I feel compelled to write yet another commentary about what I perceive to be more than an environmental issue but a native issue, making it clear that I am only expressing my opinion and would not assume to speak for anyone else.

I am not an “expert” on native issues, and would not pretend or aspire to be, as any attempts at such would be arrogant and inappropriate, not to mention ridiculous. My opinions are my own, and if they seem to coincide, here and there, with some native world views, it is not from any attempts at “playing Indian” but from pure coincidence, although I did read somewhere the humorous comment that artists are the Indians of the white world.

I am certain many who are involved in the Mt. Konocti conservation project have the best intentions at heart. I have been following this process and I must admit that I am disappointed that, once again, the native people of this area have not been given the consideration they deserve regarding a decision that concerns a mountain that is to them a religious or sacred site.

From what I understand, what I have heard from local traditional people, Konocti is a place that has specific religious significance to the Pomo and other tribes, and has had for thousands of years. It is an important place, and has never been considered by any of them to be a “recreation area.” Certain codes of behavior, restrictions and taboos regarding the mountain, as well as ceremonies, were, and still are, part of the religious practices of the native people who live here.

These do not need to be revealed to the non-Indian community for us to acknowledge the religious and spiritual significance of the mountain to native cultures.

Once such indisputable facts are acknowledged, it is no longer possible, legally and ethically, for the county to regard, or rather disregard, the Pomo as just another part of the public and merely equal their concerns to that of any other citizen, because their claim to the mountain as a religious site takes precedence over any other claim, as it should.

I cannot imagine the Disney corporation building an amusement park on the site of the Vatican, or lay authorities anywhere declaring a church, a temple, a mosque, a cathedral or a monastery to be a recreation or tourist area, except for the communist Chinese in Tibet.

Now I understand that it is still very difficult for some members of the mainstream culture to admit that valid religious and spiritual traditions exist whose records are not written on stone or paper, and that things other than stone monuments or manmade artifacts can be sacred.

I understand that the notion of a sacred place of worship in the so-called wilderness, in a pristine, untouched natural place, and used by non-Europeans, was in the not so distant past thought to involve the devil, and to be a threat to Christianity.

I also know that organized religions, which form the foundations of many cultures and societies and the mind-sets of their citizens, do not recognize the validity of indigenous religions, which they call paganism, myths or superstitions, and dismiss with the same blind enthusiasm as do some scientists and other prejudiced or misinformed individuals.

However, and in spite of these obstacles, I believe many people are today willing to open their minds and hearts to new visions regarding our specie’s relationship with the natural earth, and because of this shift are receptive to the notion of a mountain as a sacred place.

I believe that before any final decisions are rushed through regarding the mountain, a genuine conversation needs to take place between traditional native people and the county, and that it will be crucial for the county to be made to comprehend that traditional native spiritual leadership cannot be expected to originate from tribal government, that to merely contact tribal government regarding this matter could, for the county, amount to ignorance, negligence or hypocrisy.

There is ample evidence, throughout the nation, to demonstrate that traditional native people’s viewpoints and interests are rarely represented by tribal government, which are usually “progressive,” that is to say frequently favoring assimilation, and not very interested in anything genuinely Indian when it comes to religion or cultural values.

Certainly, sacred sites have little meaning to such tribal councils.

The dialogue, to be relevant and honest, must consequently take place with those in the native community who are the keepers of traditional spiritual values and are willing to educate us about their relationship to the mountain, rather than with tribal governments that may or may not have any interest in this topic or any knowledge of their own cultural and religious ties to the mountain.

And there are traditional native people who are now willing and ready to have this dialogue. We need to hear them with open hearts, open minds, without prejudices or any preconceived notions, and of course with an awareness of federal laws regarding native sacred sites.

Now I think I can hear some people grumbling, “I don’t believe this is happening … here we go …another sacred site …”

Just because this land is now called America does not mean that 1,000-year-old cultures and traditions have vanished, and that Indians have lost all memories of who they are, although that was the plan.

Indians are not artifacts of the past collecting dust in a museum, they are still here, and from what I hear many have every intention of remaining Indian and raising their children as Indians, rather than disappearing in the melting pot as just another disempowered, acculturated and rootless minority, and that is a very, very good thing, for every time the cultural identity of a people is lost, shredded by the implacable and oblivious modern world, we, meaning all of humanity, loose not only diversity but an important part of our collective consciousness, and become ever more impoverished as a specie in our hearts and souls.

Do we wish to take the path of disrespect that leads to spiritual impoverishment by turning this sacred mountain into yet another “recreation” area? I personally do not.

Raphael Montoliu lives in Lakeport.