Petition

We are outraged by the approval and signing of the Snowbowl Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) by the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), the Advisory Council for Historic Preservation (ACHP), and the United States Forest Service (USFS) without including any scientific monitoring provisions on the San Francisco Peaks Traditional Cultural Property (TCP), as recommended by the Tribes, involved scientists, indigenous elders and medicine people.  We are writing to strongly oppose the “no data, no problem” position the US Forest Service has taken and strongly urge retraction by the required signatories.

Our request centers around recent scientific research that has demonstrated elevated levels of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous downslope from the Snowbowl operations, which has the potential of deleteriously impacting the Hart Prairie ecosystem.

• The ski area and downslope area, including Hart Prairie, are well within the area that the MOA is required to address:  The Whereas Clause of the MOA (pg. 1, lines 46-47 and pg. 2, lines 1-2) explicitly defines the Area of Potential Effect (APE) as the Special Use Permit area and the San Francisco Peaks TCP (emphasis added), which is further defined as, “all National Forest lands in the area bounded roughly by Forest Road 418 on the north; U.S. Highway 89 on the east (but excluding all private land west of the highway); US Highway 180 on the west; and the boundary between National Forest, State, and City of Flagstaff lands on the south“ (Whereas Clause pg. 2, lines 5-7).

• The threat caused by pharmaceuticals and other potentially harmful compounds was raised by scientific experts in the 2005 EIS. Serious consideration was not given to these concerns in the EIS, as evidenced by the absence of subsequent monitoring studies that would have provided supporting data. Furthermore, during the nearly 20 years since the Record of Decision was signed, extensive research has been conducted and made available demonstrating the negative impacts of nutrient loading, pharmaceuticals, and other compounds of emerging concern (CEC). Best available science must be exercised and considered in federal decision-making to prevent irreversible damage to fragile ecosystems and human health. Current legislation and regulations are being dismissed or have not caught up to the science related to these dangerous pollutants.

• The USFS seeks to ignore and deflect the responsibility for monitoring the effects of runoff by focusing simply on existing reuse effluent water quality standards, and that this is the purview of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), when in fact an equally relevant issue is the potential adverse effects upon the fragile alpine and Hart Prairie ecosystems, which are an integral aspect of the unique cultural characteristics that make this area an important TCP. The issue goes well beyond select water quality parameters within the reuse effluent, or the limited monitoring by ADEQ. It is about preserving the integrity of the entirety of the TCP, including Hart Prairie. The USFS is knowingly and willfully neglecting their responsibilities to manage this aspect of the San Francisco Peaks TCP.

We note that the planned expansion of snowmaking infrastructure will increase by 30.5%, from 157 acres to 205 acres (MOA Appendix A), which means that the adverse effects to the downslope ecosystem, including Hart Prairie, will increase accordingly. By deliberately delaying data collection, the Forest Service is all but ensuring that the baseline of potential harmful nutrients and other compounds such as pharmaceuticals, if and when it ever occurs, will likely already be elevated, skewing future data in a way that may imply these elevated levels as normal. 

By refusing to address cultural concerns and this previously undocumented potential Adverse Effect the USFS demonstrated bad faith consultation with the affiliated Tribes, indigenous elders and medicine people. The US Forest Services’ refusal to include scientific data within their decision-making processes is a direct deviation from their obligation to the general public to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The Forest Service is not only being unresponsive to the threat reclaimed wastewater is posing to the San Francisco Peaks TCP, it is actively impeding an environmental monitoring program by deflecting the invited signatories’ concerns to ADEQ and an uncertain, future, forest plan amendment.

We strongly urge the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office, the Advisory Council for Historic Preservation, and the USFS to halt any further development by ASR, at Arizona Snowbowl and correct this injustice by retracting their signatures from the MOA and reinitiate credible and good faith consultations with the Tribes, indigenous elders and medicine peoples.

We call for Congress to mandate the USDA to submit a report on the Agency’s compliance of legislative intent, adherence and effectiveness as it relates to the protection of Native American Holy Sites/Places and to hold Congressional Hearings on this report.  We believe the USDA has failed to uphold its fiduciary responsibilities to protect our nation’s forests and the rights of the original inhabitants of this land. A congressional investigation to determine why the USDA Forest Service failed to attain any signatures on this MOA from the participating federally recognized Tribes and other indigenous consulting parties will provide Congress with insight on the effectiveness of current policies and inform future legislative proposals.