FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 1, 2024
Rapid City, SD – Last Friday, the US Forest Service announced their request for a mineral withdrawal for over 20,000 acres of land around Pactola Reservoir. If approved, the withdrawal would prohibit mining in that area.
Pactola is the main source of drinking water for all of Rapid City and nearby Ellsworth Air Force Base, along with tens of thousands of people downstream. The US Forest Service’s request is the result of years of organizing by tribal leaders, NDN Collective, and other local organizations pushing for mineral withdrawal in the Pactola Reservoir.
NDN Collective is encouraging everyone living in the area to participate in the public comment period on the proposed withdrawal (open through October 21).
“Supporting the Pactola withdrawal and making sure our voices are heard when it comes to treaty rights, protecting our drinking water from international greed, and honoring our sacred lands is critical,” said Taylor Gunhammer, NDN Collective organizer and leader for Protect The Hesapa campaign. “We stand firmly rooted in the more than 150-year struggle of our respective Nations for the honoring of Oceti Sakowin treaty rights and of resistance against extractive industries poisoning our sacred lands and waters.”
“While our ultimate goal is LANDBACK, we must protect the land in the meantime so we have land to get back,” said Mark K. Tilsen, NDN Collective organizer and leader for Protect the Hesapa Campaign. “Indigenous People are the original caretakers and best stewards of this land, and the return of the Black Hills to the Oceti Sakowin Oyate is the correct “management plan.”
“We are against mining, especially in the Black Hills,” said Oglala Sioux Tribal President Frank Star Comes Out, at a public meeting. “The Oglala Sioux Tribe joins the Rosebud and Lower Brule Sioux Tribes in passing resolutions supporting the mineral withdrawal and asking for it to be expanded.”
Lakota tribes have come out in massive support of the mineral withdrawal. While Tribally led, the fight for mineral withdrawal has included non-Indigenous led groups as well.
”Visitors from all around the world come to enjoy the natural beauty of the Black Hills. Many come for our first-rate hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation opportunities,” said Visit Rapid City, a local group that highlights Rapid City and the surrounding Black Hills area, in a support letter. “As an organization responsible for protecting and growing the local visitor economy, Visit Rapid City supports the proposed mineral withdrawal around Pactola Reservoir.”
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NDN Collective is an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power. Through organizing, activism, philanthropy, grantmaking, capacity-building, and narrative change, we are creating sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms.