Solar Power, Native American Concerns Clash In Arizona Desert

Solar Power, Native American Concerns Clash In Arizona Desert A fisherman lies in the foothills of the western Arizona's Plomosa Mountains, an image scraped into desert soil by prehistoric Native Americans and protected from tourists' tennis shoes by a Bureau of Land Management fence. The top of the tower would be visible from Bouse Fisherman Intaglio and in other sacred viewsheds. While there are laws that can preserve sites with Native American artifacts, none are devoted to protecting viewsheds. "You're looking at having this alien structure dropped down in the middle of our traditional spiritual area," Bathke said. " The undisturbed landscape stretching between mountains, known as a viewshed, is as precious to tribes as the fisherman itself. But to Bathke and his tribe, whose reservation lies along the Colorado River near Yuma, that consultation is little more than a formality. According to the BLM, seven of 18 viewsheds on or around La Posa Plain are sacred to various tribes. But as opposed to the fisherman, sacred viewsheds aren't protected. "It can be as small as stone flakes to make a stone tool or as big as a village site," said John Bathke, historic preservation officer for the Quechan Indian Tribe. By the time applications for renewable energy developments go through BLM and get to the tribes, they've become massive binders - or sets of binders - that include environmental impact statements. After watching the federal government go forward with a series of wind farms and solar plants that various tribes of the Southwest opposed, the Quechans are beginning to fight back, calling for a more meaningful consultation process - one that better acknowledges their religious beliefs. "It took two years for them to develop it. Solar plants and wind farms are spreading swiftly throughout the American Southwest; so far in Arizona, the BLM has identified more than 237,000 acres of public land as optimal for renewable energy developments. "Many of us - not just Quechans - feel like our concerns aren't being taken seriously," Bathke said. "We always have to justify our spiritual experience," Bathke said. Solar Power, Native American Concerns Clash In Arizona Desert Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 05/05/2012