Letter backs Massachusetts tribes on sacred site

Environment

Friday, November 6, 2009

The Massachusetts Historical Commission is backing the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in a dispute over a sacred site.

MHC executive director Brona Simon said she found "considerable archeological, historical, and ethnographic information" to support the tribes' view that Nantucket Sound is a culturally significant site. She said the sound deserves to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

"The identity and culture of the indigenous Wampanoag are inextricably linked to Nantucket Sound," Simon wrote in a 21-page opinion. "The long archaeological and historical record of dependence upon marine resources and the ocean setting are well documented, with many illustrative historical and contemporary examples of the specific use of Nantucket Sound by the Wampanoag."

The opinion could affect the future of the controversial Cape Wind project. The tribes, who are known as the people of the first sun, say the 440-foot-tall turbines planned at the site will obstruct their view of Nantucket Sound and disrupt sacred sites.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar plans to make a decision on the project by the end of the year. As part of the process, the tribes want the National Park Service to place Nantucket Sound on the historic register.

Aquinnah Wampanoag Chair Cheryl Andrews-Maltais and Mashpee Wampanoag Chair Cedric Cromwell both addressed the issue at the White House Tribal Nations Conference yesterday. They urged Salazar to reject the project.

Get the Story:
Wind farm snared in clash over history (The Cape Cod Times 11/6)
Nantucket Sound may get new status (The Boston Globe 11/6)