THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press
Secretary
_______________________________________________________________
For
Immediate Release--May 24, 1996
EXECUTIVE ORDER
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Indian Sacred Sites
By the authority vested in me as President by
the
Constitution and the laws of the United States, in furtherance
of
Federal treaties, and in order to protect and preserve Indian
religious
practices, it is hereby ordered:
Section
1.Accomodation of Sacred Sites. (a) In managing
Federal
lands, each executive branch agency with statutory or
administrative
responsibility for the management of Federal
lands shall, to the extent
practicable, permitted by law, and
not clearly inconsistent with essential
agency functions,
(1) accomodate access to and ceremonial use of Indian
sacred
sites by Indian religious practitioners and (2) avoid adversely
affecting the physical integrity of such sacred sites. Where
appropriate, agencies shall maintain the confidentiality of
sacred
sites.
(b) For purposes of this order:
(i) "Federal lands" means
any land or interests in land
owned by the United States, including leasehold
interests held
by the United States, except Indian trust lands;
(ii)
"Indian tribe" means an Indian or Alaska Native tribe,
band, nation, pueblo,
village, or community that the Secretary
of the Interior acknowledges to
exist as an Indian tribe
pursuant to Public Law No. 103-454, 108 Stat. 4791,
and "Indian"
refers to a member of such an Indian tribe; and
(iii)
"Sacred site" means any specific, discrete, narrowly
delineated location on
Federal land that is identified by an
Indian tribe, or Indian individual
determined to be an
appropriately authoritative representative of an Indian
religion, as sacred by virtue of its established religious
significance
to, or ceremonial use by, an Indian religion;
provided that the tribe or
appropriately authoritative
representative of an Indian religion has
informed the agency
of the existence of such a site.
Sec.
2. Procedures. (a) Each executive branch agency
with
statutory or administrative responsibility for the
management of Federal
lands shall, as appropriate, promptly
implement procedures for the purposes
of carrying out the
provisions of section 1 of this order, including, where
practicable and
appropriate, procedures to ensure reasonable
notice is
provided of proposed actions or land management
policies that may restrict
future access to or ceremonial use
of, or adversely affect the physical
integrity of, sacred sites.
In all actions pursuant to this section,
agencies shall comply
with the Executive memorandum of April 29, 1994,
"Government-to-
Government Relations with Native American Tribal
Governments."
(b) Within 1 year of the effective date of this
order,
the head of each executive branch agency with statutory or
administrative responsibility for the management of Federal
lands shall
report to the President, through the Assistant to
the President for Domestic
Policy, on the implementation of this
order. Such reports shall address,
among other things, (i) any
changes necessary to accomodate access to and
ceremonial use
of Indian sacred sites; (ii) any changes necessary to avoid
adversely affecting the physical integrity of Indian sacred
sites; and
(iii) procedures implemented or proposed to
facilitate consultation with
appropriate Indian tribes and
religious leaders and the expeditious
resolution of disputes
relating to agency action on Federal lands that may
adversely
affect access to, ceremonial use of, or the physical integrity
of sacred sites.
Sec. 3. Nothing in this order shall
be construed to
require a taking of vested property interests. Nor shall this
order be construed to impair enforceable rights to use of
Federal lands
that have been granted to third parties through
final agency action. For
purposes of this order, "agency
action" has the same meaning as in the
Administrative Procedures
Act (5 U.S.C.551(13).
Sec.
4. This order is intended only to improve the
internal management of
the executive branch and is not
intended to, nor does it, create any right,
benefit, or trust
responsibility, substantive or procedural, enforceable at
law
or equity by any party against the United States, its agencies
officers, or any person.
WILLIAM J.
CLINTON
THE WHITE HOUSE,
May 24, 1996.