MATO PAHA-BEAR BUTTE
"Just off the Northeast corner of the Black Hills in western South Dakota lies a small mountain rising 1300 feet above the surrounding plains. It is separated from the rest of the mountains called the Black Hills by approximately 8 miles of prairie. Called Bear Butte by non-Lakota people, and Mahto Paha by Lakota speakers, this sacred place has been used for thousands of years by many tribes from the United States and Canada as a place to receive spiritual guidance."
" Bear Butte is known throughout the world as one of the most sacred places on the Earth. The spiritual effects of this place can be felt by almost everyone."
Charmaine Whiteface, Defenders of the Black Hills
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
PROTECT BEAR BUTTE AND ALL SACRED SITES
Sign the Petition
" Owe Aku Position Statement on Mato Paha (Bear Butte). Owe Aku stands opposed to the desecration of lakota sacred lands in the he sapa (Black hills)."
"Bring Back the Way"
LEARN MORE
with Thanks to Debra WhitePlume
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.
PROTECT BEAR BUTTE
STOP THE DESECRATION. Bear Butte: A sacred mountain to many nations. Preserve, Protect, Defend Mato Paha!
LEARN MORE
with thanks to Debra WhitePlume
A proposal to build a shooting range near Bear Butte has been abandoned by the Sturgis Industrial Expansion Corporation. Congratulations to the Defenders of the Black Hills, and all who worked to oppose this shortsighted project.
Learn more about the controversy which surrounded the proposed development of this shooting range. A petition has been in circulation to prevent the range from being constructed near this sacred site. LEARN MORE
Mato Paha Treaty of 2006. LEARN MORE
With Thanks to Charmaine Whiteface and Defenders of the Black Hills, Scott Barta of 1851treaty.com and Debra WhitePlume of BringBacktheWay.com.