By Brandon Ecoffey
Native Sun News Managing Editor RED SHIRT TABLE — In front of a large contingency of community members, tribal and government officials were confronted with questions regarding land issues associated with the creation of a first of its kind Tribal National Park. At a meeting that took place in the Red Shirt Elementary gymnasium on Tuesday, Oglala Sioux Tribal President Bryan Brewer, Bureau of Indian Affairs Superintendent Cleve Her Many Horses. and Tribal National Park planners Chuck Jacobs and Birgil Kills Straight were peppered with questions from land owners and leasers who feared that they were about to lose inherited land and leases as a result of the creation of the park. Several members of the Two Bulls family, one of the largest on the reservation, spoke out against the park saying that they would not leave the land that they had inherited. Roxanne Two Bulls voiced opposition to the proposal and asked if anyone in the room had read the feasibility study that was completed on the park. Her open questions went unanswered. She would also raise concerns over a part of the park that would be set aside for “research.” Hermis Poor Thunder another community member also expressed his concern, “People asked me why I moved backed to Red Shirt and I told them because that is my home…I don’t have nothing, but I have rights that cannot be taken away.” Much of the concern was over the wording of a resolution that was passed by the tribal council in June regarding the park. OST President Bryan Brewer then asked those in attendance to show him the letters saying that their land was going to be taken. “Show me the letters, show me and I will stop it right now…There may be some people that may lose leases but no one is going to have their private land taken,” said President Brewer. The proposed park that if completed will cover parts of the south unit, of the current Badlands National park will hold over 1,000 head of genetically pure buffalo owned by the Oglala Sioux Tribe. This land covers approximately 100,000 acres. According to one official involved with the planning of the park there is an option included in the plan that would allow for those with grazing units who may be having their leases ended to relocate to different areas of the reservation where they would receive financial incentives of lower leasing rates for a year to supplement their expenses and difficulties associated with moving their cattle. “This actually helps them by giving them a free yield of cattle for one year,” said the official. In addition to the concerns about losing private land many have wondered about the Sun Dance circles that are located within the boundaries of the proposed park however according to wording in the planning documents there will be no “restriction on cultural practices.” In addition to the tribal officials, the meeting was attended by Floyd Hand of the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council, Harold Salway of OST Parks and Recreation, and council members Larry Eagle Bull, Scott Weston, Jacqueline Siers, and Paul Little. (Contact Brandon Ecoffey at staffwriter2@nsweekly.com) Copyright permission by Native Sun News
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