Emergency Meeting Held to Consider Impact of SD Wildlife Mitigation Bill in 1998 Appropriations
Porcupine SD (2-23-99)- "We are an unwilling party to the SD Wildlife Mitigation Act", said Emily Koenan of the Indigenous Environmental Network. Koenan, a resident of the Pine Ridge Reservation joined 40 or so concerned Oglala Lakota Peoples in what was described as an emergency Meeting regarding one of most anti-Indian pieces of legislation in SD History.
The Oglala Lakota delegation gathered Feb. 23, 1999 at a community building in Porcupine SD to discuss the detrimental effects of a bill which was attached onto a US Senate Omnibus Appropriations Act in the fall of 1998. The Lakota describe the bill as the "Janklow/Daschle Bill" as it was allegedly authored by SD Governor William Janklow and SD Senator Tom Daschle.
Janklow/Daschle bill opponent Darwin Apple of Manderson recalled the historic anti-Indian sentiment of earlier South Dakota. Apple pointed out the historic "Divide and Conquer tactics of the past century" including the 1889 act to divide the Great Sioux Nation. Apple cited the Janklow/Daschle bill as being another piece of legislation intended to divide the Great Sioux Nation once more.
The main concern for the Oglala Lakota is that the legislation transfers 200,000 acres of lands they say belong under the Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1868, to the state of South Dakota in exchange for monetary compensation to the Cheyenne River and Lower Brule Sioux Tribes. The Lakota say that signatory tribes of the 1868 treaty [Great Sioux Nation] were never consulted with in the drafting of this bill. But Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal chairman Greg Bourland contested the Oglala Lakota claims, telling the Black Hills Great Sioux Nation Treaty Council in an April 1998 gathering, that Cheyenne River and Lower Brule Sioux Tribes were consulted and supported the legislation.
After the legislation was killed in the US House in 1998, Bourland retreated his support from the Janklow/Daschle Bill, by then it was too late. During the Fall 1998 Senate, Daschle attached the bill as a rider to the Omnibus appropriations act. Oglala Lakota Treaty council member Johnson Holy Rock called it a "Unilateral Legalized Theft of Land" at tuesday's meeting.
The Land Transfer was scheduled for July 1999. But according to the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council, the transfer date has been moved up to March 1999. Oglala Lakota delegates say the quickness in the land transfer is suspect and now have called for an immediate council in the Black Hills.
The Land in Question involves 200,000 acres surrounding the Oahe Reservoir in Northern SD. The Sioux Tribes opposing the transfer assert their agreement with the Army Corp of Engineers which guarantees the return of the lands to the Great Sioux Nation. Tribes opposed to the land transfer include Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Santee Sioux, Yankton Sioux, Rosebud Sioux and Crow Creek Sioux.
The BHSNTC has announced March 3-5, 1999 as the date for a Treaty Council Hearing in Rapid City SD , at the Civic Center Alpine Room. If you have a personal or group position on the Land issue, submissions can be made to Shawn Perkins, OST 5th Members office (605) 867-5821. Announcers will be R. Milo Yellow Hair, and Mel Lone Hill.
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Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council announces Meeting.
Rapid City SD Civic Center
Alpine Room
March 3 - 5, 1999
FMI contact:
Shawn Perkins
OST 5thMembers ofc
(605) 867-5821
Agenda:
*Wed Mar 3 -
9-5 pm - SD Wildlife Mitigation Act (All day discussions)
** Thur Mar 4 -
9-12noon - Black Hills National Forest
1-2 pm - Open Forum
2-5 pm - Dakota Minnesota & Eastern Railroad
***Fri Mar 5:
9-10am - Ft Peck Sioux Position on Docket 74 A&B
10-12pm - Homestake Gold Mining Corporation
1-2pm - Indian Land Consolidation Act
2-5pm - Other Business
PO Box 225
Kyle, SD 57752
Phone: 605.867.1507
Email: lakotastudentalliance@yahoo.com
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