PROTECT BEAR BUTTE
"Bear Butte is "Nowah'wus" to the Cheyenne Nation. It is called "Mato Paha" to the Lakota. Across the Northern Great Plains, over thirty indigenous Nations acknowledge the sacredness of this Butte and its surrounding area. It is a mountain inhabited by spirits and spiritual powers that are well known to our people. For this reason Bear Butte is central to ceremonial life of Indigenous Peoples of Great Turtle Island – the “western hemisphere.” It is necessary to have unhindered and respect access to Very Sacred Sites (very few which remained undesecrated today) for the continued health and well being of Indigenous Red Peoples. All life on Bear Butte must be respected and defended. No person or group has a right to destroy sacred, special places and to disrespect and desecrate another’s sacred site – especially for the purposes of greed and money.
While we all as a people hold the entire Black Hills to be sacred, Bear Butte is under direct attack at this time and we are preparing to do our best to defend the sacred mountain again."
Carter Camp, Ponca Nation
Inter-Tribal Coalition to Defend Bear Butte
We demand the state of South Dakota take measures to stop their citizens from trying to build offensive, disruptive, obnoxious and detrimental enterprises near Bear Butte and all similar sites such as the Ho Coka (Center of the World, misnomer “Harney Peak”), Grey Horn Butte (misnomer “Devil’s Tower”) – much the same as the world’s people would not want to see a shooting gallery next to their ‘churches’, the ‘wailing wall’, ‘old faithful geyser’, etc. We encourage concerned American people to develop legislation in their states (twenty mile radius of peacefulness), which prohibits this flagrant violation of Article VI of the Constitution, the 1851 Treaty, and peoples right to gather, pray, seek solitude, and maintain their culture without disruption and annoyance.
After years of concern, a Bear Butte Land Trust Fund was opened at Wells Fargo Bank by a volunteer group, Defenders of the Black Hills, Inc.
A land trust fund was seen as the only permanent solution to stopping the selling of land surrounding the small sacred mountain.
Defenders of the Black Hills was able to stop the building of an outdoor shooting range that was planned for four miles north of the Butte. The businessmen planning the venture had illegally received federal funds slated for use by low and middle-income people which was uncovered in a lawsuit filed by Defenders and seven Native American tribes. But now, a private operator is planning on building a biker bar and outdoor concert arena just one and a half miles from the base of the mountain.
PROTECT BEAR BUTTE!
donate to the Bear Butte Land Trust Fund and learn more