THE DEPARTMENT of astronomy at the University has become involved in a highly promising telescope project. Now, Native American and environmental activists are attempting to intimidate the University into abandoning it. Yet withdrawing from the project would not only take away a unique opportunity for research, but would do nothing to solve the ecological and cultural issues opponents are fighting.
The University's astronomy department has come fairly late to a controversy brewing in Arizona for almost a decade. According to Robert Rood, head of the astronomy department, building powerful telescopes is such an expensive endeavor that consortiums, where astronomers from different entities share costs and time, have become the major avenue of research.
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In looking for a site, the University came upon the Large Binocular Telescope in the process of construction on Mount Graham in Arizona. The University of Arizona and Ohio State University are the lead universities in the project, in which the University decided to take a small role in 1998.
It all sounds great. The University, however, inadvertently became involved in a controversy between researchers and a coalition of activists for wilderness protection and Native American sovereignty issues. In a nutshell, these groups argue that severe environmental impact would result from further scientific research in the area, and that Mount Graham is a sacred site belonging to nearby Apache tribes against which this project discriminates.
Supporting this project does not imply that researchers should ignore either the environment or the needs of the surrounding community. Both of these points of view matter.
Yet both the federal government - which owns the land - and the University of Arizona have conducted studies on both issues, which indicated that the project can go forward while respecting these concerns. In this case, it appears that groups are using this project for agendas that need to be addressed in other forums.
This telescope is not the first in the area. Mount Graham already hosts several older models of telescopes as part of the observatory run by the University of Arizona.
Additionally, the mountain has not been a completely pristine wilderness area for most of this century. Although the mountain is part of the Coronado National Forest, it has been used by a variety of groups, including a logging company, a Bible camp and currently as picnic and recreation areas visited by thousands of tourists annually.
The observatory has not exacerbated crowds. Rood comments that anyone wishing to visit the summit, including both astronomers and Apaches, must obtain permits which are given out in small numbers. He points out that "astronomers don't do much on the mountain besides work all night and sleep all day."
Apache opponents claim that Mount Graham is a unique ecosystem, and that endangered red squirrels will become extinct because the project destroys their habitat (www.mountgraham.org). The U.S. Forest Service examined this question and determined that over 2,000 acres exist on the mountain as a possible habitat, while the project takes up two acres. In addition, the project has created a 1,750 acre refuge for the squirrel surrounding the project area (www-astronomy.mps.ohio-state.edu). Rood also points out that the most disruptive part of the construction is over without any species extinction.
The Apaches for Cultural Preservation, headed by Ola Davis, claim that Mount Graham is a sacred site for Apaches and therefore the project is an insult to their religion. This is not, however, the official position of the Apaches. In the mid-1980s, the Forest Service consulted the nearby San Carlos Apaches, who said nothing.
Controversy arose after Ola Davis, not a resident of the nearby reservation, began agitating in 1990 after collaboration with white environmentalists. In the book "Killing the White Man's Indian," which supports indigenous rights, Norma Kinney, the granddaughter of a key Apache religious figure, says that her grandfather never saw the area as holy, and that this project will not have a negative effect. She goes on to argue that "those environmentalists have some idea of their own about what Indians are supposed to be."
Completing the Mount Graham project will neither cause environmental damage nor desecrate Apache religion. We should not abandon important scientific projects to serve the agendas of people who care more about the area's political value than its cultural value.
(Elizabeth Managan's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at emanagan@cavalierdaily.com.)
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