Published January 17, 2014, 09:05 AM

Tribal members speak out against power line plan near Killdeer Mountain Battle site

WATFORD CITY, N.D. – Members of North Dakota Native American tribes spoke in opposition Thursday to a proposed transmission line that would run through the Killdeer Mountain Battle site and urged that it at least be postponed until the battlefield can be studied.

By: Amy Dalrymple, Forum News Service

• LaDonna Brave Bull Allard speaks in opposition to proposed transmission line

LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, speaks Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014, in opposition to a proposed transmission line that would run through the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield area. She spoke during a hearing in Watford City, N.D. Amy Dalrymple/Forum News Service

WATFORD CITY, N.D. – Members of North Dakota Native American tribes spoke in opposition Thursday to a proposed transmission line that would run through the Killdeer Mountain Battle site and urged that it at least be postponed until the battlefield can be studied.

But representatives of local electric cooperatives said delaying Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s proposal could mean turning out the lights for growing communities and oil and gas development projected to require more electricity.

About 15 people participated in a public hearing in Watford City to accept comments on a draft environmental impact statement on the project, hosted by Rural Utilities Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is considering funding the project.

The 345-kilovolt transmission line would start at the Antelope Valley Station near Beulah, head west through Killdeer, north through Williston and end at a substation near Tioga.

The environmental impact process considers three slightly different alternatives, but all three would affect an eight-mile area in the heart of the Killdeer Mountain Battle area, said Rob Sand, a spokesman for the Killdeer Mountain Alliance.

“The project must be sent back to the drawing board,” Sand said.

Basin Electric’s preferred route runs along U.S. Highway 85 and could be seen from up to 30 percent of the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, said Park Superintendent Valerie Naylor. The other two alternatives would not affect the park, but all three would affect the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, she said.

LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe whose relatives fought in the Killdeer Mountain Battle and are buried there, said the project should wait for a North Dakota State University study to define the boundaries of the battle area.

“I’m not saying stop it, I’m saying do better planning,” she said.

Sara Jumping Eagle of Bismarck said she and other Native Americans consider Killdeer Mountain a sacred area for prayer, similar to a church.

“I don’t think that many people really understand the significance of that,” Jumping Eagle said. “If we tried to run pipelines and transmission lines through your church, I’m sure you’d have something to say about that.”

The battlefield area is primarily privately owned land. Craig Dvirnak, who owns the property that has been designated as the state’s historic marker for the battle, said he and all but one of his neighbors who live in the battlefield study area support the project. Dvirnak said Watford City needs the power for development such as new grocery stores, a proposed new school and a new hospital.

John Skurupey, general manager of McKenzie Electric Cooperative, said without the proposed transmission line, the cooperative will not be able to provide reliable electricity to meet the needs of residents and commercial development in the rapidly growing area. The cooperative will be forced to refuse service to current and future customers, Skurupey said.

“This is not a futuristic prediction but rather the road we’re traveling,” Skurupey said.

Claire Vigesaa, general manager for Upper Missouri G&T in Sidney, Mont., said project delays would lead to severe transmission limitations that would affect farmers, ranchers and residents in the region.

Several participants said they had little notice about Thursday’s meeting and that more would have attended if it had been advertised better. The Dakota Resource Council had called for the meeting to be delayed.

Curt Pearson, a spokesman for Basin Electric, said the meeting was advertised twice in newspapers along the route of the proposal at the end of December and beginning of January.

The project needs several permits to move forward, including the approval of the North Dakota Public Service Commission.

The U.S. Forest Service would have to grant a special use permit for the route that runs along Highway 85 because it affects public land, said District Ranger Jay Frederick.

“We don’t know which way we’re going to go just yet,” Frederick said.

The public comment period ends Feb. 3. Written comments on the scope of the environmental impact statement should be sent to dennis.rankin@wdc.usda.gov or Dennis Rankin, Environmental Protection Specialist, USDA, Rural Utilities Service, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Stop 1571, Washington, DC 20250-1571.

The supplemental draft environmental statement is available at www.rurdev.usda.gov/UWP-AVS-Neset.html.

- See more at: http://www.prairiebizmag.com/event/article/id/17451/#sthash.fmVDJUld.dpuf
http://www.bakkentoday.com/event/article/id/36041/

Statement of LaDonna Brave Bull Allard at USDA-RUS public hearing

Statement of LaDonna Brave Bull Allard at USDA-RUS public hearing

"I greet you each with a warm handshake from my heart as we come together to give comment on this sacred site “Tahca WaKutepi Paha” a place where my relatives came to pray and bury their dead. 

"The SDEIS Supplemental DEIS for the Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s (Basin Electric) Antelope Valley Station (AVS) to Neset Transmission Project needs to be postponed, until a full Archeological Survey is completed by archeologist and our Native Monitor’s to define the border of the site. It seems premature for this project to be pushed though because of the need of a few.

"We need to be thinking of the future generations as look at these sites, there is more for us to learn about the land and the history it hides within.

"I am speaking for my relatives Red Thunder, Bear Face, Iron Horn, and Rain in the Face, Shaved Head, Little Bear, and my Ihunktonwana relatives who fought here at Kill Deer. They lived, fought, prayed and died and were buried at this sacred site for many generations. The 'Tahca WaKutepi Paha' Killdeer Mountain- this site was known as prayer and ceremony site before the Great Battle of Kill Deer Mountain.

"The Killdeer Mountain Battle is the most important America’s Civil War battle in North Dakota. As other states protect Civil War Battle Sites, does North Dakota destroy their sites or is it because these are Native sites? As we approach the 150 year Anniversary of this battle do we stand in protection of the site or do we destroy the integrity of the site? We as Native People and Americana are just now understanding these sites and what really happened at this site. It time to come together to protect these sites for the future so that we can learn to live as human beings again.

"The major problem with the SDEIS is that it develops no alternative that would avoid constructing eight miles of transmission lines though the heart of the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield.

"I believe it fails to comply with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Section 1502.1 of the Council on Environmental Quality’s NEPA implementing regulations states: “The primary purpose of an environmental impact statement is to serve as an action-forcing device to insure that the policies and goals defined in the Act are infused into the ongoing programs and actions of the federal government. It shall provide full and fair discussion of significant environmental impacts and shall inform decision makers and the public of the reasonable alternatives which would avoid or minimize adverse impacts or enhance the quality of the human environment.”

"Section 1502.14 of The Council on Environmental Quality’s regulations further requires agencies to: “Rigorously explore and objectively evaluate all reasonable alternatives, and for alternatives which were eliminated from detailed study, briefly discuss the reasons for their having been eliminated.”

"The National Park Service recognizes the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield as a place eligible to be placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. I believe that continuing with this process fails to comply with the requirements of NEPA and the Council on Environmental Quality’s Implementing Regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508).

"I want to say that in my heart that this project need to be postponed instead of rushing it though without clear planning for the future."

Basin lists alternate routes for power lines

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January 16, 2014 10:13 pm  •  By Lauren Donovan

This map shows the routes Basin Electric Power Cooperative prefers for getting electricity from its plant near Beulah to the oil patch. However, it does have alternative routes, both of which follow the yellow line, for getting the power to the same place.

Enlarge Photo

WATFORD CITY — A power company went back to the drawing board and came up with two alternate routes for a massive new transmission line. It solves some issues, but not the primary one of crossing the Killdeer Mountain battlefield.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative plans to send nearly 700 kilovolts of much-needed electricity to the Bakken oil patch from its power plant near Beulah.

On Thursday, Basin unveiled two new routes for getting there along with one the public has already seen.

A supplemental draft environmental impact statement was released at a public hearing in Watford City. It’s required because so many federal agencies are involved and the two alternatives are new.

The public can comment on it until Feb. 3.

All three alternatives will still cross eight miles of the Killdeer Mountains foothills west of the town of Killdeer. The path tracks through an area short-listed by the American Battlefield Protection Program as the most at-risk of all Civil War-era Indian battlefields. It is under study by a North Dakota State University heritage group to detail its history and condition.

The piece through the battlefield area can’t be avoided because Basin has to connect to a major substation called Charlie Creek near U.S. Highway 85 to the west, said Cris Miller, the co-op’s senior environmental manager.

Two strong voices of opposition were from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which was engaged by the U.S. military in the 1864 battle.

LaDonna Allard, the tribe historian whose ancestors were engaged with Brig. Gen. Alfred Sully in 1864, said she wants the project postponed until the battlefield boundaries are defined by the study.

She called the environmental document “appalling” for its lack of knowledge.

“This is a Civil War battlefield,” she said. “Why doesn’t North Dakota know its own history?”

She said Sioux burials remain there, including those of her relatives.

“We know where they are,” she said.

“Are we going to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the battle in the middle of this development?” she asked.

Sioux historic preservation officer Waste’ Win Young called the environmental study biased and incomplete.

“How can you in one document dispute the boundaries of the battlefield and then say, ‘Oh, this is where they buried their (war) dead?’” she said.

Heading north

The difference in the alternatives is how to move the power north and across Lake Sakakawea.

Basin wants to build two new power lines and load 345 kilovolts on each one — one traveling north along U.S. 85 from the substation and another backfeeding and then going north along N.D. Highway 22.

In two other alternatives, new in this study, it would use the backfeed route and either build two parallel lines along N.D. 22, or one that’s double-circuited on one support structure.

Each of the alternatives eventually would cross the Little Missouri River, on to Williston and then east toward Tioga.

Miller said Basin prefers two routes because of reliability. The miles between them could prevent both being involved in an outage at the same time, he said.

But Basin may not get what it wants.

The U.S. Forest Service, the Western Area Power Administration and the Rural Utilities Service all have to approve the project in separate records of decision.

The route Basin wants — the one with two distinct lines — would cross eight miles of U.S. Forest Service land and head past the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where it would be visible, but only with binoculars.

Jay Frederick, local ranger for the Forest Service, said the new alternatives changed the discussion for his agency.

The one Basin prefers would affect the agency’s Lone Butte roadless area and the national park. The other two don’t, he said.

The two new alternatives cross much more private land, financially benefiting individuals rather than the government — and the project’s bottom line. Frederick said his agency could decide whether it would issue a permit in as soon as a month.

“If we say ‘no,’ they have to go to the other routes,” he said.

Basin will spend about $500 million to construct the lines, Miller said. The electricity would add to about 270 megawatts of recently constructed power from three gas-fired turbines in the oil patch.

The company is trying to meet a demand for electricity that has doubled in recent projections.

Theodore Roosevelt Park Superintendent Valerie Naylor said industrial development is cumulative and she cautioned against too much.

“You reach a tipping point where you’ve changed the landscape so much, you’ve lost the value of it,” Naylor said

She said she’s glad to see alternatives that don’t visually impact the park, but said she’d prefer a project that didn’t affect the battlefield area.

The American Battlefield Protection Program is a National Park Service program.

Jan Swenson, director of the Badlands Conservation Alliance, represented her group at the sparsely attended hearing.

“I’m delighted to see two alternatives that avoid going past the national park,” she said.

As for the battlefield route remaining in play, she said: “One step at a time.”

Miller said Basin hopes to have a decision by mid-year. It is also awaiting a permit from the Public Service Commission. He said the PSC hasn’t seen the new alternatives and the co-op would have to make another route application for those.

Reach Lauren Donovan at 701-220-5511 or lauren@westriv.com.

http://bismarcktribune.com/bakken/basin-lists-alternate-routes-for-power-lines/article_c50f0648-7f2d-11e3-af96-001a4bcf887a.html

Remembering Whitestone Hill 150 Years Later: August 24, 2013

By Aaron Barth

On August 24, 2013 (a week from tomorrow), the State Historical Society of North Dakota is hosting the 150th year of observances at Whitestone Hill in southeastern North Dakota. You can drive to the site, and there is an official Facebook page which you can link to here. I also thought I’d just copy and paste the August 24, 2013 line up below. Here it is, verbatim, and I’ve also provided links with the particular names (just click on them to learn more):

Whitestone Hill 150th Commemoration event, Saturday, August 24, 2013
Schedule – August 2013
9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Demonstration stations: all day
Dakota Lifeways, Dakota food demo, military life re-enactors, settler life re-enactors, Dakota drum and dance, Dakota War information, interpretive signs –either a prototype or actual sign that will be installed on site by SHSND
Speakers:
9 a.m. Kevin Locke – opening prayer 
9:15 0r 9:30 a.m. Ladonna Allard – Life in the James River Valley 
11 a.m. Richard M. Rothaus – “The Military Context of Whitestone Hill–Tactics, Artillery, and Non-Combatants.” 
11:45 a.m. Aaron Barth – “Remembering Whitestone Hill” 
1 p.m. speaker to be announced – Identity and Story of the Native People of Whitestone Hill
3 p.m. Speaker Panel – Preservation of Whitestone Hill – Past, Present and Future. Alden Flakoll, Board member of the Whitestone Hill Battlefield Historical Society, Dakota Goodhouse, Program Director for North Dakota Humanities Council, Ladonna Allard, Tourism Director for Standing Rock Reservation, Tamara St. John, Tribal Historian for Sisseton Wahpeton Tribal Historic Preservation Office, Diane Rogness, Historic Sites Manager for the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
4 p.m. Kevin Locke – dance
5:30 p.m. Buffalo supper, RSVP required

04/06/2013

US-Dakota Wars, Then and Now: Ellendale, North Dakota, April 5, 2013

By Aaron Barth

Last night in Ellendale, North Dakota (not far from a September 1863 massacre site of memory and mourning that is Whitestone Hill), a panel discussion between Natives and non-Natives took place at the Ellendale Opera House. The discussion opened with introductory remarks by North Dakota State University’s Tom Isern, and then by philosopher of ethics, Professor Dennis Cooley (Dennis is co-founder of the Northern Plains Ethics Institute, linked to here). From there Richard Rothaus provided an overview of the US-Dakota Wars that started in the Minnesota River Valley, 1862, but did not end in Mankato with the largest execution in United States history. In the following years, the US engaged in a protracted punitive campaign against all Sioux, regardless of whether they participated in the US-Dakota Wars throughout the Minnesota River Valley in 1862 — the many were punished for the actions of a few.
I think one of the main reasons folks came to this — and they expressed it — was to listen to what Tamara St. John (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, South Dakota) and Ladonna Brave Bull Allard (Standing Rock Tourism Director, North Dakota) had to say. Toward the end of the conversation, several of the Ellendale residents expressed immense thanks for the opportunity to listen, and one individual said they will use this panel discussion to navigate how to go about organizing the 150th year event at Whitestone Hill this September.

The US-Dakota War Panel Discussion from April 5, 2013, at the Opera House in Ellendale, North Dakota.

http://theedgeofthevillage.com/2013/04/06/us-dakota-wars-then-and-now-ellendale-north-dakota-april-5-2013/

To solidify our imagined sense of geographic history, I thought that it might be helpful to circulate the following map above that situates Native America on the northern Great Plains circa 1862, and contrasts it with the 2013 Eisenhower Interstate system. Also,linked here is a audio recording of the panel discussion in Ellendale, North Dakota, from April 5, 2013, taken by Kenneth Smith. The entire event was sponsored by the North Dakota Humanities Council and the Center for Heritage Renewal.

Series to focus on Dakota War

March 17, 2013 3:00 am

A series of public forums discussing “The Dakota War in Dakota Territory” is scheduled for Sitting Bull College Friday and Watford City Saturday.

The programs are organized by the Center for Heritage Renewal, North Dakota State University, with funding from the North Dakota Humanities Council.

Friday’s forum begins at 7 p.m. in the Sitting Bull College Science and Technology Center, room 120/101.

Saturday’s forum will be at 7 p.m. at the Watford City High School media center.

Richard Rothaus, CEO of Trefoil Cultural and Environmental, and research associate of the NDSU center, is the lead scholar for the program series.

Other presenters are Tamara St. John, archivist for the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate; Dennis Gill, an elder in the Sisseton-Wahpeton community; and LaDonna Allard, tourism director of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

Dennis Cooley, professor of philosophy at NDSU, will moderate the programs, in which audience discussion is invited and encouraged.

The U.S.-Dakota War of 1862-64, which began with violence in Minnesota in 1862, moved into Dakota Territory with the siege of Fort Abercrombie in 1862.

It extended onto the Dakota plains in 1863-64. Actions at Whitestone Hill in 1863 and Killdeer Mountain in 1864 are the best-known events in a war that involved not only all Dakota peoples, but also the western Lakota, as well as the citizens and armed forces of the territory and nation.

http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/series-to-focus-on-dakota-war/article_03614c76-8d8f-11e2-b6d2-0019bb2963f4.html

Dakota War in Dakota Territory: Conflict & Memory on the Dakota Plains

Dakota War in Dakota Territory: Conflict & Memory on the Dakota Plains is a series of forums, convened in communities adjacent to significant sites of memory associated with the US-Dakota War of 1862-64 which will engage the public in discussion of the values and implications of this conflict for our historical memory and current situation.The events of 1862-64 were both destructive and formative in Dakota Territory. The Dakota War destroyed some peoples' ways of life, but not the peoples themselves. Their descendants on the northern plains inherit the legacies of this conflict and carry the historical memory of it. 

7:00 p.m., March 22, 2013
Sitting Bull College
Science & Technology Center Room 20/10
Fort Yates, ND
Mark Holman
701.854.8024

7:00 p.m., March 23, 2013
Watford City High School Media Center
100 3rd St NE
Watford City, ND
Jan Dodge
701.570.2493

7:00 p.m., April 5, 2013
Ellendale Opera House
55 Main St.
Ellendale, ND
Jeanette Robb-Ruenz
701.535.0442

7:00 p.m., April 6, 2013
Lake Region Heritage Center
502 4th St NE
Devils Lake, ND
Kristin Wood
701.662.3701

For general information on the program series, contact Tom Isern, Director of the NDSU Center for Heritage Renewal: (C) 701-799-2942 / isern@plainsfolk.com


Statewide Press Release on Dakota War Programs
More Media Notices

Humanities Scholars for Dakota War Programs
Tamara St. John (archivist, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate), presenter
Dennis Gill (elder, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate), presenter
Richard Rothaus (CEO Trefoil Cultural & Environmental, research associate of the Center for Heritage Renewal), lead scholar
LaDonna Allard, Director, Standing Rock Tribal Tourism
Dennis Cooley, North Dakota State University, program moderator
Additional participants invited in specific communities

Sound Files - Program Previews
Tom Isern: The Humanities & the Dakota War
Richard Rothaus: 150 Years On
Tamara St. John: Our Elders Tell Us
Tamara St. John: Who We Are as a People
Richard Rothaus: Actors, Not Victims
Tom Isern: Humanities Scholars

http://heritagerenewal.org/dakotawar/

http://www.ndhumanities.org/calendar.html

https://www.facebook.com/groups/339958816115802/?fref=ts

How Best To Preserve The Story Of The Killdeer Mountain Conflict

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2013

How Best To Preserve The Story Of The Killdeer Mountain Conflict

An image of a soldier engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a warrior. The image is engraved upon the elevator doors on the ground floor and main floor. 

Bismarck, N.D. – The polished hall outside the Missouri Room of the Bismarck State Capital building gradually filled with archaeologists, historians, tribal representatives and land owners from around Killdeer Mountain, all from different disciplines and walks of life, all concerned citizens of a proud state.

The study area of the Killdeer Mountain Conflict within the purple boundary.

The citizenry gathered in little groups here and there to introduce themselves and exchange greetings. It seemed like a fellowship of near universal concerns that brought everyone together, and life is like that. Sometimes it takes one thing to bring people together who might not have met in another situation.

An alarming amount of existing wells and proposed wells within the Killdeer Mountain Conflict area.

The hearing was scheduled at 2:00 PM CST and the fellowship exchanged the hall of polished stone and brass for the quiet cell of the Missouri River Room. A coterie of archaeologists clustered together in one corner, the tribal representatives quietly moved themselves to a corner close to the front, and historians scattered amongst the throng. Chit chat grew to a loud buzz, and though the Government and Veteran Affairs Committee was delayed an hour the motley collection of citizens didn't seem to grow impatient.

This is North Dakota, and sometimes things happen when they’re scheduled to, and other times things happen when they should. Farmers might call it natural time, Indians would agree.

Senator Triplett explains that next year marks the 150th anniversary of the Killdeer Mountain Conflict. "Its an opportunity for the state to reflect on the tragedy that shaped our statehood and include the story that has been under represented these long years," said Triplett, or something like that - my pen could not move fast enough.

The good people who made up the committee apologized for their unexpected delay and things quickly got started when Chairman Dever (Dist. 32, Bismarck) brought the gavel down with great ceremony and authority.  The hearing was to hear Senate Bill 2341, a proposal by senators on either end of the political spectrum, introduced by Sen. Wardner (Dist. 37, Dickinson) but the voice of the bill was provided by Senator Triplett (Dist. 18, Grand Forks).

Senate Bill 2341 proposed to appropriate $250,000 to do an archaeological and historical survey of the Killdeer Mountain conflict study area. A packed room of about forty-five people, including the good senators, heard testimony from several individuals representing various entities, and a few who spoke as private citizens.

Paaverud maintained an impeccable composure of respect for the committee as he endorsed the Heritage Center's support of the bill.

Mr. Merlan Paaverud and Ms. Fern Swenson represented the interests of the State Historical Society of North Dakota and voiced the SHSND’s endorsement of this bill. Ms. Swenson offered that the Killdeer Mountain study area consists of 17,433 acres or about 23 square miles, a core area of about 5,421 acres and only about 569 acres has been surveyed. Swenson also shared that the site has had a continual cultural occupation for the past 3,000 years.

Dr. Isern addresses the committee. He said his piece in about five minutes or less and gave some handouts with points explaining the nature of heritage preservation. 

Dr. Tom Isern, Director of the Institute for RegionalStudies, rendered a concise and wonderful explanation of the intrinsic value of Killdeer Mountain as a heritage site and acknowledged the attraction of the site to hikers and lovers of history and nature who would be drawn to this site, as many like-minded visitors have in the past. Dr. Isern expressed his institute’s support of the bill.

An immaculately groomed Aaron Barth (looking at the camera) visited with Mr. Jepson of Killdeer.

A few concerned citizens took to offering their support of this bill. Mr. Aaron Barth, founding writer of The Edge Of The Village, shared the need to survey and catalogue the Killdeer Mountain as a start to preserve the story of the site, if the natural integrity of the site is to be developed. “There’s a story to tell, and we must do all we can to share it,” as he compared the need to tell the stories of all combatants, like the American Civil War.

Without waver or hesitation, Young shared a resolution regarding sacred places from the National Congress of American Indians.

Ms. Waště'Wiŋ Young, Standing Rock Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, took the stand and pointedly stated that “the Indian voice has yet to be heard.” Young boldly shared with the committee a resolution adopted by the National Congress of American Indians in October of 2012 regarding the protection and preservation of sacred places. She read the whole thing, expressed her office’s support of Senate Bill 2341, and quietly departed.

Bravebull-Allard representing Standing Rock Tourism supports this bill.

Ms. LaDonna Bravebull-Allard, Director of Standing RockTourism, shared her lineage going back to survivors who were at Killdeer Mountain when General Sully forced his command on the Yanktonai Dakota, Hunkpapa Lakota and Santee Dakota. Bravebull-Allard spoke about how Killdeer Mountainwas a sacred site, not just to the Dakota and Lakota people, but the Mandan, Hidatsa, Chippewa and Assiniboine. With practiced confidence of a story-teller she shared that the site was where Sun Dreamer ascended Killdeer Mountain in 1625. Bravebull-Allard’s office supports this bill.

St. John spoke with dignified authority, less than two minutes, and left many of the committee nodding their heads in approval of her gracious support.

Ms. Tamara St. John, Sisseton-Wahpeton Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, eloquently and briefly echoed Young’s and Bravebull-Allard’s sentiments of protecting a special site like KilldeerMountain and her office’s support of the bill.

Sand called for the state to move carefully and deliberately to preserve North Dakota's heritage sites.

Mr. Rob Sand, a representative of the Killdeer MountainAlliance, a tall gentleman with the gait of a lifelong rancher took to the podium briefly and passionately encouraged oil development to wait. Sand offered the support of the Killdeer Mountain Alliance in favor of the bill.

Rothaus, self-described hard-boiled skeptic, put the bill on a scale but explained the overwhelming need to preserve as much of the story of Killdeer as possible and endorsed the bill.

Dr. Richard Rothaus, founder and director of TrefoilCultural and Natural, drove like a mad man from his office in Sauk Rapids, MN to render cold and succinct explanation of the Killdeer Mountain conflict’s standing in US military history as one of the largest, if not the single largest, Indian-White conflict in the west and why North Dakota needs to preserve as much of the conflict site and stories as possible. A former university professor, Rothaus came across brutally blunt but also exceptionally honest. He also endorsed his support of the bill.

Dvirnak proudly wore a Fighting Sioux windbreaker to the hearing. He forgot to bring one for me.

Lastly, Mr. Bryan Dvirnak, a lifelong rancher on family-owned and managed land at KilldeerMountain, shared his family’s generations-long commitment to the preserving the cultural and historic integrity of the conflict site. “No one has done more to preserve and protect the site. We’re all for preserving the property,” said Dvirnak in a moving testimony to the committee. Dvirnak expressed that his brother could best articulate how their family has forged relationships with various Indian communities in state and  into Canada. The Dvirnaks have graciously allowed traditional ceremonies and prayers to be conducted on their land throughout the years.

Dvirnak, regardless of his family’s openness to the American Indian presence on his family’s land, managed to convey his open skepticism of the bill. “What will the [archaeological] study do?” he wondered aloud. Dvirnak conveyed his disillusionment with the bill, the sharpest point of his argument manifested itself in his question about what the bill would mandate him to do on his own land.

The bill doesn’t mandate anyone to do anything on their own private land. In fact, the bill mandates that the archaeologists who conduct the investigation must acquire the permissions of all landowners in the study and core areas of the Killdeer Mountain conflict. Senator Dever, the chairman of the Government and Veterans Committee, understood Mr. Dvirnak’s position and told Sen. Triplett to include language in Senate Bill 2341 that expressly and clearly articulates a mandate for archaeologists to acquire permission of landowners to survey on their land.

Mr. Dvirnak and his family have the best intentions, a family mission taken to heart, passed down from father to sons, to preserve the heritage of Killdeer Mountain. They opened their lands in the past to the Indian communities. They also donated a tidycollection of artifacts from the KilldeerMountain conflict to Dickinson State University.

They did this because there’s a story that needs to be preserved and shared, and that’s something that everyone who testified can agree.