Located in southwestern South Dakota, Bear Butte rises 4,422 feet above the South Dakota prairie on the northeastern edge of the Black Hills. Bear Butte is a tertiary intrusive, which formed when volcanic magma pushing to the surface caused an uplift in the Earth’s crust but failed to reach the surface to erupt. To most, Bear Butte stands simply as a beautiful and striking landmark, but to many Plains Indian tribes, it is one of the most important focal points in their religious and cosmological belief systems. The mountain has religious significance for over 30 Indigenous groups, including the Lakota Sioux, the Omaha of Nebraska, and the Tsistsistas (Cheyenne). Native peoples from Canada to North Texas know and believe Bear Butte to be a sacred place.
Many conflicts concerning the obstruction of the freedom of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment have surrounded the management of Bear Butte. This includes public access to the mountain, the proposed construction of a shooting range, and approved liquor licenses for bars and concert venues within earshot of the Butte. As Bear Butte is an active religious site for Native worshippers, these controversies have roused a vocal and dedicated mass of defenders of Bear Butte. This sacred land struggle also raises issues of private property and broken treaties.
