Black Hills National Forest — Public Lands Institute

Proterozoic1715 Mya

~1,715 Mya Paleoproterozoic Harney Peak granite at the core; ~2,500 Mya Precambrian schist and quartzite; encircled by Paleozoic limestone and Cretaceous shale

Epoch

Paleoproterozoic

Native lands Glossary →

Lakota (Thitunwan Oyate), the seven bands of the Oceti Sakowin: Oglala, Sicangu (Brule), Miniconjou, Hunkpapa, Sans Arc, Oohenunpa, and Sihasapa; Cheyenne (Tsitsistas/Suhtai); Arapaho (Hinono'eino); earlier presence of Crow, Kiowa, and Arikara; the Black Hills are Paha Sapa / He Sapa (heart of everything that is) to the Lakota, central to spirituality, ceremony, and subsistence; the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) guaranteed the Black Hills and all of present South Dakota west of the Missouri River for exclusive Sioux occupation; gold discovered during the 1874 Custer Expedition triggered an illegal invasion; the Act of February 28, 1877 stripped the Black Hills from the Sioux without the required three-fourths adult male consent; United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians (1980) ruled this an unconstitutional taking; the Sioux declined over $1 billion in compensation and continue to demand land return

Displacement & Tenure

Treaty of Fort Laramie (April 29, 1868): Black Hills included in the Great Sioux Reservation, reserved for exclusive Sioux use; Act of February 28, 1877 (19 Stat. 254): Congress unilaterally seized approximately 7.3 million acres including the Black Hills, ratified by fewer than 10% of adult male Sioux in direct violation of the 1868 treaty's three-fourths consent requirement; United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, 448 U.S. 371 (1980): Supreme Court held the 1877 Act constituted an unconstitutional Fifth Amendment taking; $105 million award declined by the Sioux

Shadow History

Homestake Gold Mine (Lead, SD) operated 1876-2002; by 1971 EPA documented the mine discharging 312 lbs of cyanide, 240 lbs of zinc, and 721 lbs of copper daily into Gold Run Creek; an estimated 75 million tons of tailings containing 270,000 tons of arsenic were discharged into Whitewood Creek across an 18-mile stretch; EPA listed Whitewood Creek on the National Priorities List in 1983, delisted 1996 after residential soil remediation; the Gilt Edge Mine, a former open-pit gold and cyanide heap-leach operation east of Lead, was listed on the NPL in 2000 after the operator abandoned it, leaving three open pit lakes with 150 million gallons of acidic heavy-metal water generating approximately 95 million gallons of acid rock drainage annually, with EPA spending roughly $120 million on cleanup through 2024; approximately 170 abandoned uranium mines in Custer and Fall River counties, remnants of the 1950s-1970s federal nuclear weapons program, leach radioactive material into the Cheyenne River watershed with disproportionate impact on communities near Pine Ridge Reservation; Homestake Mining Company was the dominant timber consumer in the Hills from the late 19th century onward, with 30 sawmills operating by 1900 and sustained high-volume harvest significantly altering forest structure for over a century

Ecology

Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest covers lower to mid elevations; white spruce at higher elevations; aspen, bur oak, and paper birch in riparian zones; mixed-grass prairie at lower margins; wildlife includes elk, mule deer, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, black bear, cougar, bald eagle, peregrine falcon, and approximately 200 bird species; prairie dog towns within the forest support black-footed ferret reintroduction efforts.

Hydrology

The Black Hills form the headwaters divide between the Cheyenne River (southern and eastern drainages) and the Belle Fourche River (northern drainage), both Missouri River tributaries; principal streams include Spearfish Creek, Rapid Creek, French Creek, and Beaver Creek; 11 stocked reservoirs; the Madison and Minnelusa aquifers are recharged within the Black Hills and provide the primary regional water supply for western South Dakota; karst springs at limestone formation bases produce unusually stable base flow.

Acreage

1,253,308

GPS

44.4197° N, 103.8072° W

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