Tribes in fight to save sacred mountain

Published on Monday 17 December 2007 21:09

FOR centuries, members of the Lakota, Cheyenne and other American Indian tribes have been climbing Bear Butte in the famous Black Hills of Dakota to fast and hold religious ceremonies in the silence.

Colourful prayer cloths hanging from trees line the path to the mountain's peak, which rises about 1,300ft above the surrounding plains.

But often, and especially in August, the serenity of the site is disturbed by a deafening roar of thousands of motorcycles.

Indians have sought for years to block development of land around the butte into campgrounds, bars and other sites that could interfere with their use of the mountain for religious purposes.

Now, finally, they have an ally who has the power to provide meaningful help.

Mike Rounds, South Dakota's governor, wants to spend more than $1 million (490,000) to prevent developers from putting biker bars and other noisy businesses on ranch land near the mountain, which lies on the northern edge of the Black Hills.

Saying he wants to protect the beauty and peace of the religious site, Mr Rounds has proposed setting up a fund to buy a perpetual "easement" that would prevent commercial and residential development of some land on the western side of Bear Butte.

The easement is a legal provision which gives the state rights over land owned by someone else.

Indians working to protect Bear Butte praised the Republican governor's plan.

"Any kind of assistance from anybody in preserving the butte is welcome," said Gene Blue Arm. "It's good of him. I think it's a good deal."

A Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member, Mr Blue Arm has been campaigning to limit development near the religious site.

Dean Wink, a member of the local Meade County Commission, said he opposed a perpetual easement that would block all future owners from considering other uses for land.

However, he said he could support an easement that prohibits development for a decade or two. "Forever is a long time," Mr Wink added.

The governor made only a brief mention of the plan in his budget speech to the South Dakota Legislature, which is being asked to approve an emergency special spending measure for Bear Butte.

The easement could help calm some worries about the mountain, Mr Rounds said.

Details will not be available until the legislative session opens in January, but it might cost up to $1 million to get the easement, Doug Hofer, the state parks director said.

Mr Rounds' plan would use state money, private donations and a grant from a federal programme that protects agricultural land.

Named Mato Paha, or Bear Mountain, it resembles a sleeping bear lying on its side. It was formed from volcanic rock exposed when surrounding land eroded.

The butte and the land immediately around it are in a state park, land that was sold to the state of South Dakota in 1962 for $50,000 (24,600).

The phenomenal growth of the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally in August has caused land values in the area to soar.

In recent years, Indians have gathered at Bear Butte and nearby Sturgis during the rally to protest at the noise from motorcycles and concerts, and alcohol consumption near their sacred mountain.

The 2007 legislature rejected a measure seeking to ban the issuing of drinks licenses within four miles of the boundaries of the state park after members said they did not want to interfere with private property rights. Some have questioned whether tax money should be used for such an easement, Mr Wink said.

However Mr Blue Arm said the mountain must be protected because of its religious significance to native people in the area. "I'm saying yes to anything to stop further development around the butte," he said.

"In a ceremony or in prayer, there needs to be a solitude."

HOW GOLD RUSH COST SIOUX THEIR LAND

THE Lakota Sioux historically described the Black Hills of Dakota as the sacred centre of the world.

When gold was found there in the 1870s, the subsequent rush of settlers sparked the Black Hills War, the last major conflict on the Great Plains. A treaty in 1868 had confirmed Sioux ownership of the land, then, in 1874, an expedition led by General George Custer found gold in a river in the area, and this was reported by journalists who had accompanied the party.

Thousands of miners went to the Black Hills over the next few years and war broke out. Custer was famously killed two years later in the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

After defeating the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho, the United States took control of the area. In 1980, the US Supreme Court ruled the Black Hills had been taken illegally and suggested more than 50 million be paid in compensation. However, this was refused by the Lakota, who insisted on the return of the area, and the ownership of the hills remains in dispute to this day.

The Black Hills include the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, with its famous giant sculptures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

A number of well-known films, including North by Northwest, How the West Was Won, A Man Called Horse and Dances with Wolves include scenes from the Black Hills.