Minneapolis mulls closing Minnehaha Off-Leash Dog Park after discovering it sits on sacred tribal land
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is one step closer to closing the Minnehaha Off-Leash Dog Park along the Mississippi River. It's an area of land the board said is considered sacred by the Dakota tribes.
A park board committee passed a resolution on Wednesday that would "decommission" the off-leash dog park. The resolution will be considered by the full board later this month.
"This space means a lot more and there is a lot more history to it than we had previously known," said Board President Tom Olsen ahead of the meeting.
Olsen said the significance came to light after an archeological study was completed last year, when the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board voted to install fencing around the dog park area. Olsen didn't share specifics, but said there are burial sites on the land. He said members also received input from an Indigenous advisory council.
"We understand that there is this important amenity, but we have to kind of readjust what our expectations and use of that space is," Olsen said.
WCCO spoke with Maggie Lorenz, executive director of Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi and a member of the Native American Advisory Council to the Minneapolis Park Board, who spoke more on the sacred area.
"From what I understand, there's a lot of history there around, relating to the time during the U.S.-Dakota War in 1862," Lorenz said. "There was a concentration camp there at Fort Snelling, at the Bdóte area, and due to that, history there, there were a lot of relatives, ancestors who died over that winter. And because of that, there were a lot of unmarked graves and burials around that area."
Lorenz acknowledged that people would like to see the data or proof firsthand, but it's complicated.
"There's a reason that that data is kept protected. Unfortunately, there is a very real risk of people trying to loot these burial sites for funerary objects and artifacts," she said. "That's why that data is kept confidential."
Lorenz says this is happening now because Indigenous voices have only recently been included in these conversations.
"Because people are listening now, and people are really willing to try to correct some of these historical wrongs," she said.
During the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board meeting on Wednesday, people from both sides of the issue expressed their views.
"Public park land is meant to be shared, not segregated and, crucially, the presence of dogs here does not preclude anyone else from enjoying the broader landscape," said Jeremy Fink.
"We have a religious freedom act as the Native people here and the dog park is infringing on that," said Gary Spears.
Kim Kelley also showed up to share her views, telling WCCO that, as a frequent visitor to the park with her two dogs, she's hoping for a compromise.
"You can just tell there is a lot of history in that land, and it's just really cool to be there, and I think it gets more use because of the ability to bring animals, dogs with you when you visit," she said. "There's got to be a way that we can still use the land together."
Olsen said if the resolution passes, it's likely the off-leash section of the dog park would close sometime before the end of the year.
"I think [it's] finally being recognised that we, as Dakota people, as the Indigenous peoples of Minnesota, we have these places," Lorenz added. "We've always had these places and they're finally now starting to be recognised and protected as such."
