Association on American Indian Affairs
Make a difference DONATE TODAY!
MEMBERSHIP
Association on American Indian Affairs
  • About
    • Leadership
    • Internships
    • 100 Years of Service
    • Job Listings
    • Contact Us
    • Annual Reports and Financials
  • Our Work
    • Native Youth & Families >
      • Indian Child Welfare
      • Native Youth Justice
      • Scholarships >
        • Scholarship FAQ's
      • Youth Summer Camps
    • Protecting Native Culture >
      • Eagle Feather Protection
      • Sacred Places >
        • Medicine Wheel
        • DAPL >
          • Association DAPL Amici Brief
        • Protect Oak Flat
        • Sacred Sites at the Border
        • Bears Ears National Monument
      • Repatriation >
        • Auctions and Collections Education
        • Boarding Schools
        • Cultural Heritage Laws
        • International Repatriation
        • Harvard: Free Our Ancestors
    • Learn & Advocate >
      • End Harmful Mascots
      • Violence Against Native Peoples
  • Take Action
    • How You Can Help
    • Hoka Hey
    • Official Merchandise
    • 100 Year Campaign
    • Journal
  • Resources
    • Red Hoop Talk
    • Blog
    • News and Advocacy
    • Native Studies List
    • Researching Your Ancestry
  • Events
    • Annual Membership Meeting
    • Tribal Museums Day >
      • Tribal Museums Map
    • Repatriation Conference

Medicine Wheel/Medicine Mountain

One of our most significant success stories is the protection of the Bighorn Medicine Wheel/Medicine Mountain. The mountain is sacred to many tribes, particularly Plains tribes.

In 1990, the Association  helped create the Medicine Wheel Coalition, a coalition of Plains Tribes who have a traditional history of using the Medicine Wheel and Medicine Mountain for spiritual purposes. With the assistance of the Association, the Coalition negotiated and signed in 1996 a landmark Historic Preservation Plan (HPP) with the Forest Service, as well as state and local government agencies, designed to ensure that the entire area around Medicine Wheel and Medicine Mountain is managed in a manner that protects the integrity of the site as a sacred site.
​
Picture
In 1999, Wyoming Sawmills, a local logging company, filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the HPP, claiming it violated the First Amendment of the Constitution and several federal laws. In this effort, Wyoming Sawmills was represented by the Mountain States Legal Foundation a right-wing legal organization consistently opposed to government efforts to voluntarily protect Native American sacred places. AAIA provided legal counsel to the Medicine Wheel Coalition, which intervened in this case. The Coalition and Forest Service ultimately prevailed, with a Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in 2004 dismissing the lawsuit and a petition to the Supreme Court for review which was ultimately denied.

Following that ruling, the Association has worked with the Coalition and other consulting parties to ensure that the HPP is fully implemented, including incorporation of the HPP into a new Forest plan.

Finally, in June 2011, the efforts of the Association and the Medicine Wheel Coalition achieved the permanent protection of the Medicine Wheel and Medicine Mountain when the entire mountain was designated as a National Historic Landmark for its traditional cultural significance.
About Us
Contact
Our Work​​
Scholarships
Careers
News
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Association on American Indian Affairs
6030 Daybreak Circle, Suite A150-217
Clarksville, Maryland 21029​
Subscribe to our e-newsletter!
​The Association is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) publicly supported organization.
​We do not take federal grants.
​Support our work here. FEIN: 13-1623902
Picture
Picture

Privacy Policy
Site powered by Website Heroes