Nuvatukya’ovi , San Francisco Peaks

The recent legal battle between the U.S. Forest Service and 13 Native American tribes, including the Hopi, concerning the San Francisco Peaks constitutes a serious threat to fundamental religious beliefs that are representative of viable cultural practices. In this study, cultural meanings ascribed to the San Francisco Peaks (Nuvatukya’ovi) as expressed in Hopi verbal and visual arts are examined in an effort to clarify the sacred nature of the San Francisco Peaks. Our approach emphasizes the historical and temporal continuity of cultural practices and ethical ties between people and landscape. The legal dispute between the forest service and the Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort and 13 Native American tribes over recreational use of the San Francisco Peaks has exposed fundamentally different cultural views of the land that relate to how the land is conceived and therefore to how it can be treated and used.1 While the forest service has a mandate to facilitate multiple uses of the land under its care, in so doing, it is required to protect the various interests of groups that might be affected by these uses. Collectively, one of these groups is made up of native tribes who claim that the San Francisco Peaks are sacred and would be profaned by the use of reclaimed wastewater piped from the city of Flagstaff to make artificial snow for the ski resort. In an effort to further inform readers about native beliefs relative to this issue, we attempt to provide a more detailed discussion of some of the religious beliefs and practices from the perspective of one of the plaintiffs, the Hopi. We will specifically address not only the issue of the sacredness of the land but also, from this perspective, the reasons why snowmaking using treated sewage effluent is antithetical to the religious practices of these native groups.