By David Bartecchi | Project Director
Dear LLRP Supporters,
You are receiving this report because you either contributed to the Lakota Lands Recovery Project or signed up to receive updates on Globalgiving.org. In case you're new to LLRP, the Lakota Lands Recovery Project (LLRP) is a grassroots support organization that serves the region of the Pine Ridge Reservation and tribes in South Dakota. The LLRP is working to support grassroots organizations on Pine Ridge that are working to reclaim and consolidate tribal lands and access the resources needed for the Lakota people to live on, protect, and utilize it, helping to return the balance between economy, ecology, and culture.
Home of the Oglala Lakota Nation, the Pine Ridge Reservation was established during the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty and encompasses a territory of approximately 2 million acres of the Northern Great Plains in southwest South Dakota. With a population of over 26,000, the Reservation exists today as one of the poorest places in the United States and lags far behind other parts of the United States in virtually all standards of human well-being. The historical legacy of forcefully alienating people from their allotted lands has contributed to the unequal land-use patterns on Pine Ridge today, where 20 people control nearly 46% of the land base. It has also had a significant economic impact for tribal members. According to the USDA 2012 Census of Agriculture for American Indian Reservations, the market value of agriculture commodities produced on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 2012 totaled $87 million. Yet, less than 1/3 ($24 million) of that income went to Native American producers. This trend of non-tribal members dominating the use of Tribal lands a problem for all the reservations in South Dakota. According to the USDA data, a whopping 84.5% of all agriculture income on South Dakota Reservations is collected by non-native producers. In terms of land control, non-native producers control nearly 60% of all agriculture land and 65% of all the active farms and ranches on Native American Reservations.
To help support Native Producers in South Dakota, the LLRP maintains a website at www.lakotalands.net, the purpose of which is to provide vital information to Native Producers interested in utilizing their own lands or lands on their respective Reservations. Surprisingly, many Native land owners do not even know where there lands are located and often find it very difficult to get information on their lands from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. We invite you to visit this resource as it is one of the programs that your funds help to support. http://www.lakotalands.net.
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