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Tribal leaders in Oklahoma whose ancestral lands are across the country in Ohio say sacred sites are under threat. Changes favored by the Trump administration to the National Historic Preservation Act could weaken much needed protections, they say. Reporters at member stations WYSO and KOSU take us to both places.
ADRIANA MARTINEZ-SMILEY, BYLINE: I'm Adriana Martinez-Smiley in Ohio, which is home to hundreds of earthworks sacred to Native Americans, like the Miamisburg Mound, one of the largest conical mounds in the eastern United States, rising 65 feet.
MICHELLE COLLINS: Once you get up there, you can just sit and kind of take in a view, a really fantastic view, of the Miami Valley.
MARTINEZ-SMILEY: Miamisburg Mayor Michelle Collins calls the structure awesome.
COLLINS: You're talking something that's a couple thousand years old.
MARTINEZ-SMILEY: The mound was built by the Indigenous Adena Culture. The National Historic Preservation Act, which has been around for 60 years, protects sites like this. Section 106 of the Act allows states, tribes or local governments to consult with federal agencies on development proposals and redesign projects to mitigate harm to sites.
However, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a federal agency, and Congress are separately proposing changes. Their revisions would narrow what's considered damaging to a site and make consultation optional. Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico says the current rules also cause too much of a delay when it comes to approving energy projects.
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MARTIN HEINRICH: America needs to be able to build things in years, not in decades.
MARTINEZ-SMILEY: Advocates say the proposed changes should streamline the permitting process. However, tribal officials say the changes could undermine the responsibility the federal government has to cooperate with tribal nations.
SARAH LIESE, BYLINE: I'm Sarah Liese in Oklahoma. There are 38 federally recognized tribal nations in the state. For some, Ohio was once their home, but they were forcibly displaced to Oklahoma due to broken treaties and federal policies in the 18th and 19th centuries. Chief Ben Barnes of the Shawnee Tribe says the National Historic Preservation Act should remain as is.
BEN BARNES: The Section 106 consultation process allows the Shawnee Tribe and other tribes to make sure that sacred sites, such as the earthworks in Ohio or ancestral burial grounds or places of sacred memory, are preserved.
LIESE: Barnes says they also want to protect the spaces where they currently live, and it's key that Native Americans still have a say in the process with no optional provision about their involvement.
BARNES: We have a very large gas line that runs across Oklahoma to Springfield, Missouri. And one day, that gas line is going to need to be disturbed or going to need to be enlarged or need to be repaired. And without having Section 106 processes, they can do that without ever consulting the people that gather in that place to worship.
LIESE: Blake Norton, an official with the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, says these sites are much more to them than places needing development. He likens it to stripping away the humanity of his ancestors and disregarding the relationship Native Americans have to these spaces.
BLAKE NORTON: And for what? So a project can be completed? So that capitalism can continue?
LIESE: In a statement, Senator Heinrich says he's speaking with tribal leaders about possible compromises on the bill. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Liese in Oklahoma.
MARTINEZ-SMILEY: And I'm Adriana Martinez-Smiley in Ohio.
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