To the Great Sioux Nation Tribes, there is great spiritual value of this land located in western South Dakota. There is an intricate connection to the natural world. The Sioux believe that every creature, plant, stone, and element embodies a spirit or "nagi," in their native tongue.

Caring for the earth, stewardship of the northern plains, was an everyday practice of the Oceti Šakowiŋ, also known as the Sioux. They lived not just on the land but in relationship with it, caring for “Grandmother Earth.” The land was and is still seen as a living thing—the tallgrass, the rivers, the buffalo. “They all have a spirit that we have agreements with from thousands of years ago,” said Faith Spotted Eagle, grandmother of the Brave Heart Society, chairwoman of the Ihanktonwan Oyate (Yankton Sioux Dakota) Treaty Committee. “We have an agreement with the buffalo that they help us. They provide for us, we protect them and we learn from them, and we model our life way after them.”

To the Lakota people, the Black Hills, or Pahá Sápa, are the “heart of everything that is,” a site of deep spiritual, cultural and historical significance.

Black Elk Peak is the heart of this landscape—a site admired for its elevation as the highest peak in South Dakota, and also for the many things associated with it. For generations, members of the Sioux Nations have come here to pray, to consult, to administer medicine and stay in touch with their ancestors and the spiritual world.

The relationship with the land, is being built upon with a new memorandum of understanding between the Forest Service and the Great Sioux Nations, one of co-stewardship and shared commitment to care for the land.

“This MOU recognizes and encourages the tribal perspectives, voices and understanding as an essential part of what wilderness value brings,” said Shawn Cochran, forest supervisor for the Black Hills National Forest. “For the Lakota, Black Elk Wilderness is not only a cathedral that provides connection to the creator but an intimate human connection with the creator’s natural environment.”

Tribal leaders meet with Forest Service leadership at the Mystic Ranger District to discuss and sign the Black Elk Wilderness Memorandum of Understanding. (Forest Service photos by Preston Keres)

This agreement provides a structure for co-stewardship of the Black Elk Wilderness of Black Hills National Forest. On paper, it’s about cooperative planning, land and water preservation, cultural protection, habitat for wildlife, stewardship of wilderness, recreation and workforce. In practice, it is about working together to care for the land now and for future generations. “Signing the MOU today is a step in the right direction and allows us to get the funds to hire our own people to take care of this place,” according to Chairman Ryman LeBeau, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. “This is a sacred site and a very important to our people.”

Great Sioux Tribe members, including Reed Robinson, the Forest Service’s director of Tribal Relations (bottom right) gather at Sylvan Lake for the annual "Welcome Back the Thunders" ceremony. (Forest Service photos by Preston Keres)

Wetu or the Spring Equinox marks the time of renewal, balancing light and dark, and the return of the Wakinyan the Thunder Beings, who bring rain and awaken life. On this day, during the annual “Welcome Back the Thunders” ceremony Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz shared that, “It’s important to recognize that we are on lands that matter to the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota peoples. The Black Hills are sacred to the Great Sioux Nations.” He added that the signing reflects the nation-to-nation relationship between the United States and the Tribal Nations of the Great Sioux Nation.

For Reed Robinson, director of Tribal Relations for the Forest Service, and Lakota member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, the agreement is also part of something broader developing within the agency: a more pragmatic relationship with Indian Country that looks to the future. “We’re going forward,” Robinson said. “We’re developing muscle memory in building the agency a more sophisticated conversation with Indian Country, and not just consultation and mitigation.”

That distinction matters. For generations, consultation has often meant that tribes are sometimes asked to respond to decisions that are already in motion. Co-stewardship is something else. Tribal wisdom needs and values must inform decision-making at the beginning.

For Robinson, that’s precisely the point. “The best stewardship occurs when we collaborate,” he said, through the agency’s evolving approach, an approach that draws on action rather than symbolism.

The Forest Service works hand-in-hand with states, tribes, and local governments to manage our forests by focusing on the results we can achieve together.

This understanding will result in more responsive local decision making, stronger relations, and better results for the community.

The challenges facing America’s forests are urgent, and the momentum behind shared stewardship makes this a pivotal moment to act.

In the Black Hills, the wind blows through the pines and granite spires tower above the forest, original caretakers, once again helping care for the land. LeBeau noted, “the Lakota are the only ones, here, today that have this relationship with Mother Earth.”  He further emphasized, “By putting our own people back to work, we're literally reconnecting our people back to the Black Hills.”