Our Reservation


KUL WICASA OYATE - Lower Brule Sioux Tribe
HOME Special attractions Powwows cultural tours & programs recreation Lodging & dining stores & businesses	Landscape The Lower Brule landscape of rolling shortgrass prairie, hills and buttes stretches as far as the eye can see, far over the western horizon to the Black Hills. Here and there in the uplands and valleys, the abundant spring rains turn dry gullies into seeps and low spots into wetlands – usually long enough before the seasonal droughts to support the wild plums, chokecherries, cedar and other shrubs and small trees that provide relief from the prairie grasses and important foods and medicine for our people. In several places, permanent springs ensure that water above the river is always available. Mni Sose, the Missouri River, cuts deeply into the grasslands. Midway down its southern journey along the eastern edge of the Reservation, the river suddenly veers eastward, blocked by the rounded domes of a line of brown and blackish gumbo hills. This great meander loop - “Le Grand Detour” of eighteenth-century French fur traders and the “Big Bend” of today - is, for Lower Brule people, the Narrows and the Little Bend. From these hills, on September 19, 1805, the adventurer William Clark wrote of: “a butifull inclined Plain in which there is great numbers of Buffalow, Elk & Goats in view, feeding & Scipping on those Plains”. Two great events transformed this timeless landscape within the memories of the Lower Brule people – both borne of the desires of a demanding outside world. First was the coming of agriculture, carried here in the hands and minds of US government agents and the steady flood of American migrants. Farming broke the grasslands, especially the fertile soils of the Missouri Valley floodplain and terraces, while intensive cattle grazing exposed the bluffs and valley sides to erosion. Today, the Lower Brule Farm Corporation maintains huge irrigation pivots that water the terrace soils throughout the dry summer, providing the Tribe with a great bounty of corn and bean crops. In the drier uplands, native prairie has given way to rangeland for cattle and a reintroduced buffalo herd. Ponds in the uplands and valleys are the work of the Tribe, creating by the construction of low dams that collect precious water for cattle and the natural plants and animals of the region. Low water on Lake Francis Case exposes the old cottonwood forest at Lower Brule The second event was the disastrous flooding of the Missouri River valley bottom by the US government in the 1950s and 1960s through the construction of two massive dams. The Tribe lost almost all its prime farmland, cottonwood forests, and essential plants and animals. That is why, today, the incredible beauty of these waters, rising in such a dry land, is forever marked by the sadness that it came at such a terrible price! Climate The Lower Brule area has warm summers and cold dry winters with an average year-round temperature of 59F. The prairie winds are rarely far away, especially in the spring, averaging 14 mph daily all year round. Summers are generally hot, with temperatures ranging between 80F and 110F. Most of the 18 inches of annual precipitation falls as rain and there are occasional droughts during the summer. Waves of moist and cooler air crossing the region from the south, west and north during the warmest months sometimes trigger violent thunderstorms and tornadoes. Spring and autumn are extremely beautiful and throughout the year the sunrise and sunset can be absolutely stunning. Winter temperatures range between 30F and 25F. Winters can be very harsh, with moderate to heavy snowfalls and occasional severe blizzard conditions, but winter thaws moderate the effects and spring often returns early. The climate has been this way for much of the last 10,000 years, when people first started to live along the Missouri River, except for a long period of hotter and dryer weather that started about 8000 years ago. As the air warmed and the rains retreated, it was dry enough that strong westerly winds formed the sand dunes that still exist at the north end of the Narrows near the town of Lower Brule. About 4,500 years ago, the more pleasant weather that we have today returned. Plants When our ancestors moved into our present homeland, the valley of the Mni Sose (Missouri River) was thick with forests of cottonwood, elm and willow, with extensive wetlands in the old river channels and the mouths of the larger creeks. Shorter grasses typical of the uplands to the west covered the valley sides the valley bottoms, terraces and draws supported the taller grasses of the eastern plains. As the valleys and draws provide shelter from summer heat and the harshest winter winds, these areas contained many small trees, including green ash, redcedar, elm and bur oak. Many traditional food plants and medicines thrived here, including chokecherries, buffaloberry and wild plums, grapes, sage, purple coneflowers, wild turnips, and sunflowers. On the gumbo hills, hardy, drought resistant plants such as yucca and prickly pear are still common. Animals The abundant grasses in river bottoms and uplands supported vast herds of bison and pronghorn antelope and the wooded draws and forests provided food and shelter for elk and deer. While the bison and elk are gone from the wild (the Tribe maintains a 6-square-mile game reserve for bison and elk herds), deer are common and antelope still inhabit the western uplands of the Reservation. Coyotes, badgers, cottontails, jackrabbits, squirrels, skunks, mink, weasels, prairie dogs and smaller rodents still thrive, bobcats sometimes appear, and in the old days, bear and mountain lions probably lived along the river valley. In an effort to bring back some of the traditional animals, the Tribe has begun the reintroduction of the swift fox and black-footed ferret. Beaver inhabit the creeks and the shores along Missouri reservoirs, but the otter, once a common resident along the river, is gone, awaiting some future restoration program! The Missouri River valley is a very important navigational route for birds that nest in the northern plains, forests and high in the Arctic tundra. In spring and fall, huge waves of waterbirds, dominated by Canada geese and snow geese, pass by, along with gulls, ducks, pelicans and some shorebirds, while forest birds move along the shorelines and valley sides. Resident birds include wild turkey, sharp-tailed grouse, prairie chickens, and pheasants (a native of southeast Asia) in the grasslands and various hawks, including the red-tailed hawk and the harrier (pigeon hawk), and the golden eagle. Piping plovers and least terns, once common nesters on Missouri sandbars, have no place by open lakes. Despite the absence of good habitat along the reservoirs, a few bald eagles and ospreys still make their homes here. The loss of the river, its shoreline and wetlands has been devastating to sturgeon, paddlefish, and reptiles and amphibians that depend on a muddy, fast-flowing water. Clear water fish, such as walleye and bass, now thrive. Painted turtles, snapping turtles and soft-shelled turtles still survive in the reservoirs, while frogs and other amphibians cluster in pools at the entrance to draws and other wetland areas. Freshwater mussels have declined with the loss of their traditional river habitats, but several species still survive in deeper water. Contact us: Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Tourism Office, 187 Oyate Circle, Lower Brule, South Dakota 57548. Phone 605-473-0561 or 888-323-2260.

KUL WICASA OYATE - Lower Brule Sioux Tribe

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cultural tours

& programs

recreation

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stores & businesses

Landscape

The Lower Brule landscape of rolling shortgrass prairie, hills and buttes stretches as far as the eye can see, far over the western horizon to the Black Hills. Here and there in the uplands and valleys, the abundant spring rains turn dry gullies into seeps and low spots into wetlands – usually long enough before the seasonal droughts to support the wild plums, chokecherries, cedar and other shrubs and small trees that provide relief from the prairie grasses and important foods and medicine for our people. In several places, permanent springs ensure that water above the river is always available.

Mni Sose, the Missouri River, cuts deeply into the grasslands. Midway down its southern journey along the eastern edge of the Reservation, the river suddenly veers eastward, blocked by the rounded domes of a line of brown and blackish gumbo hills. This great meander loop - “Le Grand Detour” of eighteenth-century French fur traders and the “Big Bend” of today - is, for Lower Brule people, the Narrows and the Little Bend. From these hills, on September 19, 1805, the adventurer William Clark wrote of: “a butifull inclined Plain in which there is great numbers of Buffalow, Elk & Goats in view, feeding & Scipping on those Plains”.

Two great events transformed this timeless landscape within the memories of the Lower Brule people – both borne of the desires of a demanding outside world. First was the coming of agriculture, carried here in the hands and minds of US government agents and the steady flood of American migrants. Farming broke the grasslands, especially the fertile soils of the Missouri Valley floodplain and terraces, while intensive cattle grazing exposed the bluffs and valley sides to erosion. Today, the Lower Brule Farm Corporation maintains huge irrigation pivots that water the terrace soils throughout the dry summer, providing the Tribe with a great bounty of corn and bean crops. In the drier uplands, native prairie has given way to rangeland for cattle and a reintroduced buffalo herd. Ponds in the uplands and valleys are the work of the Tribe, creating by the construction of low dams that collect precious water for cattle and the natural plants and animals of the region.

Low water on Lake Francis Case exposes the old cottonwood forest at Lower Brule

The second event was the disastrous flooding of the Missouri River valley bottom by the US government in the 1950s and 1960s through the construction of two massive dams. The Tribe lost almost all its prime farmland, cottonwood forests, and essential plants and animals. That is why, today, the incredible beauty of these waters, rising in such a dry land, is forever marked by the sadness that it came at such a terrible price!

Climate

The Lower Brule area has warm summers and cold dry winters with an average year-round temperature of 59F. The prairie winds are rarely far away, especially in the spring, averaging 14 mph daily all year round. Summers are generally hot, with temperatures ranging between 80F and 110F. Most of the 18 inches of annual precipitation falls as rain and there are occasional droughts during the summer. Waves of moist and cooler air crossing the region from the south, west and north during the warmest months sometimes trigger violent thunderstorms and tornadoes. Spring and autumn are extremely beautiful and throughout the year the sunrise and sunset can be absolutely stunning.

Winter temperatures range between 30F and 25F. Winters can be very harsh, with moderate to heavy snowfalls and occasional severe blizzard conditions, but winter thaws moderate the effects and spring often returns early.

The climate has been this way for much of the last 10,000 years, when people first started to live along the Missouri River, except for a long period of hotter and dryer weather that started about 8000 years ago. As the air warmed and the rains retreated, it was dry enough that strong westerly winds formed the sand dunes that still exist at the north end of the Narrows near the town of Lower Brule. About 4,500 years ago, the more pleasant weather that we have today returned.

Plants

When our ancestors moved into our present homeland, the valley of the Mni Sose (Missouri River) was thick with forests of cottonwood, elm and willow, with extensive wetlands in the old river channels and the mouths of the larger creeks. Shorter grasses typical of the uplands to the west covered the valley sides the valley bottoms, terraces and draws supported the taller grasses of the eastern plains. As the valleys and draws provide shelter from summer heat and the harshest winter winds, these areas contained many small trees, including green ash, redcedar, elm and bur oak. Many traditional food plants and medicines thrived here, including chokecherries, buffaloberry and wild plums, grapes, sage, purple coneflowers, wild turnips, and sunflowers. On the gumbo hills, hardy, drought resistant plants such as yucca and prickly pear are still common.

Animals

The abundant grasses in river bottoms and uplands supported vast herds of bison and pronghorn antelope and the wooded draws and forests provided food and shelter for elk and deer. While the bison and elk are gone from the wild (the Tribe maintains a 6-square-mile game reserve for bison and elk herds), deer are common and antelope still inhabit the western uplands of the Reservation. Coyotes, badgers, cottontails, jackrabbits, squirrels, skunks, mink, weasels, prairie dogs and smaller rodents still thrive, bobcats sometimes appear, and in the old days, bear and mountain lions probably lived along the river valley. In an effort to bring back some of the traditional animals, the Tribe has begun the reintroduction of the swift fox and black-footed ferret. Beaver inhabit the creeks and the shores along Missouri reservoirs, but the otter, once a common resident along the river, is gone, awaiting some future restoration program!

The Missouri River valley is a very important navigational route for birds that nest in the northern plains, forests and high in the Arctic tundra. In spring and fall, huge waves of waterbirds, dominated by Canada geese and snow geese, pass by, along with gulls, ducks, pelicans and some shorebirds, while forest birds move along the shorelines and valley sides. Resident birds include wild turkey, sharp-tailed grouse, prairie chickens, and pheasants (a native of southeast Asia) in the grasslands and various hawks, including the red-tailed hawk and the harrier (pigeon hawk), and the golden eagle. Piping plovers and least terns, once common nesters on Missouri sandbars, have no place by open lakes. Despite the absence of good habitat along the reservoirs, a few bald eagles and ospreys still make their homes here.

The loss of the river, its shoreline and wetlands has been devastating to sturgeon, paddlefish, and reptiles and amphibians that depend on a muddy, fast-flowing water. Clear water fish, such as walleye and bass, now thrive. Painted turtles, snapping turtles and soft-shelled turtles still survive in the reservoirs, while frogs and other amphibians cluster in pools at the entrance to draws and other wetland areas. Freshwater mussels have declined with the loss of their traditional river habitats, but several species still survive in deeper water.

Contact us: Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Tourism Office, 187 Oyate Circle, Lower Brule, South Dakota 57548. Phone 605-473-0561 or 888-323-2260.