Increasingly Baroque Jurisprudence

What constitutes 'religious freedom' has many aspects, including land use:

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday overturned a January 2006 lower-court decision and said the use of recycled sewage water to make artificial snow at the Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort violates the religious freedom of Navajos, Hopis and several other Southwestern Indian tribes, the Gallup Independent reported.

... The 9th Circuit found that the Forest Service's approval of the sewage-for-snowmaking violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and that the final environmental impact statement does not comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, according to Appellate Judge William A. Fletcher's written opinion.
Attorney Howard Shanker, who represented the plaintiffs/appellants, said the ruling was especially important for Indian tribes, because an earlier federal decision -- Lyng vs. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Assn. -- held that Native Americans did not have First Amendment rights when it came to federal land-use decisions, the Independent said.

"Essentially, Native Americans have had no recourse challenging government land-use decisions which often times impact sacred sites and culturally significant sites," Shanker said.

...The San Francisco Peaks, located in the Coconino National Forest in northern Arizona, have had a longstanding religious significance to Southwest Indian tribes, according to the Independent.

The Snowbowl is located on Humphreys Peak, the highest mountain in the range and one of the most spiritually significant to the tribes, the Independent reported.