MEAD COUNTY, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) The Cheyenne River Youth Project has purchased nearly 40 acres adjacent to Bear Butte State Park in Meade County, South Dakota. CEO Julie Garreau says this purchase brings the Cheyenne River Youth Project into the contemporary Land Back Movement. That is a generations old effort to put Native land back in Native hands. Garreau says a private dedication ceremony with youth from the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation will take place later this month.
Access to Bear Butte was severed in the late 19th century when the United States government seized the Black Hills and broke up the Great Sioux Reservation into several smaller reservations. In 1980, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the United States had illegally deprived the Native peoples of the Black Hills. The Court awarded the Lakota $105 million, but they refused to take the money. With compounded interest that award amount is now up to $1.3 billion and growing.
The property acquired by the Cheyenne River Youth Project comes with organic certification from the US Department of Agriculture which the Cheyenne River Youth Project will maintain in perpetuity. The land purchase will allow the group to bring children to Bear Butte for culture camps, workshops, internships and outdoor activities.
To learn more about the Cheyenne River Youth Project and its programs visit lakota.youth.org.