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Post by Diane Merkel on Apr 24, 2008 22:23:20 GMT -6
The National Park Service is considering management changes that could provide the Oglala Sioux Tribe with control of the South Unit of Badlands National Park.
One option is complete return of the area to the tribe.
It's an apparently unprecedented set of proposals that, at least symbolically, would represent a reversal of the centuries-old tradition of land grabs by the U.S. government. Has anyone heard of this? Article: www.kxmb.com/News/230783.asp |
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Post by cefil on Apr 25, 2008 5:50:46 GMT -6
The full story appeared last Saturday in the Mitchell Daily Republic: www.mitchellrepublic.com/articles/index.cfm?id=26141§ion=homepageAnd they added a bit of "Making of the Story" information on their blog: www.areavoices.com/mitchell/index.cfm?blog=25681According to the story, "The lands that today constitute the South Unit were taken by the federal government during World War II for use as a bombing range, and were later set aside as a South Unit of Badlands National Park." These lands may also be the site of some of the last of the Ghost Dances:
It’s believed...that some of the last Ghost Dances of the 1800s were conducted in the South Unit on what today is known as Stronghold Table.
The Ghost Dance movement began among Indians of the southwest United States during the late 1880s and spread quickly to other tribes. Some Sioux Indians believed that the Ghost Dance, as they practiced it, would remove white people from the earth so that the Indians could reclaim their lands.
Historians say there was an increase in Ghost Dance activity by Sioux Indians in 1890 that may have caused a panic among some whites and contributed to a deployment of additional U.S. troops. On Dec. 29 of that year, a force of 500 U.S. Cavalry troops killed an estimated 200 to 300 Indian men, women and children who were camped alongside Wounded Knee Creek. The massacre reportedly was incited by a shot that rang out as a soldier attempted to disarm an Indian man in the camp.
Some sources say the massacre survivors sought refuge on Stronghold Table. That episode of history received renewed attention six years ago, when a group of Indians camped on the Stronghold Table to protest a proposed fossil dig in the South Unit. Some of the protesters said the dig would disturb Indian burial sites and artifacts.The full article is well worth a read... cefil |
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Post by BrokenSword on Apr 25, 2008 5:53:14 GMT -6
2016 is the National Park centennial year. In the run up to that year, President Bush authorized the 'Centennial Initiative' for the Department of the Interior.
The idea is that officials of the Department of the Interior hold 'listening sessions' with people in various areas to gather their ideas for management of the parks and improvements that could be made to assure another 100 years of preservation.
Funding of worthy ideas for improvement are to be considered for the current and future budgets proposals to Congress. Lots and lots of ideas have been gather from these listening secessions. This sounds like one of them that a local news gathering service has picked up on. Awaiting further developments..
M
P.S. Interesting idea about the Badlands, South Dakota (of all places) but where will we film movies and besides, I thought it was stolen fair and square.
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Post by Treasuredude on Apr 25, 2008 6:06:47 GMT -6
On a side note, Badlands superintendent Paige Baker is the brother of Gerard Baker, former LBH super and now the top guy over at Mount Rushmore.
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Post by clw on Apr 25, 2008 6:38:27 GMT -6
Yes I've heard about it. You're right cefil, the article in the Michell Daily Republic covers it very well. I read it earlier this week. The biggest problem will be the handling of those whose family land was taken in the 1940's when the bombing range was opened. Should the land go back to them or be held jointly by the tribe? But the problems of acquisition are an opportunity to correct the current reality. The Stronghold Table and The Stronghold itself are deeply anchored to Lakata history. And one of the most beautiful places in South Dakota (of all places). I truly hope this gets done.
In the film Thunderheart, with Val Kilmer, there is some wonderful footage of The Stronghold.
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Post by cefil on Jul 31, 2008 20:35:09 GMT -6
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Post by cefil on Jul 31, 2008 20:37:24 GMT -6
Cavalry Commission Arrives After 107 Years Dateline: Fort Meade, South Dakota (OAP):
Talk about snail mail. A 107-year-old document in its original mailing tube has shown up in the mail at the post office in Fort Meade, an old Army outpost just east of Sturgis.
“I could tell it was something very old by the appearance and because it was addressed to the 13th Cavalry at Fort Meade, South Dakota,” Kathleen Wacker, postmaster at Fort Meade, told The Associated Press.
The faded brown tube did not bear a zip code and was slightly peeling apart, she said.
“To have gotten it in the mail more than 100 years later is extraordinary,” said Charles Rambow, director of Old Fort Meade Museum and Historical Research Association. “It’s an absolutely beautiful document.”
The parchment, dated March 12, 1901, is signed by President William McKinley and Secretary of War Elihu Root and officially appoints Lt. Charles W. Fenton captain of the 13th Cavalry, said Rambow.
“The museum is delighted to have this,” said SusanMary Rambow, Charles Rambow’s wife and a museum volunteer. “I’m hoping to find the descendants of Captain Fenton,” she said.
Neither Wacker nor Rambow know how the tube got to the post office. It arrived this past spring. Source: www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080730/UPDATES/80730053/-1/updates . cefil |
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Post by biggordie on Jul 31, 2008 21:36:10 GMT -6
17 days in the saddle - God bless 'em all. My legs just turned to jelly, contemplating the journey.
Gordie
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lizs
Full Member
Discovering the West
Posts: 161
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Post by lizs on Jan 11, 2009 18:50:38 GMT -6
Any more on this?
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"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they
