Opinion ID: 453413
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Free Exercise Rights

Text: 12 To establish a constitutionally valid free exercise claim, Indian plaintiffs have the initial burden of proof to demonstrate that governmental actions create a burden on their rights. See School District of Abington Township, 374 U.S. 203, 223, 83 S.Ct. 1560, 1572, 10 L.Ed.2d 844 (1963); Wilson v. Block, 708 F.2d 735, 740 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 371, 78 L.Ed.2d 330 (1983). That the Indians use the Blue Creek high country area for religious purposes and consider the area sacred is not enough to characterize the contemplated Forest Service actions as a burden on free exercise rights. The Indians have to show that the area at issue is indispensable and central to their religious practices and beliefs and that the proposed governmental actions would seriously interfere with or impair those religious practices. Id. at 742-44; Sequoyah v. TVA, 620 F.2d 1159, 1164 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 953, 101 S.Ct. 357, 66 L.Ed.2d 216 (1980); Crow v. Gullet, 541 F.Supp. 785, 792 (D.S.D.1982), aff'd, 706 F.2d 856 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 413, 78 L.Ed.2d 351 (1983). The district court here found that 13 [f]or generations, individual members, spiritual leaders, and medicine persons of the Yurok, Karok, and Tolowa tribes have traveled to the high country to communicate with the great creator, to perform rituals, and to prepare for specific religious and medicinal ceremonies. Such use of the high country is central and indispensable to the Indian plaintiffs' religion.... 14 Communication with the great creator is possible in the high country because of the pristine environment and opportunity for solitude found there. Construction of the Chimney Rock Section and/or the harvesting of timber in the high country, including clear-cutting, would seriously damage the salient visual, aural, and environmental qualities of the high country. The Forest Service's own study concluded that [i]ntrusions on the sanctity of the Blue Creek high country are ... potentially destructive of the very core of Northwest [Indian] religious beliefs and practices. 3 15 565 F.Supp. at 594-95 (citations omitted). This finding is sufficient to support the district court's conclusion that the proposed operations would interfere with the Indian plaintiffs' free exercise rights. The government disputes the finding, but our review of the record convinces us that it is not clearly erroneous. 16 We also reject the government's argument that the free exercise clause cannot be violated unless the governmental activity in question penalizes religious beliefs or practices. Governmental action that makes exercise of first amendment rights more difficult or impedes religious observances may also be  'invalid even though the burden may be characterized as being only indirect.'  Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. at 404, 83 S.Ct. at 1794 (quoting Braunfeld v. Brown, 366 U.S. 599, 607, 81 S.Ct. 1144, 1148, 6 L.Ed.2d 563 (1961) (plurality opinion) ).