Martin's Cove goes under new restrictions

A legal settlement reached earlier this week among the ACLU, the BLM and the LDS Church over improved public access at Martin's Cove, Wyo., details restrictions for LDS proselyting activity in the area. And new restrictions on the number of visitors allowed to pull handcarts mean some groups are now tweaking their travel plans.

The settlement resolves a suit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union last year against the Bureau of Land Management. It said a federal lease of property in Martin's Cove to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints violated separation of church and state by subjecting visitors to proselytizing and confusing visitors who didn't access the trail into the cove through the LDS visitors center there.

The Wyoming site is of particular interest to Latter-day Saints as the setting for a winter disaster involving two handcart companies in the mid-1850s. Settlement documents include a letter dated April 28, 2006, from BLM Wyoming Director Robert Bennett to Bishop Keith B. McMullin of the LDS Church's Presiding Bishopric, clarifying the role that church volunteers play while working on public land leased to the church at the cove. It said volunteers "will limit their activities to:

• "ensuring that visitors remain on designated areas and trails, monitoring the area to protect against vandalism or damage to the land; and providing visitor assistance."

Plus:

• "all church volunteers must wear badges that identify them as church volunteers.

• "(volunteers) will not promote religion, except that church volunteers may respond to questions from visitors, but they should wait for visitors to approach them or ask questions rather than volunteering information on their own initiative."

The letter also offers appreciation for the church's "willingness to provide volunteers to help protect and manage Martin's Cove."

Eldean Holliday, director of the Mormon Handcart Historic Site, said he is pleased the lawsuit has been settled. "We have a very fine working relationship with the BLM at this site and the others." Dealing with the suit's legal implications "did occupy a lot of people's time, including mine, last year."

The suit was filed in March 2005, and Holliday said the retired LDS missionary couples who staff the visitors center and work to maintain and improve the area basically adhered to the guidelines spelled out in the settlement during last year's tourist season. As a result, the stipulations "won't change anything" in terms of proselytizing or talking about their faith. "What we've been doing here for the last year is what we'll continue to do in the future."