Since Roberts County was locked down last Wednesday by what we all hope was the winter's last blizzard, Bluestem wasn't able to attend the meeting in Granite Falls we posted about in Area legislators to host April 5 community meeting in Granite Falls about transfer of park to Upper Sioux Community/Pezihutazizi Oyate.
Bluestem had covered the legislation that would enable the transfer in two posts: Upper Sioux Community Pezihutazizi Oyate land transfer clears first MN House committee hearing and Upper Sioux Community/Pezihutazizi Oyate land transfer bill heard in two MN Senate committees,
Fortunately, we were able to listen to audio of the meeting--though the available audio was online in several pieces and in an audio file sent to me by someone who was able to attend. The beginning of the meeting was published in two pieces by the Granite Falls Advocate Tribune in Meeting held in Granite Falls about potential land transfer while our audio file completed the meeting.
Fortunately, a YouTube of the meeting was posted today.
Here's the YouTube of the meeting created by Clean Up The River Environment (CURE), a grassroots environmental and clean energy organization based in Montevideo, Minnesota. CURE supports the legislation.
Bluestem thinks its important to have the video of this event on hand, since the available reporting from area newspapers varied at time from what we'd listened to on the audio that was available to us.
It's an occupational hazard for journalists covering a wide ranging meeting that includes history many Minnesotans and Americans don't know too well. Fortunately, two scholars of Dakota history--also Yellow Medicine citizens--were on hand to give testimony.
News Digest
The most recent article was published today in the Granite Falls Advocate Tribune, .Crowd gathers for information meeting about potential transfer of land. Bluestem is waiting for our spanying-new subscription to kick in so I can read the article and share excerpts from the weekly paper's coverage.
Last week in the West Central Tribune, Linda Vanderwerf reported in Land transfer and closing of Upper Sioux Agency State Park draws a crowd, pleas for more communication:
A transfer of Upper Sioux Agency State Park land to the Upper Sioux Community won’t result in a loss of recreational opportunity in the area, state leaders said at an informational session Wednesday evening.
More than 200 people crowded into a room and the hall outside at Minnesota West Community and Technical College in Granite Falls to hear state and tribal officials discuss the proposed transfer.
The session was hosted by Sen. Gary Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, and Rep. Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent. They said they hoped the meeting could answer people's questions.
The panel of speakers included representatives from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Historical Society. Also on the panel were Dave Smiglewski, mayor of Granite Falls but participating in the meeting representing the park supporters’ group, and Yellow Medicine County Commissioner John Berends.
Leaders of the Upper Sioux Community for years have asked to have the park land, which is sacred to them, returned to the community, several state officials said.
Until this year, the discussion didn’t move beyond that. Now, legislation moving through the Minnesota House and Senate could lead to the land transfer. . . .
Read the rest at the Tribune. At the Marshall Independent. Deb Gau reported in Tribe: Park not recreational land:
People crammed into a cafeteria in Granite Falls Wednesday night in order to learn more about a proposal to transfer ownership of the Upper Sioux Agency State Park lands to the Upper Sioux Community. While a panel of speakers took questions and comments for more than two hours, they said there were still a lot of details about the proposed transfer that will need to be worked out.
“We are early in this process. There’s a lot that we do not know,” said David Kelliher, director of government relations for the Minnesota Historical Society.
Members of the public at the meeting spoke out both in support of the land transfer, and questioning it. Some audience members also criticized what they said was a lack of communication about the land transfer proposal.
This spring, a pair of bills have been introduced in the Minnesota House and Senate that would potentially start the process to transfer ownership of Upper Sioux Agency State Park lands to the Upper Sioux Community. . . .
Upper Sioux Community Tribal Chairman Kevin Jensvold, and DNR Southern Region Director Scott Roemhildt, said the request to transfer the state park land to the Upper Sioux Community was not new.
“One thing I think it’s important to know is that in the 11 years that I’ve been meeting with the Upper Sioux Community, each year Chairman Jensvold has requested that Upper Sioux Agency State Park be returned to the Yellow Medicine People of the Upper Sioux Community,” Roemhildt said.
Jensvold said Upper Sioux Community members faced access barriers to the state park for spiritual or ceremonial purposes.
“And that set wrong, because the context of that park was historic tribal treaty land,” Jensvold said.
“These are historic problems. I don’t know anybody in here who can raise their hand to say they have to pay to go visit their relatives’ graves. I don’t see anybody in here, you know, having that difficulty that this park poses. That was the initial catalyst,” he said. Other factors like the deterioration of the park’s interpretive center and the decommissioning of the main road through the park led the Upper Sioux Community to take the request to the state Legislature, Jensvold said.
Roemhildt said the bills at the Minnesota House and Senate would get the process of looking at a land transfer started.
“Our understanding is that those are process bills. One of the things that they require is that the DNR submit a report by December 15, and one of the things that report needs to do is identify any obstacles to transferring the park, along with possible legislative solutions to those obstacles,” he said. “And so in the coming months, that’s going to be one of our responsibilities, and along with that we’re going to be looking at public engagement and speaking to different groups that have interests with the park. While we don’t have that in place yet just because things have been moving quickly, it’s something that we plan to do.”
Ann Pierce, parks and trails division director for the Minnesota DNR, said the DNR has been exploring what a land transfer process for the park would be like.
“There are a number of people, a number of groups that are involved in the process for transferring land like this, and that would include the federal government, the state Legislature, the Minnesota Historical Society, the Department of Natural Resources,” Pierce said.
Jensvold said $5.3 million was also being requested on behalf of the state of Minnesota to create replacement recreation area for the park.
“The $5.3 million that is in the bill would allow us to use that money to help replace recreational values that the park holds, and then there is also the value of the land. And so that is a piece that is in the bill, and that is a process that we will work through,” Pierce said.
“As a tribe, we do not believe that place should be viewed as recreational land,” Jensvold said of the current state park. “It is a very solemn, historic and sacred piece of land that our people have lived on and occupied for 10,000 years. And look, what occurred in 1862 on that piece of land, it was neither pretty, it was neither human-like, and it was a very, very important time in history that shaped where we’re at today.”
Several members of the public asked if any of the current park land or resources would be accessible to people outside the Upper Sioux Community if the bills pass.
“That’s one of the questions that’s been posed many, many times to us,” Jensvold said. “As a tribal council, we haven’t really come to terms with the potential that exists in front of us at the moment. But we do know this — it will be treated in a respectful and solemn manner, for all peoples to remember what occurred there.” . . .
Willmar Radio interviewed Senator Gary Dahms, Redwood Falls-R, in About 200 attend Upper Sioux State Park transfer meeting. Dahms focused on the potential replacement of the park:
. . . Dahms says there were two representatives from The Minnesota DNR, two representatives from The Minnesota Historical Society, Granite Falls Mayor Dave Smiglewski, Yellow Medicine County Commissioner John Berends, and Kevin Jensvold, Chair of the Upper Sioux Community. Under state law, if the state gives up the state park, the DNR must create an equal amount of new park space, in this case 1280 acres, somewhere else, although it doesn't specify where. Those at the meeting Tuesday night wanted it in the local area...
. . .Dahms said Jensvold says they plan to use the current park property for religious purposes and leave it in it's natural state. Dahms says he thinks there is 5.3 million dollars to purchase more park property in the bonding bill. The land transfer bill has been heard in The Senate Environment Committee, was amended in The Transportation Committee, and then referred back to The Senate Environment Committee. Upper Sioux Agency State Park is located on the Minnesota River southeast of Granite Falls. The main road to the park has deteriorated which has affected access to the park.
Jensvold said at the informational meeting that he'd held a Zoom meeting with Swedzinski months ago in which the transfer was discussed.
As I noted in an earlier post, I'd heard oyate members say over the years that their hope was to have the park land returned, though they weren't speaking in an official capacity. Nonetheless, the notion of a land transfer didn't come as a surprise when I read the bills this winter.
Bluestem hopes the legislation passes.
Related posts
- Area legislators to host April 5 community meeting in Granite Falls about transfer of park to Upper Sioux Community/Pezihutazizi Oyate.
- Upper Sioux Community Pezihutazizi Oyate land transfer clears first MN House committee hearing
- Upper Sioux Community/Pezihutazizi Oyate land transfer bill heard in two MN Senate committees,
Photo: The packed meeting room for the informational hearing last Wednesday evening. Submitted photo.
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