BLACK HILLS, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) The Black Hills National Forest is one of the latest federal lands to enter a co-stewardship agreement with local tribal nations–a management model encouraged by the Biden administration. The Pactola / He Sápa Visitor Center sits on the south end of the Pactola Dam, along the 1-point-2 million acres that make up the Black Hills. A ceremony held this month honored a new memorandum of understanding for co-stewardship of the center, bringing together local tribal nations and the U-S National Forest to jointly administer the site. About 80 similar agreements were made after a 2021 federal order, according to the Interior Department. Ada Montague with the Native American Rights Fund says these agreements are opportunities to make good on federal treaty promises–ongoing legal obligations the U-S government has toward tribal nations.
The Tribes involved in the Black Hills agreement include the Cheyenne River, Standing Rock, Oglala, Rosebud and Crow Creek Sioux Tribes. Weston Jones, who is Oglala Lakota and also with the Native American Rights Fund, says co-stewardship of the visitor center allows tribes to teach the public.
The Forest Service says the center averages about 40-thousand visitors a year.