Copyright © 2003 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Rapid City, SD - At a meeting held Wednesday, Jan. 22, in Sturgis, state officials and local developers of a shooting range near Bear Butte, heard the shock and dismay in the voices of many members of Tribes from as far away as Iowa and Oklahoma. Thankfully, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’s Preservation Office called the meeting, or no Native American people would have known about this new development, like so many others that are already in place around the sacred mountain.

Sturgis’ Mayor Ziegler said the idea started about a year ago when he was approached by then-Governor Bill Janklow. This caused many Native American and non-Indian people in the audience to nod knowingly at each other. But then the Mayor chided the group by saying his door was always open and “all you have to do is call me.” (I was wondering how to ask him about a development we knew nothing about in the first place.)

Jamie Ducheneaux from the CRST Preservation Office later stated that he did just pick up the phone and reached the Mayor as soon as he had heard about this effort. That was why we were having the meeting.

However, it was evident from the written information from the Black Hills Council of Local Governments, the agency which applied for the Community Development Block Grant which is funding the project (federal tax dollars), that all of the developers and state officials were aware that the Tribes should have been involved. “The Butte is visible from the project area. It is considered a sacred site for Northern Plains Indian tribes including the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, Hidatsa, Crow and others.” Yet not one of the Tribes was notified. Rather, a letter was sent on Sept. 23, 2002, to Webster Two Hawk, Commissioner of Tribal Government Relations for the state in Pierre. He did not notify the Tribes either, but concurred with the project on his own. He also was a political appointee of former Governor Janklow.

The project will sit on approximately 320 acres of previous livestock grazing pasture land, and will include a clubhouse, three different rifle ranges, four trap/skeet ranges, two pistol ranges, a sporting clay range, and a separate archery range with hopes of being ‘expanded in the future.’ It will be used for firearm instruction and safety courses, an up-to-date shooting range safe for the general public, law enforcement education and qualification, a testing facility for the fire arms industry, and able to host shooting events. However, a woman from Lead reminded the group that there was already an indoor shooting facility available in Lead.

As the noise factor was the only concern mentioned in the environmental comments, a mathematical model was used by the developers to determine the amount of noise in decibels at certain distances. The developers stated that the noise would not be heard on Bear Butte. However, Nancy Kile, a resident of Sturgis who also looked at the mathematical calculations kept snapping a rubber band on a deck of cards every 15 seconds during the meeting. Eventually she told the group that she and her husband had mathematically calculated that this would be the equivalent sound at Bear Butte for the projected 10,000 rounds in a 24 hour period. That sound would be heard every 7 seconds for a 12 hour period. As it was disturbing in the meeting, it would be even more disturbing for people sitting in a church, or trying to meditate in the quiet that usually surrounds Bear Butte.

Over and over again, Arvol Looking Horse, the Lakota Keeper of the Sacred Calf Pipe expressed his concern and tried to explain the impact this project would have on not just the people going to Bear Butte to pray, but also the negative energy carried by weapons, and the impact on wildlife particularly the eagles. He and many others tried to warn the developers of the ramifications if they disturb this sacred area.

Another site was originally planned which was 11 miles to the southeast of Bear Butte, however it was dropped “due to concerns expressed by adjacent landowners.” Peter Pi, the President of the Shooting Range talked about Article 2 of the US Constitution which is the right to bear arms. Although many Lakota people in the room could have argued the legality of land ownership based on Article 6 of the same Constitution, the more important ramifications due to the sacredness of the mountain were kept in the forefront. Mr. Pi, however, did receive a written brief synopsis of the Treaty issues at the end of the meeting.

The group was informed that $250,00 to $260,000 of Housing and Urban Development money has been spent on this project to date. Howard Kutzer is the HUD Environmental Officer in Denver who approved it, although there seem to be a number of federal laws that have been violated. The local developers and the state officials were quick to pass any responsibility on to HUD for approving the project. The federal laws that need to be looked at would include the National Environmental Policy Act, Native American Graves and Repatriation Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and possibly the Archeological Resources Protection Act, not to mention the US Constitution. Since this is federal money, it’s possible that an injunction stopping the project will be put in place by an individual or one of the tribal organizations based on any of the above laws.

Again, special gratitude is owed to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’s Preservation Office: Jim Picotte, Jamie Ducheneaux and Carl Dupree for putting on the meeting and letting people know about this project. About 40 people were in attendance including representatives from the Sac and Fox people in Iowa, the Northern Cheyennes in Montana, the Southern Cheyennes in Oklahoma, and the Lakota bands as well as the Yanktonais. One Native American man stated that at least sixty-nine tribes come to Bear Butte to pray. All of these tribes have a right to express their concerns about this development so near to one of the most sacred sites in North America.

Charmaine White Face is a member of the Oglala Band of the Tetuwin Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux Nation). She is a freelance writer and may be reached by e-mail: cwhiteface@aol.com.