In the 1998 case, the Sierra Club successfully challenged a privatelandowner on the Moose River in Hamilton County to establish the right of paddlers to cross private tracts.
It was caused by a privatelandowner clearing vegetation with a weed trimmer, which may have hit a rock and produced a spark that ignited the dry brush, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Linda Christman said.
There is ample precedent for both positions, including a nearly identical case regarding a neighborhood in Barkan where the land in question belonged - without question - to a private Jewish landowner.
The mound sits on private land, and archaeologists said they would ask police to take action against both the landowner and contractor, according to reports.