The 2023 legislative session was a huge boost for our environment. The state Legislature passed bills to protect our air, climate, land and wildlife while expanding access to the outdoors. Many bills were passed that also help to address inequities that have long persisted throughout Minnesota, including a bill authored by Senator Mary Kunesh (DFL-New Brighton)—the first Indigenous woman elected to the Minnesota Senate—and Representative Zack Stephenson (DFL-Coon Rapids) to return the Upper Sioux Agency State Park to the Upper Sioux Community—A Dakota Tribe.
The Upper Sioux Agency State Park, a historically significant site where growing tensions boiled over into the US-Dakota War of 1862, had long been an important ancestral place to the Dakota people. After the Treaty of Traverse Des Sioux in 1851 that negotiated a trade of Dakota land for supplies from the United States, a government complex called the Upper Sioux Agency was built. The Agency was tasked with upholding the treaty by giving resources and food to the Dakota people, but Agency staff often refused to give out the supplies that they were owed.
This refusal to honor the treaty is what ultimately led to the US-Dakota War and the largest mass execution in our nation’s history, where 38 Dakota men were hung in Mankato. The site of the Upper Sioux Agency is now Upper Sioux Agency State Park, which contains many Dakota burial sites. The decision to return this land to its original stewards is significant, as it is a deeply important place to the Dakota people and they are best positioned to care for the land into the future.
Conservation Minnesota supports this decision to honor the ancestors of the Upper Sioux Community and return this land to the people most deeply impacted by its history. The bill that passed this legislative session sets in motion a process that will take many years. Because the Upper Sioux Agency State Park was built with federal funds, the transfer will require approval of federal agencies like the National Park Service. There is a great opportunity here for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to help expand access to outdoor recreation, improve local parks, and work with Granite Falls and the surrounding community to minimize any negative impacts to their economy. This land transfer presents an exciting opportunity for the DNR and local communities to deepen their partnerships with the Upper Sioux Community so that this beautiful part of our state can thrive for future generations.