Mato Paha and Other Public Lands
An old story has been passed down through many generations in the Black Hills. Although there are many versions, one of the most popular goes something like this: A group of small Lakota children were playing in the Black Hills, a majestic cluster of pine covered mountains, when they accidently stumbled upon and woke up a sleeping bear. The enraged bear rose from his slumber and charged the youth. They scrambled up a tree seeking safety, but suddenly the tree started growing very tall, as did the bitter bear. An eagle swooped down and scooped up the frightened kids, and the enormous bear chased them all throughout the Black Hills. Exasperated, sleep covered the bear like a heavy blanket. His body transformed into the igneous rock that is now recognized as Bear Butte, or Mato Paha by the Lakotas. Because of the compelling resemblance Devil’s Tower has to a tree trunk, the rumor is that is what’s left of the tree to which the children fled.
Despite conflicting stories and evidence that requires a bit of imagination, there is no doubt about the historical, cultural, and spiritual significance Bear Butte represents for the people of the Black Hills, especially the indigenous people throughout the west. Tribes hold sun dances, sweat lodges, vision quests, and tribal meetings at Bear Butte. Gifts to spirits such as prayer flags, colorful tobacco cloth, and other packages are left behind by Native Americans who utilize Bear Butte to express their religion. Collectively, these religious practices performed here make it “one of the most active native sacred sites in the United States.” To this day, people assemble at Bear Butte to make decisions about the tribe and its people, and to gather food and medicine. Over 30 indigenous groups find religious significance in this location, and artifacts from ten thousand years ago have been identified in the area. These special qualities are what originally drew Dennis Youngman to the park. “It’s a powerful place to pray,” expresses Youngman, now one of the managers of the Bear Butte Lodge, an educational, spiritual, and cultural center.
The numerous legends around Bear Butte are not the sole influencer of Native Americans to deem it a sacred land. It’s also considered spiritual because of the seven elements: water, plants, animals, land, air, rocks, and fire that can be located around Bear Butte. In fact, these things are what drew Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, and Crazy Horse to the area. All three of these historical leaders are said to have camped, prayed, and performed and participated in religious ceremonies at the foot of the alluring bluff. As a lot of areas are in the Black Hills, Bear Butte is rich with history, its own story of how land has been improperly seized from Native Americans and imprudently abused by settlers.
Located a short six miles northeast of Sturgis, South Dakota, the volcanic magma intrusion formed rock stands 4,422 feet over the prairie land that lies at its base. The view from the top offers the visibility of four states and the buffalo that roam the prairies below. Now Bear Butte is recognized as a state park, but it certainly wasn’t always this way. In 1868, the members of the Lakota Tribe met with the United States government to demand ownership over the entire Black Hills area. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 declared the Black Hills would be, “set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians herein named…and the United States now solemnly agrees that no persons…shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in the territory described in this article.”
But then gossip of gold in the Black Hills spread amongst the greedy.
Only six years later, General George Armstrong Custer and his men violated the treaty by camping at the foot of Bear Butte. The objective of his expedition was to confirm the rumors of gold in the Black Hills. Soon, homesteaders flocked to the area. Not wanting to upset these settlers who struck gold, the government demanded the resale of the land back from the Native Americans. When Crazy Horse, Black Twin, and other Native American leaders refused, the government threatened to pull back all aid that was being given to the Lakota that lived on the reservation. This included food, housing, and medicine. Despite the dangerous and life threatening intimidation the government was displaying, only 10% of adult male Sioux members were persuaded, so the Black Hills, the home of many indigenous people, was stolen by the United States government.
The fight for the return of Native Americans’ land started in the 1920s, but the next victorious battle didn’t come until the 1980s when the Supreme Court resolved that the land had been improperly taken by the US government. The Lakota were awarded 17.5 million dollars. Despite the tremendous relief that sum of money could provide, the Lakota have rejected this reimbursement, only wanting the ownership of the Black Hills again.
When the government unlawfully took the Black Hills, they opened it up to homesteaders. Bear Butte, therefore, was dwelled upon by Ezra Bovee and his family in 1890. Unlike the government, Bovee attempted to cooperate with Native Americans and allowed them to use the land for religious ceremonies. In the 1950s, Bovee tried to sell the land back to the U.S to create a National Park in the hopes of preserving the special qualities of Bear Butte. These endeavors disappeared with Bovee when he passed away. However, in 1961, the land was purchased by South Dakota and titled a state park.
Since then, efforts have been made by the park managers to cooperate with the indigenous people who take advantage of what the park has to offer. There are currently two hiking trails in the park, one for visitors and one for Native Americans. Kindly, the park service has decided not to charge an entrance fee to people who wish to pray on land that is rightfully theirs. Employees of the park are asked to simply instruct visitors not to touch any of the prayer flags or tobacco clothes left behind. Finally, the park service would like to educate the public on the sacred characteristics of Bear Butte, a curriculum that probably conveniently avoids the topic of how the land was taken from them.
As if this specific example of indigenous land being seized wasn’t sad enough, it’s even more heartbreaking that it is not the only story of its kind. Since 1987, 90 million acres of Native American land has been lost to the General Allotment Act. The Indian Land Tenure Foundation states that, “Loss of access to sacred and cultural sites makes it harder for each successive generation to remain rooted in Native culture.”
One advantage of Bear Butte being a state park is the land and its ecosystems can be preserved where they might have otherwise been destructively built upon. This makes public lands sound better than they probably deserve credit for, though. Big apartment complexes, factories, or other people filled activities that pollute the environment are being kept away from the land. However, things like roads, parking lots, buildings, and other facilities are still being built on public lands. I don’t know about you, but when I picture a forest of aspen trees in the fall shedding their yellow leaves like snow, I don’t imagine a parking lot in the middle of it.
The concept that people can’t go anywhere that their car can’t take them directly to and that doesn’t have a nice bathroom nearby, has already infected Bear Butte. Now what once was a buffalo’s bliss, a wide open meadow full of nutritious grass, is splattered with picnic tables, boat ramps, a visitor center complete with a parking lot, a handy road that leads right to it, and of course, vault toilets.
In his Wilderness Letter, Wallace Stegner declares, “Better a wounded wilderness than none at all.” Although true, what public land is not wounded anymore? Think about national parks, a system that is meant to preserve nature but is starting to look more and more like civilization with the roads, parking lots, and buildings that pollute the ecosystem. It even charges an entrance fee for people to visit land that technically everyone owns. The fee is required so the park can maintain the roads that people insist on driving on, the facilities people require on visiting, and the shelters people demand. This type of construction restricts how people connect with the environment. It enforces the idea of people living against nature instead of with it.
This is especially important for public land that was once indigenous people’s land. Not only do they lack ownership, they have to share it with people who have different perceptions of nature, the people who think the park needs a road. When Native Americans go to Bear Butte State Park for religious activities, they have no privacy as other visitors sometimes gather to watch. When indigenous people leave their prayer flags and tobacco cloth behind, they themselves leave in fear of those items being tampered with by people who don’t understand what they are.
Development inside of the park is a serious problem, but recently, construction outside of the park has been creating many issues, as well. Currently, the main concern is noise pollution, something that can affect religious ceremonies. In 2003, a shooting range four miles away from Bear Butte was proposed. A band of members from seven tribes protested the situation and in 2004, the project was halted because of lack of funds.
Every year, one week in August is dedicated to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. This event brings in upwards of one million people to Sturgis, a town with a population of less than 7,000 people. There has been an increase in the construction of campgrounds (mostly for RVs), saloons and other bars, and concert venues for the entertainment of all the visitors. Since Sturgis is so close to Bear Butte, and the proposed construction sites for these facilities are even closer, there will obviously be contrast between the peace and quiet Bear Butte has to offer, and the rambunctious spirit of the rally-goers. This type of development particularly worries Youngman who says, “The people who come to Bear Butte want it to be quiet. It’s hard to pray, hard to focus on what you’re doing when there are motorcycles and cars going by all day.”
Complicating matters further, the proposed construction sites are on private land which makes the situation a property rights versus religious freedom right ordeal.
Most recently, a fire broke out on a neighboring land and burned 37 acres of Bear Butte State Park. The cause of the fire? A lawnmower being used on dry grass. To combat these unnecessary situations, in November 2016, a mixture of three tribes banded together to purchase 270 acres of land near Bear Butte State Park for over a million dollars. The Northern Cheyenne Tribe already owns more than 500 acres around the area and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe own land near the northwest corner. These two tribes, as well as the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana are responsible for the recent purchase of their own land back.
Native Americans have fought to keep their land for many, many generations. Unfortunately, they have been unsuccessful most of the time. They shouldn’t have to fight even more to maintain the ability to express their religion in an area that has so much spiritual significance. Native American rights matter. It’s never too late to become educated on topics like the oppression of Native Americans, something that can inspire you to change the sometimes savage society we live in. Specifically aimed at Bear Butte, Youngman suggests people, “Keep in mind why the place is important and never underestimate the power of prayer.” Furthermore, do we really want future generations to actually believe a parking lot is naturally a part of nature? That there is no other way to enjoy nature than in a car? We have the capability of stopping the development on and near public lands from causing more damage. It starts with small acts of protest, like walking on the grass instead of the sidewalk, parking the car somewhere else and riding a bike into public lands, and protesting the development of pollution generators near public lands. Change can happen if people care.