US government agrees to help restore sacred Native American site destroyed for Oregon road project

By CLAIRE RUSH
Associated Press/Report for America

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. government has agreed to help restore a sacred Native American site in Oregon that was destroyed by highway construction in 2008. Under a settlement filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Transportation and other federal agencies will replant trees and aid in efforts to rebuild a stone altar along U.S. Highway 26 on the slopes of Mount Hood. Members of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde say the site was used for religious purposes and home to a burial ground, a historic campground, medicinal plants and the altar.