Outcomes

This case illustrates an exceptional outcome for a Native community trying to preserve an urban sacred space. The financial benefits of urban development and the weight of the claim to private property rights in the United States often provide substantial barriers to the preservation of urban sacred places for Native people. The combination of inter-faith and inter-ethnic community support, as well as the creative use of land trusts to provide private-public land partnerships allowed for the Dakota to maintain lasting claims on the sacredness of this site. Significantly, this translates into plans that allow for the actual use of this site for Native and non-Native people. It is important to note that the site is not reserved for Native use only – and Dakota people never asked for that outcome. The wide range of access that this site allows for will demand respect and cooperation between communities of local people, Native people of different tribes, and visitors from near and far. The necessity of cooperation reflects the very nature of interaction between communities and claims to rights in a pluralistic society. With the story of Oheyawahi, or Pilot Knob, we can see both the successful use of technical and legal maneuvers for the preservation of a sacred site as well as the power of respect and community support to sway the public opinion on land rights in favor of Native groups and public enjoyment of space.