The Forest Ser[1040]*1040vice has recognized that “Cave Rock presents a unique circumstance where four successive generations of road building are preserved in close proximity.”

Since the late 1980s, Cave Rock has been a popular area for rock climbing. All of the rock climbing occurs on National Forest lands. With the advent of “sport climbing” methods, Cave Rock’s overhanging walls have become a coveted challenge for many of the world’s best climbers. Sport climbing is focused on shorter, very technical parts of the rock, and Cave Rock presents some of the most difficult routes in the nation. Sport climbing requires the installation of fixed anchors, which protect against free-falling. To that end, climbers drilled permanent bolts into Cave Rock itself. Climbers expanded climbing routes without Forest Service approval both inside and outside the main cave area.

In the early 1990s, unknown individuals added a masonry floor and arranged rock seating in the cave without Forest Service approval and in violation of federal regulations prohibiting resource damage to the land. The government alleges that a group of climbers made these improvements, and the record suggests that the flooring was added because a climber fell and broke both of his legs.

The Washoe consider rock climbing a desecration of Cave Rock. Many Washoe view the placement of a single climbing bolt as a defacement, and Washoe representatives have repeatedly expressed concern that the intimate sustained contact with the rock that is inherent in climbing is more objectionable than the brief transitory effects of traffic passing through the tunnels that run through the rock.

II. Regulatory Framework and Agency Proceedings

Because Cave Rock is located within a National Forest, the Forest Service is authorized to develop management plans to coordinate the multiple uses of the land and to prevent harm to natural and cultural resources. 16 U.S.C. § 1604(e)(1); 36 C.F.R. Part 219. In 1996, the Forest Service determined that Cave Rock was eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historical Places as a traditional cultural property and archaeological site. During that time, Forest Supervisor Robert Harris determined that “technical rock climbing poses an adverse effect to the National Register eligibility of Cave Rock.” The Nevada State Historic Preservation Office concurred with Harris’s assessment. Although climbing may alter the rock physically, the drilling of the rock and placement of anchors has not weakened the structure geologically.

In 1998, the Keeper of the National Register confirmed that Cave Rock was eligible for inclusion on the National Historic Register as a traditional cultural property, an archaeological site, and an historic transportation corridor. The Keeper specifically recognized changes to the rock (including those changes wrought by climbing) affected its physical integrity, but nevertheless concluded the traditional cultural significance and the archaeological importance of the site survived.

Shortly after the Keeper made his decision, the Forest Service began developing a new management plan for Cave Rock. The Forest Service first implemented a series of orders that prevented the installation of new bolts. In January 1999, Juan Palma, a new Forest Supervisor for the area, solicited comments at the beginning of the formal planning process for Cave Rock required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

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Bluebook (online)
499 F.3d 1036, 37 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20223, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 20449, 2007 WL 2410135, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/access-fund-v-united-states-department-of-agriculture-ca9-2007.