{"id":40259,"date":"2026-06-19T21:14:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T02:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/ost-council-opposes-mount-rushmore-fireworks-in-unanimous-vote\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T21:14:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T02:14:51","slug":"ost-council-opposes-mount-rushmore-fireworks-in-unanimous-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/ost-council-opposes-mount-rushmore-fireworks-in-unanimous-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"OST Council opposes Mount Rushmore fireworks in unanimous vote"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills, where the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council is opposing a July 3 fireworks event over wildfire danger and treaty violations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

PINE RIDGE \u2013 The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council has voted unanimously to oppose a planned July 3 fireworks celebration and presidential visit at Mount Rushmore, citing drought driven wildfire danger, treaty violations and ongoing federal actions that tribal leaders say continue to harm the Great Sioux Nation.<\/p>\n

In Resolution 26 55, passed June 9, the council urged the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service to cancel the event, warning that fireworks during current drought conditions pose \u201ca high risk of wild fires that could endanger the lives and property of tourists and local citizens (including tribal members), the Sacred Black Hills and all sacred sites,\u201d according to the resolution.<\/p>\n

The council also objected to holding a presidential fireworks event during the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary, saying the celebration would take place on land taken from the Sioux under the 1877 Act. The resolution states that the Act promised \u201call aid necessary for civilization\u201d as part of the quid pro quo for the confiscation of 55 million acres of Sioux treaty and aboriginal title territory \u2014 aid the tribe says has never been fulfilled.<\/p>\n

Tribal leaders listed several additional reasons for opposing the event, including federal budget cuts affecting reservation communities and what they described as a pattern of destructive federal undertakings in Sioux treaty territory. The resolution cites the Keystone XL Pipeline, Dewey Burdock and Craven Canyon uranium projects, the Dakota Access Pipeline and the U.S. Air Force Sentinel Project as examples of actions that \u201chave destroyed Sioux sacred sites and cultural resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council further criticized the \u201cmisappropriation of Sioux Winters Doctrine water rights\u201d in the Missouri River system, saying the federal government and investor owned utilities benefit from hydropower generated on mainstem dams \u201cwithout payment of any compensation to the Sioux tribes.\u201d It also condemned the treatment of Native people by federal immigration authorities, referencing \u201cthe mistreatment by ICE that members of the Great Sioux Nation, and other Indian nations and tribes [experienced] at Minneapolis, Minnesota.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out signed the resolution, which affirms that the tribe\u2019s longstanding position on Sioux land claims, including Dockets 74 and 148 78, remains unchanged.<\/p>\n

The National Park Service has not yet announced whether it will alter or cancel the planned July 3 event. Fireworks at Mount Rushmore were halted for more than a decade after the 2010 display sparked multiple wildfires in the surrounding forest.<\/p>\n

(Contact Ernestine Anunkasan Hopa at editor@nativesunnews.today)<\/span><\/p>\n

The post OST Council opposes Mount Rushmore fireworks in unanimous vote<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills, where the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council is opposing a July 3 fireworks event over wildfire danger and treaty violations. PINE RIDGE \u2013 The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council has voted unanimously to oppose a planned July 3 fireworks celebration and presidential visit at Mount Rushmore, <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a>
Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> June 19, 2026<\/p>\n

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