Description
On August 27, 2007, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier district court ruling that sport climbing on a Washoe Indian sacred site in western Nevada must cease. Cave Rock, a towering monolith jutting over the shore of Lake Tahoe, has been sacred to the Washoe peo- ple for over five thousand years. Long abused by road builders and van- dals, it earned new fame in the late twentieth century as a world-class sport rock-climbing site. Over twenty years of bitter disputes and con- frontation between the Washoe and the climbers ensued. The Washoe are a small community of fewer than 2,000 members; the climbers were backed by a national advocacy and lobbying group and over a hundred powerful corporations. Cave Rock follows the history of the fight between these two groups and examines the legal challenges and administrative actions that ultimately resulted in a climbing ban. After over two centuries of judicial decisions allowing federal control, economic development, or public interests to out- weigh Indian claims to their sacred places, the Court’s ruling was both un-precedented and highly significant. As the authors conclude, the long-term implications of the ruling for the protection of Native rights are of equal consequence.

Reviews
“Danger, ancient legends, and a legal fight for the sacred. This powerful book . . .
is a balanced account of the legal struggle over an important historic site.” - Donald L. Fixico, author of American Indians in a Modern World

"Cave Rock should be on the reading list of all Lake Tahoe scholars and lovers." - Nevada in the West

"Though a slim volume, it packs a powerful wallop in its balanced deptiction of this struggle." -- Environmental History