Printed from The Denver Post October 12, 1993 without permission:
INDIAN-LAND LOGGING EXEMPTION SOUGHT
U.S. Bureau of Indian Afairs directors in the Southwest contend Indian
reservations should be exempt from logging prohibitions designed to save
habitat for the Mexican spotted owl.
"In this case, not only are issues of sovereignty, self-governance and
economic development involved, but cultural and religious issues are
also entwined as well since the owl is held in low esteem by the Navajo,
Apache and many Pueblo people." the directors said.
They made their comments in an Aug. 11 letter to John Rogers, regional
director in Albuquerque for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Mexican spotted owl has been classified as a threatened species
under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Members of Dine Care, an environmental group on the Navajo reservation,
said the characterization of the owl as a feared or hated creature to
Navajos is "just plain false and an insult to our philosophy." "The
assertion...is a selfserving and enraging distortion of our philosophy
by individuals with little cultural sensitivity who presume to speak
on our behalf," Dine Care memberrs said in a letter to Rogers and the
BIA directors.
Leroy Jackson, Dine Care spokesman, said the owl has a negative
connotation in Navajo culture, but negative in a sense of balance to
the positive characteristics of other creatures.
The negative in the Navajo belief system is associated with aggressiveness,
maleness and the ability to protect one's self, he said. Owl feathers
are an important part of several "Protection Way" ceremonies and are
part of the war cap, protecting and providing an aggressive spirit to
warriors. Adella Begaye, a Dine Care member, said the owl also is a
messenger in Navajo culture.
The spotted owl has been identified on the Navajo, Mescalero Apache,
White Mountain Apache, SAn Carlos Apache and Hualapai reservations.
BIA directors Sidney L. Mills for the Albuquerque area, Walter Mills
for the Phoenix area and Wilson Barber Jr. for the Navjo Nation area
argued that the reservations should not be held to logging restrictions.
Dine Care has been battling efforts by Navajo Forest Products Industries,
the tribally owned logging company, to cut timber in areas of the
Chuska Mountains. If logging destroys owl habitat in the Chuskas it will
drive the owls from the reservation, Dine Care members said.
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Printed from The Denver Post october 12, 1993 without permission:
TIERRA AMARILLA
* MAN FOUND DEAD
Leroy Jackson, a prominent Navajo environmentalist, has been found
dead, his body wrapped in a blanket, in his van at a northern New
Mexican lookout, state police said.
"There were no signs of foul play," said state police dispatcher
Joe Montoya.
Jackson, 47, was to have met with federal officials in Washington,
D.C., on Oct. 2 about reducing logging on the Navajo Reservation,
said his wife Adella Begaye.
He had been missing since Oct 1, when a merchant in Taos cashed a
$1,200 check for him. State police couldn't confirm whether the
cash was in Jackson's van when his body was found Saturday. But
they said he had a history of severe migraine headaches.
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