Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

PIERRE, SD - A group of Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation are currently occupying an Island located on federal land on the Missouri River at Pierre, South Dakota.

On Friday, March, 26 1999 the group met with two delegates of the Army Corps of Engineers (COE). An agreement between the Oglala group and the COE was made that the occupation was to be a peaceful one and the feds will not arrest anyone at this time.

The occupation stemmed from the Wildlife Mitigation Act, which allows the state of South Dakota to be awarded approximately 200,000 acres of treaty lands belonging to the Teton Nation, according to the 1868 Treaty.

On Saturday March 27, 1999, two higher ranking officers of the corps, one of which was a colonel (Voltz) met with the group once again as a preliminary to a bigger meeting with Black Hills Treaty Council.

The COE will be presented with the violations of the treaties and also the human rights violations stemming from the Mitigation Act. This meeting will take place at the Island itself.

Support is being sought, in terms of getting this incident out to the general public nation wide, currently we are undergoing a media blackout and very little is known of these events.

A tentative date (Saturday, April 3, 1999) is set for the meeting between the COE and The Black Hills Treaty Council, all of the seven Bands of the Teton are expected to attend.