Return of sacred site proper

Rapid City (S.D.) Journal: So much is still unknown — and so many questions remain unanswered — about the potential sale of nearly 2,000 acres of Black Hills prairie to the Native American nation that considers it sacred.

According to published reports, Margaret and Leonard Reynolds, the owners of the high meadow grasslands near Deerfield Reservoir deep in the Black Hills, have accepted an earnest deposit and a $9 million bid from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe for land that the Sioux know as Pe’ Sla (pronounced pay-shlaw) and other inhabitants call Reynolds Prairie. Newly elected RST President Cyril Scott said recently that a $900,000 deposit has been made and the remaining $8.1 million payment is due in November. That agreement ended a planned auction that would have subdivided the land for sale to private individuals.

Who would own it, how it would be managed and where the remaining purchase funds will come from remain unclear at this point.

But there is one thing that is certain: If the land can be successfully returned to the Lakota nation, which considers it the sacred site of the Lakota creation story, and successfully managed once it is, then the best interests of both the Great Sioux Nation, the land itself and people everywhere will have been served.

We’re pleased to see the tribe and other Native organizations work together to make this dream a reality for all Native Americans.