Civil rights and civil liberties

Executive Order 13007: Indian Sacred Sites

President: Bill Clinton

Directed federal land agencies to accommodate ceremonial access to Indian sacred sites and avoid harming their physical integrity where practicable and lawful.

Status: In effect.

Is Executive Order 13007 still in effect? Yes. Active and used alongside tribal-consultation and cultural-resource law.

What does Executive Order 13007 do?

EO 13007 requires executive agencies managing federal land to accommodate access to and ceremonial use of Indian sacred sites by Indian religious practitioners and to avoid adversely affecting their physical integrity, so far as practicable, permitted by law and not clearly inconsistent with essential agency functions. Agencies must also protect confidential site information when legally possible. The order remains active and informs current land-management consultation and sacred-site policies.

Administration position: The order directs federal land-management practice but does not create an absolute veto over land use, transfer ownership, or create a judicially enforceable private right.
SignedMay 24, 1996
Land coveredFederal land managed by executive agencies
Core dutiesAccommodate access and avoid physical harm

Before and after

Before the order

Sacred-site access and protection varied across federal land agencies without a common executive standard.

After the order

Land managers received a government-wide accommodation, protection and confidentiality directive.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Federal land agenciesAccommodate access and ceremonial useWhere practicable and lawful
Federal land agenciesAvoid adverse effects on physical integritySubject to essential functions
AgenciesProtect confidential location informationTo the extent permitted by law

What happened next

EO 13007 established the federal policy.

Agency heads were due to report on implementation.

No express revocation appeared in the official disposition record.