The upper Missouri River ran freely through Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota until six massive dam and reservoir projects were built during the second half of the twentieth century. This 1,500-mile stretch of river has long been central to the life and worship of 26 local Native American cultures, including the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Sioux tribes and the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota. On June 6, 2002 the Missouri River was listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) as one of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in America. As Scott Jones, Cultural Resources Officer for the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, said in a Senate hearing on June 4, “The river gave us life and the ability to sustain life. It is still sacred to my people today.”
Report by Amy Corbin
History
Since the glaciers receded 12,500 years ago, the Missouri River has been used by generations of Native Americans as a site for settlement, trade, prayer and burial. There are 1,100 archaeological sites eligible for or listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and thousands of ancient, cultural areas blanket the river basin. Some are now buried beneath the water of reservoirs, others have been destroyed by erosion as the artificial water levels rise and fall. Meanwhile, the Missouri River basin continues to be a place of native spiritual practices and burials. The natural flow of the river has long nurtured an ecosystem that is home to buffalo, eagles, wolves, fish, turtles and birds, in addition to a variety of edible and medicinal plants. As noted in the river’s nomination to the National Trust’s list of endangered places, “There is a direct relationship between the environment, traditional worship practices and the continued cultural survival of diverse indigenous groups.”
In 1944, the Pick-Sloan Flood Control Act transferred acreage around the river—23% of which was tribal land—to the Army Corps of Engineers for construction of dams and reservoirs. The project destroyed more Indian land than any public works project in U.S. history. Lakota, Dakota and Nakota tribes lost 202,000 acres. North Dakota’s Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara) lost 155,000 acres of their Fort Berthold Reservation to Garrison Dam (see photo at left) and 1,544 people were forced to relocate.
The tribes were not consulted in these decisions, nor have they received the benefits of irrigation and hydro-electric power that came from the projects. The loss of land resulted in great damage to tribal agriculture projects, destroying economies and stressing local communities.
Threat
The flow of the Missouri River is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers through six dams that keep the river flow steady to facilitate the movement of large barges and to control flooding in the lower stretches of the river. The massive alterations in the river’s flow were made to accommodate the interests of a small number of industrial users—at huge cultural expense. The dams created artificial lakes which have flooded many ancestral native sites and erode the shoreline by as much as 30 feet per year. Every year, the interred bodies of indigenous people are found floating in the reservoirs.
In 2000, the drawdown of the reservoir at Yankton resulted in the exposure of a number of human remains, eroding two burial grounds at White Swan. Ancestors were also disturbed at a historic cemetery on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, named after the Mad Bear family, whose relatives are buried there. The tribes were successful in obtaining a restraining order against further drawdowns until the Corps had mitigated the damage at the two sites.
The captured river water is used to support growing populations and farmers, and to generate hydro-electric power. As the area’s population grows, the integrity of the river and its cultural sites are further threatened by recreation, vandalism, looting and urban expansion.
The Pick-Sloan legislation called for the Missouri River to be managed for six purposes: flood control, navigation, hydropower, recreation, water supply and fish and wildlife. Traditionally, the Army Corps has focused on flood control, navigation and hydropower. The Corps has drafted numerous management plans for preserving the area’s resources since the early 1990s, but has yet to implement, fund or follow through on any of them. According to the NTHP nomination, “The lack of implementation of professional and scientific as well as tribal recommendations, combined with the unrelenting erosion and vandalism make the operation and maintenance of the reservoir projects by the Army Corps of Engineers the single greatest threat to the Endangered Corridor.”
The Army Corps’ efforts to control the river fit a long pattern of attempts to alter naturally flowing rivers in the belief that engineering will make the water work better for human use. A study by the non-profit conservation organization American Rivers concluded that: “the Army Corps is known for its deeply ingrained habit for building and operating water projects that inflict substantial environmental damage on rivers and freshwater habitats.” The Army Corps’ manipulation of river flows has driven two bird species (piping plover and least tern) and one fish species (pallid sturgeon) to the brink of extinction. These threats caused American Rivers to list the Missouri River as the Most Endangered River on their 2002 list of the Ten Most Endangered Rivers in America.
Pemina Yellow Bird of the Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Nation says, “The river is our grandfather, and he is sacred to us. This holy being is an endangered river. To me, that’s an oxymoron. How can that be? How can our river be dying? How can it be endangered?”
Native Activists Call for Boycott of South Dakota
May 23, 2003 — The Yankton Sioux Nation and Seventh Generation Fund are calling for a boycott of the state of South Dakota due to the ongoing desecration of Indian burials at the North Point Recreation Area. South Dakota is preparing for the Lewis and Clark Bi-Centennial Celebration by sprucing up parks along the Missouri River but native people have long warned of the presence of numerous burials and sacred places. Human remains have been scattered around the North Point area in landfill and the Yankton have set up a protest camp.
