The Yakama Nation of Washington is suing the federal government to stop public tours on the sacred Rattlesnake Mountain.

The tribe wasn't consulted before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved the bus tours, the lawsuit states. The mountain is within the tribe's treaty-ceded territory.

"Laliik is associated with the cosmological, religious and cultural practices and beliefs of the Washani community of the Yakama Nation and other Indian tribes," the lawsuit states, The Tri-City Herald reported.

The bus tours are being conducted of wildflowers on the mountain. The tribe says there are other areas of federal land where the tours can take place.

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Yakamas file suit to stop Rattlesnake wildflower tours (The Tri-City Herald 4/24)