Bill author not buying Gary Dahms' alternate reality about Upper Sioux Agency Park transfer
Bluestem's been covering the Minnesota House and Senate bills to transfer Upper Sioux Agency State Park to the Yellow Medicine Oyate/Upper Agency Community, a federally recognized tribe, replacing the existing park with a new state park or recreational land in the same region.
That video of the meeting has gained additional value following an exchange about the proposal, now part of the Senate omnibus environment and climate appropriations bill.
On Thursday night, senate bill sponsor Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, and Gary Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, who hosted the Granite Falls meeting with the local state representative, engaged in a very interesting exchange about the land transfer language and the April 5 meeting in Granite Falls.
Here's video of their discussion from Minnesota State Media's Youtube of the Floor Session - Part 2 - 04/20/23(Bluestem used an online editor to make this excerpt):
We're fascinated by a couple of points about the Granite Falls informational meeting Dahms asserts in the clip.
After Kunesh points out that the majority of the audience members who spoke at the meeting supported the plan, Dahms states that 225-230 attended the meeting and that as most of the newspapers reported, they felt those in attendance were split evenly.
It's clear from the CURE Youtube that a majority of those speaking supported the legislation, and that's what Kunesh is talking about. Dahms
Looking just at the headlines, one might think the community was cleft between "speakers" and the tribe, but the YouTube of the hearing tells a different story.
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.
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. . . .
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. . . .
About 20 people asked questions or spoke during the meeting. Most of them said they were in favor of the land transfer. [emphasis added]
Those in favor spoke of reparations and trying to heal the wrongs of the past.
Several described the land as the site of a concentration camp where people starved and said it should be treated with more reverence.
There was a good turnout at an information meeting in Granite Falls Tuesday regarding the proposed transfer of Upper Sioux Agency State Park back to the Upper Sioux Community of The Dakota. The meeting was hosted by Representative Chris Swedzinski of Ghent and Senator Gary Dahms of Redwood Falls. Dahms says about 200 people attended... [emphasis added]
Minnesotans from around the region traveled to Granite Falls to learn more about the proposed land transfer of Upper Sioux Agency State Park back to the Dakota people
Area residents encouraged to be on the “right side” of history moving forward
On the evening of Wednesday, April 5, several hundred people gathered in Granite Falls at the Minnesota West Campus to hear from officials the details of the proposed land transfer of the Upper Sioux Agency State Park (USASP) back to the Dakota people of the Pezihutazizi Oyate (Upper Sioux Community).
MANY COMMUNITY MEMBERS GATHERED TO LEARN MORE AND VOICE THEIR OPINIONS ABOUT THE LAND TRANSFER OF THE UPPER SIOUX STATE PARK BACK TO THE UPPER SIOUX COMMUNITY.
Rep. Chris Swedzinski and Sen. Gary Dahms organized the Town Hall Meeting to bring officials to share information with interested parties from around the region. On the panel was Chairman Kevin Jensvold, Upper Sioux Community (USC), Ann Pierce and Scott Roemhildt from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), David Kelliher and Ben Leonard from the Minnesota Historical Society (MHS), Dave Smiglewski, Granite Falls, Commissioner John Berends, Yellow Medicine County. Swedzinski and Dahms began the meeting with ground rules for behavior. They stated the purpose of the meeting was to bring information to the public.
The meeting began with the history of how the USASP land transfer started. Since the early 2000s, the Upper Sioux Community has requested to have the land returned due to the unusual circumstances and significance of this park for the Dakota people. For example, many in the Upper Sioux Community have ancestors buried on the USASP property and have had to pay to visit their relatives’ graves. The Upper Sioux Community brought this request to two previous Governors and now Governor Walz.
Over the past decade, USASP has suffered from various maintenance and funding issues. The park has gone from being open year-round to now only operating seasonally. The USASP interpretive center was condemned this past year due to ongoing disrepair. In 2019, the main road to the park, Minnesota state highway 67, was closed due to massive cracks, and the road was fully decommissioned in 2022 due to these fault line disruptions. The bridge over the Yellow Medicine River will be removed by 2026 due to ground movement. Collectively, these issues create a set of circumstances that significantly limit the public use of USASP, and significant decisions for its future were overdue.
A “LAND BACK” SIGN FROM AN UPPER SIOUX STATE PARK LAND TRANSFER SUPPORTER.
As part of any DNR land transfer, land of equal value must be acquired as part of a proposed transfer. In the USASP land transfer, a new $5.3 million park must be acquired and made available for public access and recreation. At the public meeting, there was extensive discussion about ensuring the new acquisition would be as close as possible to the current location, have as many of the current amenities that USASP offers, and more. Once built, the operational budget would replace that of USASP. Generally, it is not an added financial burden on the DNR Park and Trail’s current budget.
The Upper Sioux Community met with Rep. Swedzinski some 16 months ago and asked him, as their Minnesota House Representative, to carry the bill to the legislature that supported the land transfer. Rep. Swedzinski declined. The Upper Sioux Community reported that they were unsuccessful in connecting with Sen. Dahms at that time. Instead, they turned to other Minnesota lawmakers who were interested in supporting their request. In the Minnesota House, Reps. Stephenson, Keeler, Hortman, Kozlowski, Frazier, and others co-sponsored a bill, and Sen. Kunesh authored a bill in the Senate, both of which are included in omnibus bills. These bills support the transfer of the USASP land back to the Upper Sioux Community. They also charge the DNR and MHS with coming up with what needs to be considered and addressed in the proposed transfer. Over the next ten months, they are being asked to map out what that public engagement process might look like and report back to the legislature.
At the meeting, Ann Pierce from the DNR pointed out that there are partners at the local, county, state, tribal, and federal levels who would be involved in this process. Pierce explained that funding is available for the proposed land transfer process through the Land and Water Conservation Fund administered by the National Park Service. This grant program provides resources to state parks for land transfers and acquisitions under the Department of the Interior.
Chairman Jensvold shared that it is a priority for the Tribe to support and find replacement acres for the new park as close to the area as possible. A delegation from the Tribe traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with the National Park Service to ask for special consideration for an exception to the twelve-month timeline that the current acquisition program requires to provide extra time to secure land for the new park.
The USASP was established in 1963 on the ancestral lands of the Dakota people to preserve and interpret the remains of the old Agency site. Located on the Minnesota River near the confluence of the Yellow Medicine River, it has historically been a place where many Indigenous people have gathered medicines from the native plants that this ground holds. The park (1,280 acres) offers a unique mix of open prairie, bluffs, and wooded slopes. . . .
Last Wednesday evening, a meeting was held at Minnesota West Community & Technical College in Granite Falls hosted by State Representative Chris Swedzinski and Senator Gary Dahms. The two called the meeting with a panel mostly of people involved directly with the potential transfer of land from the state of Minnesota to the Upper Sioux Community. In addition, Dave Smiglewski of the Friends of Upper Sioux State Park and Yellow Medicine County Commissioner John Berends were invited to be and attended as members of the panel.
Other members on the panel – those involved with the potential transfer, were Scott Roemhildt and Ann Pierce from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), as well as Ben Leonard and David Kelliher from the Minnesota Historical Society (MHS). In the introductions, Dahms and Swedzinski informed the audience of the ground rules of the meeting, as well as saying that the purpose of the evening was to provide the public with information and allow for a venue for questions to be answered.
Upper Sioux Community Chairman Kevin Jensvold spoke first, saying, “I did ask Representative Swedzinski if it may be more appropriate if we make the initial comments based on the fact that it is through the efforts of the Upper Sioux Community (USC) that this legislation even has a possibility of being enacted.” He went on to explain that he has seen social media posts recently that local leadership had only in the last few weeks been informed of the intent of the Upper Sioux Community to request the land, but that in fact, it was known that the USC has been making this request for the last 18 years. “This request is nothing new,” he said . ..
. . . the microphone was turned over to those attending to ask questions of the panelists. A significant portion of the meeting was recorded, and is available for the public to hear by following the QR code at the end of the article.
No speculation on the sentiments of the general public attending the meeting. Apparently, the paper trusts its readers' ears.
We suspect that Dahms; lament and interrogation of Senate bill author Kunesh on the Senate floor was meant to set up an attempt to delete the land transfer language in the conference committee that's going to reconcile the House and Senate bills. Given that Representative Chris Swedzinski didn't raise an amendment or peep on the House floor about the language--and the weakness of the interpretation of the hearing and press reports Dahms shared with his colleagues--we hope the chairs stay steadfast with this effort for justice.
As for Dahms' dire warning that unnamed forces will be coming after more parks, we suggest he stroll through Ramsey Park, a lovely municipal park in his home town.
Photo: The packed meeting room for the informational hearing last Wednesday evening. Submitted photo.
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