Above photo: Pe’ Sla “The Heart of Everything”. Wild Horses Channel on Youtube.
Pe’Sla is considered a site of creation.
The Oceti Sakowin, also known as the Great Sioux Nation, are actively opposing a proposed exploratory drilling project on lands adjacent to the sacred site of Pe’sla in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The campaign is one of many Indigenous efforts around the world that seek to defend and reclaim ancestral lands from the extractive industry.
A high-elevation meadow also known as Reynolds Prairie, Pe’sla is of deep spiritual importance to the Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota tribes, which have used it for ceremonial gatherings for thousands of years. According to Lakota oral traditions, Pe’Sla is the site of creation, “a bald spot among the pine-treed hills…where the Morning Star came down to help the people”. It is also a central location in many of their spiritual teachings.
The Rochford Mineral Exploratory Drilling Project proposed by Pete Lien & Sons, Inc., which is currently under consideration by the U.S. Forest Service, threatens to damage the prairie’s natural state, contaminate groundwater, disrupt ecosystems, and desecrate a location of immense importance to the Indigenous tribes of the region, according to a press release.
Pete Lein & Sons, Inc., proposes to drill up to 18 three-inch diameter boreholes 1,000 feet deep, within roughly one half mile from Pe’Sla. The aim is to survey the area for the presence of graphite, which if found, would likely open to door for mining in the region.
The Pe’sla site is currently protected by a federal trust that was created in 2016, four years after numerous tribes, including the Rosebud, Shakopee Mdewakanton, Crow Creek and Standing Rock Sioux Tribes, purchased it in response to a previous permit request by Pete Lien & Sons, Inc., to build a limestone quarry near Pe’Sla in 2011.
“Pe’sla is a sacred site with federal Indian trust status – yet is still at risk of mining, which should raise alarm bells for everyone in the Black Hills area and beyond as the success of this proposal could make all land that much easier for mining companies to contaminate forever,” NDN Collective Organizer Taylor Gunhammer said in a press release. ”Further, the underground deposits of graphite are small and low-grade – which tells us that this project isn’t even about the money, as there’s hardly any to be made. The Pe’sla mining proposal is a calculated and willful attack on Indigenous sovereignty, history, and human rights.”
The land trust includes approximately 2000 acres of land immediately identified by the Lakota as Pe’Sla. In February 2024, South Dakota tribes and allies introduced several bills in the South Dakota legislature seeking to require tribal consent before any mining or drilling on or near sacred sites could occur. However, the bills ultimately failed.
While efforts to protect Pe’Sla have been ongoing for more than a decade, organizing efforts against the proposal picked up significantly in the past year; led by the NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led organization committed to building Indigenous power, and the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance (BHCWA), which hosted the “Protect the Black Hills from Mining” summit in August 2024.
This past May, after the U.S. Forest Service released the environmental assessment for the drilling project and opened the public comment period, NDN Collective and BHCWA issued a call to action, urging the public to submit comments to the Forest Service in opposition to the drilling project.
As of May 16, the extended closing date of period for public comment, the U.S. Forest Service has been reviewing the drilling proposal and the public comments received.
The Oceti Sakowin and its allies continue to advocate for the denial of the permit, emphasizing the federal government’s trust responsibility to protect indigenous sacred sites. The final decision on the project is pending and will signify a critical moment in the ongoing struggle to protect Pe’Sla.
Based in Rapid City, South Dakota, Pete Lien & Sons, Inc., describes itself as a family-owned mining and construction materials company. It has not commented publicly on the permit or released any statements justifying the proposed exploratory drilling near Pe’Sla.
According to their website, the company, founded in 1944, has received past recognition for environmental stewardship, including the 1980 EPA Earth Care Award and the 2018 Jack Starner Mined Land Reclamation Award from Colorado’s Division of Reclamation, Mining & Safety. They claim to embrace environmental sustainability and say they have a goal of “leaving the world a better place than how we found it.” They have also faced various legal challenges and opposition related to its activities over the years.
The Forest Service’s decision is expected in October 2025. If approved, implementation is tentatively scheduled to begin the same month, according to the US Forest Service Project Overview.
“Mining at Pe’sla could contaminate drinking water for Rapid City, Rapid Valley, Box Elder, and even Ellsworth Air Force Base, and cause irreparable ecological damage” Gunhammer said in a press release. “It’s imperative that everyone rally to protect this sacred land – for ourselves, our future generations, and our shared planet.”
