Oglala Sioux Parks & Recreation Authority: Values

OSPRA VALUES

Woope Sakowin:
Seven basic values or laws of OSPRA
brought by the White Buffalo Calf Woman who became a buffalo.
Cante Ognake:
To care for the welfare of the people in your heart,
to be generous, to share, to help, to give.
Wowaunsila:
To have pity and compassion for everything that moves.
Wowauonihan:
To have respect and honor those we respect, that is everything around us.
Wacin Tanka:
To have patience and tolerance.
Wowahwala:
To be humble, to seek humility.
Woohitike:
To have principals and discipline ourselves, to follow our principals, not to fear those
things that change and happen around us; We must be brave and courageous.
Woksape:
To have understanding and wisdom.

Spirit of the Land:

Oglala Sioux Values Oglala Sioux Parks and Recreation Authority Flag Land is the most valuable resource of the Oglala Lakota People. In 1973 OSPRA became a tribally chartered organization to enforce and serve tribal laws. Administrators, Rangers, Biologists and Buffalo Keepers protect and preserve natural treasures across 1.2 million acres of land. Forests, plains, reservoirs and mountains make up the vast semi-wilderness lands on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Treasures of the Northern Plains and Badlands include fossils, geologic formations, medicine wheels, fire pots and cultural sites. Hunting seasons and game codes regulate numbers and quality of wildlife resources. Scientific studies and research projects are underway for mountain lions, swift fox and fish.

The tribe’s buffalo herd ranges between 600 and 1000 animals that range in four separate pastures with 35,000 acres of land and natural water resources. The buffalo herd represents cultural ties to the past, enduring Lakota values and the path of survival and prosperity into the future.

Oglala Sioux Lands Oglala Value The Oglala Lakota maintain a good clean herd of bison. The buffalo is a spiritual animal. Every spring the Buffalo Keepers have ceremonies for good health of their animals. Rangers believe these ceremonies help the health of the herd. Every buffalo that is killed is honored with a ceremony for the spirit of the animal.

Rangers work throughout the year to get kids involved with knowledge of wildlife and relationship to buffalo and land. This keeps Lakota Heritage strong. Education efforts are community, school and summer camp-based. Students are transported to the buffalo round up every October and take part in the annual buffalo dance and celebration in the shadow of the Black Hills.

“Tatanka means the great owner.
We like to think we own the buffalo.
It’s just the other way around.
The buffalo owns us.”
-Birgil Kills Straight
Executive Director, OSPRA

“The buffalo and our people are one and part of one. We all come from
the same place. Mother Nature brought us about. We have our life
because of the buffalo. These are the things we try to make our children
aware of. We have only just begun. I have a strong belief in this
organization.”
-Debra Frazier
Former OSPRA Board Member

“As we live and look toward the future,
these things we need to hold on to,
and hopefully we will survive.”
-Birgil Kills Straight
Executive Director, OSPRA