On NPS cuts, Devil’s Tower, and Freedom of Religion
Yesterday, the National Parks Service Staff at Devil’s Tower announced that starting today, March 13, 2025, the nation’s first national monument will be closing at 5:00pm daily. It will be the first time the monument is not open 24 hours a day to the public in more than 50 years. This has come as a shock to Wyoming and residents in northeast Wyoming whose local economy is dependent on the revenue recreational tourism provides.
As the new Presidential Administration rolls out its agenda and goal of reducing payroll for National Parks by 30%, many have become perplexed at the different governmental areas that have become the target of cuts and downsizing. It was expected for the Trump administration to drastically restructure the federal government and in fact was the motivation behind many who voted for him. However, very few did so with the belief that the villain behind our governmental fraud and abuse was National Parks. With Wyoming’s second biggest revenue stream being from tourism and outdoor recreation, decisions such as these are causing Wyoming’s Revenue Department to become anxious.
Though many national parks in recent weeks have announced changes to their usual schedules and services, what makes Devil’s Tower uniquely different is its rich history with more than 20 affiliated Native American tribes and continued use as a religious site for tribes in Wyoming and surrounding states. In 2008, Japanese sculptor, Junkyu Muto, donated a sculpture titled “Circle of Sacred Smoke”, the third sculpture in a series to promote sacred religious sites and world peace. The first two were placed at Vatican City, and the Bodhi Tree in India. For the last 30 years, it has become standard practice for the staff at the monument to withhold climbing permits during the tribes’ sacred times of the year in order to not impede on their religious ceremonies and practices.
Will these new hours of operations impede on the tribes’ religious practices? The answer is a resounding, and emphatic yes. Absolutely. There is no way any religious group can practice when the access to their holy site has been decreased by 58%.
The timing of this change, which is happening on the 5th anniversary of the 2020 Covid shutdown is the textbook definition of irony. The years after covid would bring numerous bills and lawsuits from across the nation about the covid shutdown impeding on one’s right to practice their religion as they did not have access to their church facilities, or were not allowed to gather together, though in make cases virtual alternatives were offered. With those changes being lifted once the imminent risk had lessened, the outcry that would have happened if church Covid restrictions had gone on indefinitely, without any virtual alternatives or explanations given, would have been enormous.
Once again, this is a massive violation of religious freedom by the new administration, and it’s second violation that I have personally written about in just the last 7 weeks. One can speculate confidently that the affected tribes will be pushing back legally, it is still heartbreaking that they have to. Whether or not it is your personal religious site is ultimately irrelevant. This administration has shown in its very short tenure that any religious right will be discarded if it stands in the way of its agenda. That pattern of behavior, and their willingness to casually discard the First Amendment is concerning and dangerous to all religious practices. The religious majority has lost the luxury of allowing marginalized groups fight the important battles for everyone. Every American of faith should be outraged by this and should be helping in any way they can.
