Travel with SDPB to Fort Pierre and around South Dakota on an allnew episode of Dakota Life, Thursday, May 6, at 8pm (7 MT) on SDPB1 and SDPB.org Fort Pierre was built on Oceti Sakowin, Cheyenne, and Mnicoujou traditional lands along the Missouri River. Known as the oldest continuously occupied white settlement in South Dakota, Fort Pierre is home to natural and historic sites: the mouth of the Bad River, the Wakpa Sica Reconciliation Center, the Verendrye Monument establishing France’s purported claim to the Louisiana Purchase, rodeo grounds and the Casey Tibbs Rodeo Museum, and the Fort Pierre Chouteau National Landmark, one of the largest Great Plains trading posts in the 1830s.
PICTURE PERFECT Meet John Banasiak, a photography professor at the University of South Dakota, who has been recognized with a Governor’s Award in the Arts for Outstanding Service in Arts Education. Banasiak says the award is a group effort, as his art department colleagues work together to create an environment for learning and he continues to learn from his students.
DIAMOND A CATTLE CO. The Diamond A Ranch near Eagle Butte was one of several large outfits established in western South Dakota at the turn of the 20th century. The grasslands west of the Missouri River were still mostly un-fenced and the bigtime cattle bosses could continue to operate almost as they had during the days of the great cattle drives decades before. Photo: SD State Archives
BRINGING BUFFALO BACK: REDCO’S WOLAKOTA BUFFALO RANGE Buffalo are returning in greater numbers to the Sicangu Lakota Oyate. A project of the Rosebud Economic Development Corporation (REDCO), Wolakota, meaning “to live the Lakota way of life,” is building a bison herd on 28,000 acres of Rosebud Sioux Tribal lands. The multiyear build-up phase includes plans that convert the former working ranch known as Mustang Meadows from cattle to a 1,500-strong bison herd, as well as a workshop and gathering space. Wolakota is also 4
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