Oyate Wahacanka Woecun

Shield the People

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday April 10, 2014

Contact: Gary Dorr, Oyate Wahacanka Woecun, Rosebud Sioux Tribe

Email: gfdorr@gmail.com

Phone: (605) 747-4255

IDEAL, SD: As the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Spirit Camp Iyuksan enters day 13 of occupation of its ground near

Ideal, SD, the coordinators are busy preparing to visit the Tanderup farm in Neligh, Nebraska to attend the unveiling

of the worlds largest crop art exhibit. The Cowboy Indian Alliance (CIA) which includes the Rosebud Sioux Tribe

continues to gear up for the much anticipated April 22-27 Washington, D.C. action, when the CIA will establish a

camp of tipis in D.C.

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe Spirit Camp continues to be occupied by members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and other

tribal and community members. The camp hosts a number of visitors each day from surrounding tribes and some

from as far away as Canada. The Spirit Camp Iyuksan as it is known means the turn, and is named for one of

the many turns the pipeline makes inside the 1868 boundaries of the Great Sioux Nation. Rosebud Sioux Tribal

Councilman, Russell Eagle Bear, said we aim to turn the pipeline around here. Several Lower Brule Sioux Tribal

members have visited the camp also with intentions of finding out how the camp is run and how to initiate their own

Spirit Camp.

The camp has received multiple donations from local community members and tribal departments and programs

making the camp sustainable for a long time. There are two semi-trailers being used to house the supplies needed to

sustain the tribal members living in the camp. The tipis heating systems have been upgraded from fire pits to

portable wood stoves making it easier for the camp occupants to heat the tipis during the recent snow storms. The

flags have been removed due to the extreme winds that have placed extreme wear on the tribal flags which were not

inclement weather flags. There are plans to begin cultural classes at the campsite for local youth and tribal

members.

The Oyate Wahacanka Woecun project, which was sanctioned by the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council, has initiated an

Indiegogo fund-raising campaign which can be accessed at www.indiegogo.com/oyate-wahacanka-woecun.

Additionally the project can receive donations via a donation button at www.shieldthepeople.org. Any donations

that are received will go toward fueling the generators at the site, maintaining the runs for local firewood,

purchasing tools and cooking utensils and cooking fuel, among other things. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe also

continues to support the Cowboy Indian Alliance and Bold Nebraska as they continue to occupy the land along the

pipeline corridor. The group members will travel to Nebraska to lend support to the crop art project, and they

continue to work together to plan the upcoming actions in Washington, D.C. The camp is open to anyone to visit

and visitors may bring their own tents and cold weather sleeping gear in the event that no tipis are available. The

camp coordinators continue to provide daily updates on their Facebook page, Oyate Wahacanka Woecun. The camp

occupants have firmly established that they are ready, willing and capable of sustaining the camp for the long

haul, as Eagle Bear mentioned earlier in the opening ceremonies of the camp.

Oyate Wahacanka Woecun is a project authorized and established by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe by Tribal council

resolution. It was created to make known the will of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in opposing the social and

environmental impacts of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline Project.