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The Great Plains

The Great Plains. Issues of Sustainability. Pop. Density US--# people/land area—31/sq. mile, Manhattan-68,000/sq. mile. Why are the Great Plains Indians the ‘iconic’ American Indian culture?. Adaptation to the Plains?. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump-AB. Change in Culture-16 th century?.

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The Great Plains

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  1. The Great Plains Issues of Sustainability

  2. Pop. Density US--# people/land area—31/sq. mile, Manhattan-68,000/sq. mile

  3. Why are the Great Plains Indians the ‘iconic’ American Indian culture?

  4. Adaptation to the Plains?

  5. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump-AB

  6. Change in Culture-16th century?

  7. Early European Encounter

  8. Coronado—Searching for Quivira-’Llano Estacado’

  9. Why so arid?

  10. Rain Shadow

  11. Ogallala Aquifer

  12. Original ecosystem--grassland

  13. Why weather extremes?

  14. Blue Northers

  15. From Journal of Lewis and Clark "one of the most active and fleet young men is selected and disguised in a robe of buffalo skin... he places himself at a distance between a herd of buffalo and a precipice proper for the purpose; the other Indians now surround the herd on the back and flanks and at a signal agreed on all show themselves at the same time moving forward towards the buffalo; the disguised Indian or decoy has taken care to place himself sufficiently near the buffalo to be noticed by them when they take to flight and running before them they follow him in full speed to the precipice; the Indian (decoy) in the mean time has taken care to secure himself in some cranny in the cliff... the part of the decoy I am informed is extremely dangerous."[3]

  16. John Deere—1840s

  17. ‘The Great American Desert” In 1823, Major Stephen Long, a government surveyor and leader of the next official exploration expedition, produced a map labeling the area the Great American Desert. In the report that accompanied the map, the party's geographer Edwin James wrote of the region: I do not hesitate in giving the opinion, that it is almost wholly unfit for cultivation, and of course, uninhabitable by a people depending upon agriculture for their subsistence. Although tracts of fertile land considerably extensive are occasionally to be met with, yet the scarcity of wood and water, almost uniformly prevalent, will prove an insuperable obstacle in the way of settling the country.[2]

  18. Effects of Migrations--Homesteaders

  19. Homestead Act

  20. Bison population—pre-EuroAmer.

  21. Present

  22. Oklahoma reservations

  23. Wounded Knee Massacre-1890

  24. General Miles sent this telegram from Rapid City to General John Schofield in Washington, D.C. on December 19, 1890: "The difficult Indian problem cannot be solved permanently at this end of the line. It requires the fulfillment of Congress of the treaty obligations that the Indians were entreated and coerced into signing. They signed away a valuable portion of their reservation, and it is now occupied by white people, for which they have received nothing. They understood that ample provision would be made for their support; instead, their supplies have been reduced, and much of the time they have been living on half and two-thirds rations. Their crops, as well as the crops of the white people, for two years have been almost total failures. The dissatisfaction is wide spread, especially among the Sioux, while the Cheyennes have been on the verge of starvation, and were forced to commit depredations to sustain life. These facts are beyond question, and the evidence is positive and sustained by thousands of witnesses."

  25. Sustainability?

  26. Why such drastic change in population?

  27. Pine Ridge Scenery

  28. Pine Ridge Stats As of 2011, population estimates of the reservation range from 28,000 to 40,000. Numerous enrolled members of the tribe live off the reservation.[39] 80% of residents are unemployed (versus 10% of the rest of the country); 49% of the residents live below the Federal poverty level (61% under the age of 18); Per capita income in Shannon County is $6,286; The Infant Mortality rate is 5 times higher than the national average; Native American amputation rates due to diabetes is 3 to 4 times higher than the national average; Death rate due to diabetes is 3 times higher than the national average; and Life Expectancy in 2007 was estimated to be 48 for males and 52 for females[40]

  29. A Buffalo Commons? There once were over 400 million acres of wild prairie grasslands in the central part of North America. The backbone of the Buffalo Commons movement is the work — over a period of decades — to re-establish and re-connect prairie wildland reserves and ecological corridors large enough for bison and all other native prairie wildlife to survive and roam freely, over great, connected distances, while simultaneously restoring the health and sustainability of our communities wherever possible so that both land and people may prosper for a very long time.

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