A new way to study cultural landscapes: the Blue Earth Hills assessment

In the spring of 1876 Cheyenne refugees from Reynoldʹs attack joined the Hunkpapa, Oglala, San Arc and Miniconjou at Sitting Bullʹs camp in the Blue Earth Hills where they were provided with food and shelter. Because of Reynoldʹs attack, most of the Indians who intended to go to the agency changed their minds and joined Crazy Horse in a war council. It is during this time that Sitting Bull saw his vision of “soldiers falling into camp”. This vision was realized two months later at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The Blue Earth Hills are now administered by the Custer National Forest and are considered a traditional cultural property as defined by the National Park Service (National Register Bulletin 38: Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting Traditional Cultural Properties, National Park Service, Washington, D.C., 1990). A study developed between the National Park Service, the United States Forest Service and the Northern Cheyenne Cultural Commission under the guidance of Elder Bill Tallbull focuses on describing the cultural and spiritual landscape from the Indian perspective and offering ways to protect these values within the Federal management constraints.