TNCIA supports saving Little Cedar Mountain

In his quarterly report, Tennessee Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Anderson (Tuscarora/Six Nations) of Chattanooga made the following comment:

5. The public property at Little Cedar Mountain held in trust by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is being threatened with proposed development. I would like to see the following Resolution of Support to Save Little Cedar Mountain adopted by the Commission. The previous Commission of Indian Affairs was asked to support saving Little Cedar Mountain from development back on July 18, 1998 in Millington, but no action was ever taken by the Commission.

Resolution of Support to Save Little Cedar Mountain

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Whereas: The Little Cedar Mountain area, currently held in trust for the United States' people by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), is historically significant to Native American people, given its long history of habitation and specific significance to the Chickamauga Cherokee; and

Whereas: After several Native American protests, TVA promised in March 1999 that "TVA will no longer pursue the development of the Little Cedar Mountain project on Nickajack Lake" and that "we [TVA] believe it is important for TVA to continue to maintain these public lands for use by everyone"; and

Whereas: TVA has not met its legal responsibility to protect and preserve cultural resources by initiating a phase-one archaeological survey of the area that would accurately account for all of the presumptive archaeological sites in the area; and

Whereas: TVA has not satisfactorily studied the impact of increased river traffic on the underwater village sites and human burials that were flooded by the creation of Nickajack Lake; and

Whereas: TVA has not entered into any dialogues mandated by the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) with the culturally affiliated tribes of record regarding the disposition of the large quantity of human remains that TVA continues to hold; and

Whereas: TVA has not initiated any discussion of the Native American Graves Protection Act (NAGPRA), sacred sites, traditional cultural properties and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) with the culturally affiliated tribes with the end goal of drafting a Programmatic Agreement for Section 106 of NHPA and the drafting of an agreement for Section 3 of NAGPRA, Inadvertent Discoveries; and

Whereas: The Little Cedar Mountain area, currently held in trust for the United States' people by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), is environmentally significant as a wild area to maintaining the health of the Tennessee River watershed and is one of the last remaining free and accessible public spaces on the Tennessee River;

Therefore Be It Resolved That the Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs go on record supporting TVA's 1999 decision to "to maintain these public lands for use by everyone" and not to "pursue the development of the Little Cedar Mountain project on Nickajack Lake".

The motion was adopted unanimously at the Commission's 4 December 2004 meeting at Chucalissa in Memphis.