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NAVAJO NATION; Havasupai Tribe; Rex Tilousi; Dianna Uqualla; Sierra Club; White Mountain Apache Nation; Yavapai-Apache Nation; The Flagstaff Activist Network, Plaintiffs-Appellants, and
Hualapai Tribe; Norris Nez; Bill Bucky Preston; Hopi Tribe; Center for Biological Diversity, Plaintiffs,
v.
UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE; Nora Rasure, in her official capacity as Forest Supervisor, Responsible Officer, Coconino National Forest; Harv Forsgren, appeal deciding office, Regional Forester, in his official capacity, Defendants-Appellees,
Arizona Snowbowl Resort Limited Partnership, Defendant-intervenor-Appellee. *1059
Navajo Nation; Hualapai Tribe; Norris Nez; Bill Bucky Preston; Havasupai Tribe; Rex Tilousi; Dianna Uqualla; Sierra Club; White Mountain Apache Nation; Yavapai-Apache Nation; Center for Biological Diversity; The Flagstaff Activist Network, Plaintiffs, and
Hopi Tribe, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
United States Forest Service; Nora Rasure, in her official capacity as Forest Supervisor, Responsible Officer, Coconino National Forest; Harv Forsgren, appeal deciding office, Regional Forester, in his official capacity, Defendants-Appellees,
Arizona Snowbowl Resort Limited Partnership, Defendant-intervenor-Appellee.
Hualapai Tribe; Norris Nez; Bill Bucky Preston, Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
United States Forest Service; Nora Rasure, in her official capacity as Forest Supervisor, Responsible Officer, Coconino OPINION National Forest; Harv Forsgren, appeal deciding office, Regional Forester, in his official capacity, Defendants-Appellees.
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
*1062 Howard M. Shanker (argued), Laura Lynn Berglan, The Shanker Law Firm, PLC, Tempe, AZ; Jack F. Trope (argued), Association on American Indian Affairs, Rockville, MD; Kimberly Schooley, DNA-People's Legal Services, Flagstaff, Arizona; Terence M. Gurley and Zackeree Kelin, DNA-People's Legal Services, Window Rock, AZ; Lisa A. Reynolds, James E. Scarboro (argued), Arnold & Porter LLP, Denver, CO; Anthony S. Canty, Lynelle Kym Hartway, Office of General Counsel, The Hopi Tribe, Kykotsmovi, AZ, for the plaintiffs-appellants.
Catherine E. Stetson (argued), Andrew L. Spielman, Hogan & Hartson LLP, Washington, DC; Janice M. Schneider, Latham & Watkins LLP, Washington, DC; Sue Ellen Wooldridge, Matthew J. McKeown, Andrew C. Mergen, Kathryn E. Kovacs, Lane M. McFadden (argued), United States Department of Justice, Environment & Natural Resources Division, Washington, DC; Philip A. Robbins, Paul G. Johnson, Michael J. O'Connor, John J. Egbert, Jennings, Strouss & Salmon, P.L.C., Phoenix, AZ, for the defendants-appellees.
Geraldine Link, National Ski Areas Association, Lakewood, CO; Ezekiel J. Williams, Jacy T. Rock, Faegre & Benson LLP, Denver, CO; Glenn E. Porzak, P. Fritz Holleman, Eli A. Feldman, Porzak Browning & Bushong LLP, Boulder, CO; for the National Ski Areas Association as Amicus Curiae in Support of the defendants-appellees.
William Perry Pendley, Mountain States Legal Foundation, Lakewood, CO; for the Mountain States Legal Foundation as Amicus Curiae in Support of the defendants-appellees.
Before: ALEX KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, HARRY PREGERSON, DIARMUID F. O'SCANNLAIN, PAMELA ANN RYMER, ANDREW J. KLEINFELD, BARRY G. SILVERMAN, W. FLETCHER, RAYMOND C. FISHER, RICHARD R. CLIFTON, CARLOS T. BEA, and SANDRA S. IKUTA, Circuit Judges.
Opinion by Judge BEA; Dissent by Judge WILLIAM A. FLETCHER.
BEA, Circuit Judge:
In this case, American Indians ask us to prohibit the federal government from allowing the use of artificial snow for skiing on a portion of a public mountain sacred in their religion. At the heart of their claim is the planned use of recycled wastewater, which contains 0.0001% human waste, to make artificial snow.[1] The Plaintiffs claim *1063 the use of such snow on a sacred mountain desecrates the entire mountain, deprecates their religious ceremonies, and injures their religious sensibilities. We are called upon to decide whether this government-approved use of artificial snow on government-owned park land violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 ("RFRA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000bb et seq., the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ("NEPA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321 et seq., and the National Historic Preservation Act ("NHPA"), 16 U.S.C. §§ 470 et seq. We hold that it does not, and affirm the district court's denial of relief on all grounds.
* * *
Plaintiff Indian tribes and their members consider the San Francisco Peaks in Northern Arizona to be sacred in their religion.[2] They contend that the use of recycled wastewater to make artificial snow for skiing on the Snowbowl, a ski area that covers approximately one percent of the San Francisco Peaks, will spiritually contaminate the entire mountain and devalue their religious exercises. The district court found the Plaintiffs' beliefs to be sincere; there is no basis to challenge that finding. The district court also found, however, that there are no plants, springs, natural resources, shrines with religious significance, or religious ceremonies that would be physically affected by the use of such artificial snow. No plants would be destroyed or stunted; no springs polluted; no places of worship made inaccessible, or liturgy modified. The Plaintiffs continue to have virtually unlimited access to the mountain, including the ski area, for religious and cultural purposes. On the mountain, they continue to pray, conduct their religious ceremonies, and collect plants for religious use.
Thus, the sole effect of the artificial snow is on the Plaintiffs' subjective spiritual experience. That is, the presence of the artificial snow on the Peaks is offensive to the Plaintiffs' feelings about their religion and will decrease the spiritual fulfillment Plaintiffs get from practicing their religion on the mountain. Nevertheless, a government action that decreases the spirituality, the fervor, or the satisfaction with which a believer practices his religion is not what Congress has labeled a "substantial burden" a term of art chosen by Congress to be defined by reference to Supreme Court precedent on the free exercise of religion. Where, as here, there is no showing the government has coerced the Plaintiffs to act contrary to their religious beliefs under the threat of sanctions, or conditioned a governmental benefit upon conduct that would violate the Plaintiffs' religious beliefs, there is no "substantial burden" on the exercise of their religion.
Were it otherwise, any action the federal government were to take, including action on its own land, would be subject to the personalized oversight of millions of citizens. Each citizen would hold an individual veto to prohibit the government action solely because it offends his religious beliefs, sensibilities, or tastes, or fails to satisfy his religious desires. Further, giving one religious sect a veto over the use of public park land would deprive others of *1064 the right to use what is, by definition, land that belongs to everyone.
"[W]e are a cosmopolitan nation made up of people of almost every conceivable religious preference." Braunfeld v. Brown, 366 U.S. 599, 606, 81 S.Ct. 1144, 6 L.Ed.2d 563 (1961). Our nation recognizes and protects the expression of a great range of religious beliefs. Nevertheless, respecting religious credos is one thing; requiring the government to change its conduct to avoid any perceived slight to them is quite another. No matter how much we might wish the government to conform its conduct to our religious preferences, act in ways that do not offend our religious sensibilities, and take no action that decreases our spiritual fulfillment, no government let alone a government that presides over a nation with as many religions as the United States of America could function were it required to do so. Lyng v. Nw. Indian Cemetery Protective Ass'n, 485 U.S. 439, 452, 108 S.Ct. 1319, 99 L.Ed.2d 534 (1988).
I. Factual and Procedural Background[3]
The Snowbowl ski area ("the Snowbowl") is located on federally owned public land and operates under a special use permit issued by the United States Forest Service ("the Forest Service"). Navajo Nation v. U.S. Forest Serv., 408 F.Supp.2d 866, 883-84 (D.Ariz.2006). Specifically, the Snowbowl is situated on Humphrey's Peak, the highest of the San Francisco Peaks ("the Peaks"), located within the Coconino National Forest in Northern Arizona. Id. at 869, 883. The Peaks cover about 74,000 acres. Id. at 883. The Snowbowl sits on 777 acres, or approximately one percent of the Peaks. Id. at 883-84.
The Forest Service designated the Snowbowl as a public recreation facility after finding the Snowbowl "represented an opportunity for the general public to access and enjoy public lands in a manner that the Forest Service could not otherwise offer in the form of a major facility anywhere in Arizona." Id. at 884. The Snowbowl has been in operation since the 1930s and is the only downhill ski area within the Coconino National Forest.[4]Id.
The Peaks have long-standing religious and cultural significance to Indian tribes. The tribes believe the Peaks are a living entity. Id. at 887. They conduct religious ceremonies, such as the Navajo Blessingway Ceremony, on the Peaks. Id. The tribes also collect plants, water, and other materials from the Peaks for medicinal bundles and tribal healing ceremonies. Id. According to the tribes, the presence of the Snowbowl desecrates for them the spirituality of the Peaks. Id. Certain Indian religious practitioners believe the desecration of the Peaks has caused many disasters, including the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Columbia Space Shuttle accident, and increases in natural disasters. Id.
This case is not the first time Indian tribes have challenged the operation of the Snowbowl. In 1981, before the enactment of RFRA, the tribes brought a challenge to the Forest Service's approval of a number *1065 of upgrades to the Snowbowl, including the installation of new lifts, slopes, and facilities. See Wilson v. Block, 708 F.2d 735, 739 (D.C.Cir.1983).[5] The tribes asserted that the approved upgrades would "seriously impair their ability to pray and conduct ceremonies upon the Peaks" and to gather from the Peaks sacred objects necessary to their religious practices. Id. at 740. According to the tribes, this constituted an unconstitutional burden on the exercise of their religion under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Id.
The D.C. Circuit in Wilson rejected the Indian tribes' challenge to the upgrades. Id. at 739-45. Although the court noted that the proposed upgrades would cause the Indians "spiritual disquiet," the upgrades did not impose a sufficient burden on the exercise of their religion: "Many government actions may offend religious believers, and may cast doubt upon the veracity of religious beliefs, but unless such actions penalize faith, they do not burden religion." Id. at 741-42. The Indian tribes have continued to conduct religious activities on the Peaks ever since. Navajo Nation, 408 F.Supp.2d at 884.
With this brief background, we turn to the Plaintiffs' challenge in this case. In 2002, the Snowbowl submitted a proposal to the Forest Service to upgrade its operations. Id. at 885. The proposal included a request for artificial snowmaking from recycled wastewater for use on the Snowbowl. Id. The Snowbowl had suffered highly variable snowfall for several years; this resulted in operating losses that threatened its ski operation. Id. at 884-85, 907. Indeed, the district court found that artificial snowmaking is "needed to maintain the viability of the Snowbowl as a public recreational resource." Id. at 907.
The recycled wastewater to be used for snowmaking is classified as "A +" by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality ("ADEQ").[6]Id. at 887. A+ recycled wastewater is the highest quality of recycled wastewater recognized by Arizona law and may be safely and beneficially used for many purposes, including irrigating school ground landscapes and food crops. See Ariz. Admin. Code R18-11-309 tbl. A. Further, the ADEQ has specifically approved the use of recycled wastewater for snowmaking. Id.
In addition to being used to make snow, the recycled wastewater also will be used for fire suppression on the Peaks. Navajo Nation, 408 F.Supp.2d at 886. The pipeline that will transport the recycled wastewater to the Snowbowl will be equipped with fire hydrants to provide water for fire suppression in rural residential areas and to fight forest fires. Id. Further, a reservoir of recycled wastewater will be kept on the Snowbowl for forest fire suppression. Id.
The Forest Service conducted an extensive review of the Snowbowl's proposal. As part of its review, the Forest Service made more than 500 contacts with Indian *1066 tribes, including between 40 and 50 meetings, to determine the potential impact of the proposal on the tribes.[7]Id. at 885. In a December 2004 Memorandum of Agreement, the Forest Service committed to, among other things: (1) continue to allow the tribes access to the Peaks, including the Snowbowl, for cultural and religious purposes; and (2) work with the tribes periodically to inspect the conditions of the religious and cultural sites on the Peaks and ensure the tribes' religious activities on the Peaks are uninterrupted. Id. at 900-01.
Following the review process, the Forest Supervisor approved the Snowbowl's proposal, including the use of recycled wastewater to make artificial snow, and issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement and a Record of Decision in February 2005. Id. at 885-86. The Plaintiffs appealed the Forest Supervisor's decision approving the Snowbowl's proposal to an administrative appeal board within the Forest Service. Id. In June 2005, the Forest Service issued its final administrative decision and affirmed the Forest Supervisor's approval of the proposed upgrades. Id. at 886.
After their unsuccessful administrative appeal, the Plaintiffs filed this action in federal district court. The Plaintiffs alleged that the Forest Service's authorization of the use of recycled wastewater on the Snowbowl violates: (1) RFRA; (2) NEPA; (3) NHPA; (4) ESA; (5) the Grand Canyon National Park Enlargement Act ("GCEA"), 16 U.S.C. § 228i; and (6) the National Forest Management Act of 1976 ("NFMA"), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1600 et seq.[8]Id. at 871. Following cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court denied the Plaintiffs' motions for summary judgment and granted the Defendants' motion for summary judgment on all claims, except the RFRA claim. Id. at 869, 908.
After an 11-day bench trial on the RFRA claim, the district court held that the proposed upgrades, including the use of recycled wastewater to make artificial snow on the Peaks, do not violate RFRA. Id. at 883, 907. The district court found that the upgrades did not bar the Plaintiffs' "access, use, or ritual practice on any part of the Peaks." Id. at 905. As a *1067 result, the court held that the Plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate the Snowbowl upgrade "coerces them into violating their religious beliefs or penalizes their religious activity," as required to establish a substantial burden on the exercise of their religion under RFRA. Id.
A three-judge panel of this court reversed the district court in part, holding that the use of recycled wastewater on the Snowbowl violates RFRA, and in one respect, that the Forest Service failed to comply with NEPA. See Navajo Nation v. U.S. Forest Serv., 479 F.3d 1024, 1029 (9th Cir.2007). The panel affirmed the grant of summary judgment to the Defendants on four of five NEPA claims and the NHPA claim. Id. We took the case en banc to revisit the panel's decision and to clarify our circuit's interpretation of "substantial burden" under RFRA.
II. Standard of Review
We review de novo the district court's grant of summary judgment. Muckleshoot Indian Tribe v. U.S. Forest Serv., 177 F.3d 800, 804 (9th Cir.1999). We review the district court's conclusions of law following a bench trial de novo and its findings of fact for clear error. Lentini v. Cal. Ctr. for the Arts, Escondido, 370 F.3d 837, 843 (9th Cir.2004).
III. Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993
Plaintiffs contend the use of artificial snow, made from recycled wastewater, on the Snowbowl imposes a substantial burden on the free exercise of their religion, in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 ("RFRA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000bb et seq. We hold that the Plaintiffs have failed to establish a RFRA violation. The presence of recycled wastewater on the Peaks does not coerce the Plaintiffs to act contrary to their religious beliefs under the threat of sanctions, nor does it condition a governmental benefit upon conduct that would violate their religious beliefs, as required to establish a "substantial burden" on religious exercise under RFRA.[9]
RFRA was enacted in response to the Supreme Court's decision in Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872, 110 S.Ct. 1595, 108 L.Ed.2d 876 (1990).[10] In Smith, the Supreme Court held that the Free Exercise Clause does not bar the government from burdening the free exercise of religion with a "valid and neutral law of general applicability." Id. at 879, 110 S.Ct. 1595 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Applying that standard, the Smith Court rejected the Free Exercise Clause claims of the plaintiffs, who were denied state unemployment compensation after being discharged from their jobs for ingesting peyote for religious purposes. Id. at 890, 110 S.Ct. 1595.
Congress found that in Smith, the "Supreme Court virtually eliminated the requirement that the government justify burdens on religious exercise imposed by laws neutral toward religion." 42 U.S.C. *1068 § 2000bb(a)(4). Congress further found that "laws `neutral' toward religion may burden religious exercise as surely as laws intended to interfere with religious exercise." Id. § 2000bb(a)(2). With the enactment of RFRA, Congress created a cause of action for persons whose exercise of religion is substantially burdened by a government action, regardless of whether the burden results from a neutral law of general applicability. See id. § 2000bb-1. RFRA states, in relevant part:
(a) In general
Government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, except as provided in subsection (b) of this section.
(b) Exception
Government may substantially burden a person's exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that application of the burden to the person
(1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and
(2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.
Id.
To establish a prima facie RFRA claim, a plaintiff must present evidence sufficient to allow a trier of fact rationally to find the existence of two elements. First, the activities the plaintiff claims are burdened by the government action must be an "exercise of religion." See id. § 2000bb-1(a). Second, the government action must "substantially burden" the plaintiff's exercise of religion. See id. If the plaintiff cannot prove either element, his RFRA claim fails. Conversely, should the plaintiff establish a substantial burden on his exercise of religion, the burden of persuasion shifts to the government to prove that the challenged government action is in furtherance of a "compelling governmental interest" and is implemented by "the least restrictive means." See id. § 2000bb-1(b). If the government cannot so prove, the court must find a RFRA violation.
We now turn to the application of these principles to the facts of this case. The first question is whether the activities Plaintiffs claim are burdened by the use of recycled wastewater on the Snowbowl constitute an "exercise of religion." RFRA defines "exercise of religion" as "any exercise of religion, whether or not compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief." 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-2(4); 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc-5(7)(A). The Defendants do not contest the district court's holding that the Plaintiffs' religious beliefs are sincere and the Plaintiffs' religious activities on the Peaks constitute an "exercise of religion" within the meaning of RFRA.
The crux of this case, then, is whether the use of recycled wastewater on the Snowbowl imposes a "substantial burden" on the exercise of the Plaintiffs' religion. RFRA does not specifically define "substantial burden." Fortunately, we are not required to interpret the term by our own lights. Rather, we are guided by the express language of RFRA and decades of Supreme Court precedent.
A.
Our interpretation begins, as it must, with the statutory language. RFRA's stated purpose is to "restore the compelling interest test as set forth in Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398, 83 S.Ct. 1790, 10 L.Ed.2d 965 (1963) and Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 92 S.Ct. 1526, 32 L.Ed.2d 15 (1972) and to guarantee its application in all cases where free exercise of religion is substantially burdened." 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb(b)(1). RFRA further states "the compelling interest test as set forth in ... Federal court rulings [prior to Smith] is a workable test for striking sensible balances between religious liberty *1069 and competing prior governmental interests." Id. § 2000bb(a)(5).
Of course, the "compelling interest test" cited in the above-quoted RFRA provisions applies only if there is a substantial burden on the free exercise of religion. That is, the government is not required to prove a compelling interest for its action or that its action involves the least restrictive means to achieve its purpose, unless the plaintiff first proves the government action substantially burdens his exercise of religion. The same cases that set forth the compelling interest test also define what kind or level of burden on the exercise of religion is sufficient to invoke the compelling interest test. See Hernandez v. Comm'r, 490 U.S. 680, 699, 109 S.Ct. 2136, 104 L.Ed.2d 766 (1989) (noting the "free exercise inquiry asks whether government has placed a substantial burden" on the free exercise of religion (citing Yoder and other pre-Smith decisions)). Therefore, the cases that RFRA expressly adopted and restored Sherbert, Yoder, and federal court rulings prior to Smith also control the "substantial burden" inquiry.
It is to those decisions we now turn.
B.
In Sherbert, a Seventh-day Adventist was fired by her South Carolina employer because she refused to work on Saturdays, her faith's day of rest. Sherbert, 374 U.S. at 399, 83 S.Ct. 1790. Sherbert filed a claim for unemployment compensation benefits with the South Carolina Employment Security Commission, which denied her claim, finding she had failed to accept work without good cause. Id. at 399-401, 83 S.Ct. 1790. The Supreme Court held South Carolina could not, under the Free Exercise Clause, condition unemployment compensation so as to deny benefits to Sherbert because of the exercise of her faith. Such a condition unconstitutionally forced Sherbert "to choose between following the precepts of her religion and forfeiting benefits, on the one hand, and abandoning one of the precepts of her religion in order to accept work, on the other hand." Id. at 404, 83 S.Ct. 1790.[11]
In Yoder, defendants, who were members of the Amish religion, were convicted of violating a Wisconsin law that required their children to attend school until the children reached the age of sixteen, under the threat of criminal sanctions for the parents. Yoder, 406 U.S. at 207-08, 92 S.Ct. 1526. The defendants sincerely believed their children's attendance in high school was "contrary to the Amish religion and way of life." Id. at 209, 92 S.Ct. 1526. The Supreme Court reversed the defendants' convictions, holding the application of the compulsory school-attendance law to the defendants "unduly burden[ed]" the exercise of their religion, in violation of the Free Exercise Clause. Id. at 207, 220, 92 S.Ct. 1526. According to the Court, the Wisconsin law "affirmatively compel[led the defendants], under threat of criminal sanction, to perform acts undeniably at odds with fundamental tenets of their religious beliefs." Id. at 218, 92 S.Ct. 1526.
The Supreme Court's decisions in Sherbert and Yoder, relied upon and incorporated by Congress into RFRA, lead to the following conclusion: Under RFRA, a *1070 "substantial burden" is imposed only when individuals are forced to choose between following the tenets of their religion and receiving a governmental benefit (Sherbert) or coerced to act contrary to their religious beliefs by the threat of civil or criminal sanctions (Yoder). Any burden imposed on the exercise of religion short of that described by Sherbert and Yoder is not a "substantial burden" within the meaning of RFRA, and does not require the application of the compelling interest test set forth in those two cases.
Applying Sherbert and Yoder, there is no "substantial burden" on the Plaintiffs' exercise of religion in this case. The use of recycled wastewater on a ski area that covers one percent of the Peaks does not force the Plaintiffs to choose between following the tenets of their religion and receiving a governmental benefit, as in Sherbert. The use of recycled wastewater to make artificial snow also does not coerce the Plaintiffs to act contrary to their religion under the threat of civil or criminal sanctions, as in Yoder. The Plaintiffs are not fined or penalized in any way for practicing their religion on the Peaks or on the Snowbowl. Quite the contrary: the Forest Service "has guaranteed that religious practitioners would still have access to the Snowbowl" and the rest of the Peaks for religious purposes. Navajo Nation, 408 F.Supp.2d at 905.
The only effect of the proposed upgrades is on the Plaintiffs' subjective, emotional religious experience. That is, the presence of recycled wastewater on the Peaks is offensive to the Plaintiffs' religious sensibilities. To plaintiffs, it will spiritually desecrate a sacred mountain and will decrease the spiritual fulfillment they get from practicing their religion on the mountain. Nevertheless, under Supreme Court precedent, the diminishment of spiritual fulfillment serious though it may be is not a "substantial burden" on the free exercise of religion.[12]
*1071 The Supreme Court's decision in Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Ass'n, 485 U.S. 439, 108 S.Ct. 1319, 99 L.Ed.2d 534 (1988), is on point. In Lyng, Indian tribes challenged the Forest Service's approval of plans to construct a logging road in the Chimney Rock area of the Six Rivers National Forest in California. Id. at 442, 108 S.Ct. 1319. The tribes contended the construction would interfere with their free exercise of religion by disturbing a sacred area. Id. at 442-43, 108 S.Ct. 1319. The area was an "integral and indispensable part" of the tribes' religious practices, and a Forest Service study concluded the construction "would cause serious and irreparable damage to the sacred areas." Id. at 442, 108 S.Ct. 1319 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).
The Supreme Court rejected the Indian tribes' Free Exercise Clause challenge.[13] The Court held the government plan, which would "diminish the sacredness" of the land to Indians and "interfere significantly" with their ability to practice their religion, did not impose a burden "heavy enough" to violate the Free Exercise Clause. Id. at 447-49, 108 S.Ct. 1319.[14] The plaintiffs were not "coerced by the Government's action into violating their religious beliefs" (as in Yoder) nor did the "governmental action penalize religious activity by denying [the plaintiffs] an equal share of the rights, benefits, and privileges *1072 enjoyed by other citizens" (as in Additional Information