Protecting the Black Hills and Pe’Sla

August 28, 2026

Native organizations and tribes, including the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, have been working to protect the Black Hills and Pe’Sla from extraction. They recently received a small victory with a temporary restraining order against exploratory drilling, followed by the company that was pursuing exploratory drilling withdrawing their plan from the U.S. Forest Service.

The Black Hills, known to the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people as HeSapa, are the oldest mountain region in North America. The Black Hills have been the setting of environmental injustice since the late 1800s due to the mining of fossil fuels like coal and native element minerals, including uranium, silver, and gold. Within the Black Hills (HeSapa) is a sacred site tied to the Oceti Sakowin’s creation story – Pe’Sla.

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe, a community partner through First Nations’ Stewarding Native Lands program, stewards and protects Pe’Sla, on behalf of Oceti Sakowin Tribes. Learn more about their work here.

Photo credit Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight