Rounds wants to protect Bear Butte

| Sunday, December 16, 2007

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The Associated Press

PIERRE - Gov. Mike Rounds wants spend more than $1 million to prevent developers from putting biker bars and other noisy businesses on ranch land near Bear Butte, a mountain on the northern edge of the Black Hills held sacred by many American Indian tribes.

In recent years, Indians from several tribes have sought to block development of land around the butte into campgrounds, bars and other sometimes rowdy ventures that interfere with religious use of the mountain, particularly during the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally that draws hundreds of thousands of bikers to the area each August.

Saying he wants to protect the beauty and peace of the religious site, Rounds has proposed using state, federal and private money to buy a perpetual easement that would prevent commercial and residential development of some land on the western side of Bear Butte.

Indians working to protect Bear Butte praise the Republican governor's plan.

"Any kind of assistance from anybody in preserving the butte is welcome," said Gene Blue Arm, a Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member who has sought to limit development near the religious site.

"It's good of him," Blue Arm said. "I think it's a good deal."

Dean Wink, a member of the Meade County Commission, said he opposes a perpetual easement that would block all future owners from considering other uses for the land. But he said he could support an easement that prohibits development for a decade or two.

"Forever is a long time," Wink said.

The governor made only a brief mention of the plan in his budget speech to the South Dakota Legislature, which is being asked to approve an emergency special spending measure for Bear Butte. The easement could help calm some worries about the mountain, Rounds said.

His plan would use $250,000 in state money, to be matched with $344,000 in private donations and a $594,000 grant from a federal program that protects agricultural land, to buy a perpetual conservation easement on some ranch land on Bear Butte's west side.

The ranch family could still use the land for agricultural purposes, but it could not be used for commercial or residential purposes. The easement also would mean the owners would continue to pay property taxes to Meade County and the local school district.

For centuries, members of the Lakota, Cheyenne and other tribes have been climbing Bear Butte to fast and hold religious ceremonies. Colorful prayer cloths hanging from trees line the path to the top of the mountain, which rises about 1,300 feet above the surrounding plain.

Named Mato Paha, or Bear Mountain, because it resembles a sleeping bear lying on its side, it was formed by volcanic rock that never erupted and was then exposed when surrounding land eroded.

The butte and the land immediately around it are in a state park that was sold to the state of South Dakota in 1962 for $50,000. Because of the growth of the motorcycle rally, land values in the area have skyrocketed.

In recent years Indians have gathered at Bear Butte and nearby Sturgis during the rally to protest motorcycle noise, loud concerts and alcoholic consumption near the mountain. The 2007 Legislature rejected a measure seeking to ban the issuance of liquor or beer licenses within 4 miles of the boundaries of the state park after lawmakers said they did not want to interfere with private property rights.

Wink said he expects the Legislature will have a good discussion on the governor's easement plan, but local residents believe the issue should be handled locally.

"They just think the private property rights and local control are more important," the county commissioner said.

Some also have questioned whether tax money should be used for such an easement, Wink said.

But Blue Arm said the sacred mountain must be protected because noise and traffic from the motorcycle rally and other events interfere with religious use of the area. When people go to the mountain to pray, they are exposed to the elements, which helps them find truth, he said.

"I'm saying yes to anything to stop further development around the butte," Blue Arm said. "In a ceremony or in prayer, there needs to be a solitude."

State Parks Director Doug Hofer said officials are negotiating with a family that owns 700 acres of land on the west side Bear Butte between the state park and state Highway 79.

"The biggest priority is a piece of land that goes right up the side of the butte. We don't own every acre of that mountain," Hofer said.

Some Sioux tribes and the U.S. Interior Department have been buying land near Bear Butte in recent years, and that land is not subject to property taxes, Hofer said.

Details will not be available until the legislative session opens in January, but it might cost up to $1 million to get the easement, Hofer said.