While these tribes only speak for themselves, they ask for your respect.

*******************************************************************************

***********************************************

*******************

See the actual letter

Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma

R.R. 1, Box 721
Perkins, Oklahoma 74059
(405) 547-2402
Fax: (405) 547-5294

RESOLUTION I-01-27

A RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR TO TAKE THE NECESSARY STEPS TO DESIGNATE CAMP COLDWATER AS A TRADITIONAL CULTURAL PROPERTY


WHEREAS:The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is a federally recognized Indian Tribe, organized pursuant to the Thomas-Rogers Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act, and has a Constitution approved by the Secretary of Interior, and

WHEREAS:The Business Committee has the power to conduct business and otherwise speak or act on behalf of the Tribe in all matters on which the Tribe is empowered to act pursuant to Article V, Section 2 of the Tribal Constitution and

WHEREAS: Camp Coldwater is a sacred site for the Iowa Tribe and other Native American groups, and

WHEREAS: Camp Coldwater Spring in Minneapolis, Minnesota is threatened, and the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is concerned with the integrity of the site.


NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED That the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma requests that the site be protected and the Department of Interior take the necessary steps to designate Camp Coldwater as a Traditional Cultural Property.


CERTIFICATION

We, Lawrence Murray, Chairman of the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, and Phoebe O’Dell, Secretary, do hereby certify the above Resolution 1-01-27 to be a true and exact copy as approved at a Special Business Committee meeting held on March 19, 2001 by a vote of 4 yeas, 0 nays, and 0 abstentions.


Phoebe O’Dell, Secretary
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma
Lawrence Murray, Chairman
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma 

*****************************************************************************************************

******************************************************

*********************

(The Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community supports the Lower Sioux)

LOWER SIOUX INDIAN COMMUNITY RESOLUTUTION 06-166

October 2, 2006

Contains in part, the following wording;

WHEREAS, Coldwater Spring and the land that surrounds it, is the ancestral land of the MN, Mdewakaton, and had been used for the traditional, spiritual, religious and cultural ceremonies by the MN, Mdewakaton and their hereditary descendants for thousands of years and therefore is the deemed legal ancestral property of the Lower Sioux Indian Community, and 

WHEREAS, the Lower Sioux Indian Community is concerned with the effective management and control by Indian peoples over cultural resources on federal lands, and

WHEREAS, the Lower Sioux Indian Community publicly declares that Coldwater Springs and the land surrounding it is an usual and accustomed place for the exercise of fundamental religious, spiritual and cultural purposes. 

(**Resolution 06-146 contains the additional wording;

WHEREAS, The Coldwater Spring is a sacred spring for the Dakota people. The spring is the dwelling place of underwater spirit "Unktehi" and encompasses part of the center of the Earth for the Dakota People. 

WHEREAS, The Water Spirit "Unktehi" at Coldwater Spring is the name given to the sacred spring by Dakota Spiritual Healers. The water at Coldwater Spring has been traditionally utalized for healing of Dakota people and others including Father Hennepin, whom Hennepin County is named after.)

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, The Community Council hereby declares that Coldwater Spring and the land that surrounds it, is defined in the Treaty with the Sioux Nation if Indians- 1805 and is part of the ancestral lands of the Mn, Mdewakaton people.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, The Lower Sioux Indian Community demands that the United States uphold their "promise"...to permit the Sioux to pass, repass, hunt or make other uses of the said districts, as they have formally done, without any other exception..." and recognize the cultural nexus that the Lower Sioux Indian Community has with Coldwater Springs and the land that surrounds it. 

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, The Community Council hereby requests that the United States restore to it's natural state- Coldwater Springs and the land that surrounds it and recognize the cultural and religious significance to the Lower Sioux Indian Community and that the Coldwater Springs site be protected as a traditional cultural property.

October 2, 2006

Sheldon Peters Wolfchild, President

Scott Adolphson, Vice President

Jody Goodthunder, Asst. Secretary/Treasurer