he Mormon Church is supporting legislation on Capitol Hill that would transfer hundreds of acres of land from the federal government to the LDS, or Latter-day Saints.

   The area includes Martin's Cove, situated in central Wyoming, where Utah-bound converts to Mormonism died in a blizzard in early October, 1856. The church deems the site as both sacred and central to its history, and has tired to acquire the land for the past three years.

   The "Martin's Cove Land Transfer Act," H.R. 4103 IH is moving toward a full vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. The measure is sponsored by Rep. Jim Hansen, a Utah Republican who also chairs the House Resources Committee, and eight co-sponsors. Five of the congressional representatives are members of the LDS church according to The Washington Times newspaper.

   "The ground is particularly sacred," said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). Often dubbed "the senator from LDS," Hatch added, "We (the Mormons) had a lot of people die there."

   Not all Wyoming residents agree, though, and critics warn that the legislation sets a dangerous precedent and seems to favor a particular religion. Others compare it to the infamous Teapot Dome scandal, when in the 1920s valuable Wyoming land leases were distributed to friends of high-ranking officials in President Warren Harding's administration.

   There are growing concerns in Wyoming and elsewhere that the church is, essentially, building a Mormonized park system throughout the West that includes sacred, historical sites and would be used for religious proselytizing. The LDS already operates a thriving visitors center at Martin's Cove that features a museum to commemorate the travails of the Mormon pioneers. There are disputes, though, about how many people actually perished in the 1856 blizzard that covered the area southwest of Casper. Some claim a death toll of 150, but Barbara Dobos, a public-lands supporter who opposes the sale, disagrees.

   "They lost perhaps 20 to 25 people there," she told the Washington Times, "and that's unfortunately. But it's not significant. If this is a sacred site, then is every burial all along the trail a sacred site? Where do you draw the line?"

   Rep. Hansen says that the church is doing "a first-class job" in preserving the accurate history of the area, though, and has accused Mrs. Dobos and other opponents of the transfer of "Mormon-bashing."

   The bill is opposed by Wyoming's Rep. Barbara Cubin, who amended the original bill to reduce the size of the site from 1,640 acres to 940 acres, and give the federal government the right of first refusal if the LDS decides to sell the property in the future. She is still calling for defeat of the measure.

   "Wyoming people are very protective of their public lands," she told the Times. "They see themselves as the owner of public lands, and they believe they have a right to access those public lands."

   Last week, an eight-page insert in the Casper Star-Tribune newspaper, Wyoming's largest daily, appeared titled "Our Public Lands Under Siege: Martin's Cove." The circular was financed by "Citizens Opposed to the Sale or Exchange of Public Lands Within Historic Areas," and urged defeat of HR 4103. The bill was described as "religiously politically favored legislation." The cover admitted that many might consider opposition to the measure as "anti-Mormon."

   "Although this is not true," said the insert, "sadly, many times when there is no other believable evidence available this type of attack is resorted to as the only defense."

   That brought an immediate response from Rep. Hansen who described the circular as an example of "Mormon-bashing, plain and simple," and "bigotry." He added that the publication was "nothing more than a vicious, false attack on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members."

   Ms. Dobos fired back and accused Hansen of "playing the race card" in hopes of ignoring the real issues.

   "It's such a stretch for him to come in with that, because what we are really looking at is the precedent this sets and how it circumvents policy, said Dobos. "But that's the only card he has to play."

   "There is little doubt that once this public area has been turned into a pilgrimage site, the (Mormon) church intends to close off public access," declared the insert. Other parts warn of setting "dangerous" precedents of selling off public land to special interests groups, and the fact that there are no provisions in the House bill to provide access to the Martin's Cove site for the general public. The LDS is also accused of promoting "a single interpretation of history" at the site, which had previously been used by Native Americans, fur traders, wagon trains and Pony Express.

   The Martin's Cove Land Transfer Act could lead to other demands that federal lands be sold or transferred to various groups. Jack Trope, attorney for the Association on American Indian Affairs, told the Star-Tribune last November that there is a parallel between selling a "sacred" site on federal land to the LDS church, and allowing Indian tribes to begin purchasing their own sacred sites.

   "The analogy is there," he told the paper.

   Andrew Baldwin, lawyer for the Northern Arapaho Tribune, concurs and sees a strong precedent. "I don't see how anyone can distinguish the LDS church from the Native American Church, he said.

   Preservations and supporters of the public lands movement fear that this could remove ecologically or archeologically sensitive areas from their protected status. Elizabeth Howell of the Wyoming Chapter of Sierra Club said that the Hansen legislation "really opens up a can of worms," especially regarding Native American sacred sites like Devil's Tower, the Medicine Wheel and parts of the Red Desert. "This is a big-time trade-off," she warned. "Congress can't work with one religion and not with others."

   So, the House bill could lead to a rush of similar transfers, with the public even loosing access to huge swaths of recreational, historic and ecologically-sensitive regions.

   An internal memorandum from a Federal Bureau of Land Management office cites other problems.

   ¶       "The transfer of Martin's Cove, due to its importance to the Mormon Church, establishes a potentially complex precedent. Other groups, such as Native Americans, could make the same point for a land transfer of property (that) they feel are central to their belief systems..."

   ¶       The bureau has a five-year agreement with the LDS which operates the Handcart Visitors Center nearby. This allows the public to cross church-owned property in order to visit the Martin's Cove site. This year, however, the easement would either become perpetual or the church would have to reimburse the public treasury for all expense in developing new public access.

   ¶       Hansen's bill calls for the land to be purchased by the Mormon Church for "historic fair market value." That may not include the $500,000 to $1.5 million overall costs to the BLM to process the exchange, however. In addition, there are questions of who would absorb costs for the mandated archaeological survey which would have to be performed in order to assure compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act.

   ¶       Tribune staff writer Brodie Farquhar noted (November 5, 2001 edition):

"A question may be raised as to whether the Mormon Church can provide an objective interpretation of this important event in our nation's history and whether anyone is capable of an objective assessment of the past when it relates to a belief system, according to the department memo."

   HR 4103 was introduced on April 9, 2002 and moved quickly through the House Committee on Resources and various hearings. As of May 22, the measure was discharged from the Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands. It could move for a floor vote at any time with little notice.

   On Saturday, June 8, congressional officials will hold a field hearing in the gymnasium of Casper Community College in Casper, Wyoming on HB 4013.

   Mike Rivers, Utah State Director for American Atheists says that he is mobilizing opposition to the bill, including a letter writing campaign aimed at stopping the land transfer.

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