Tribal Fire Crews to Spend Week at Sand Creek Site

By Craig Moore

Northern and Southern Cheyenne Tribal Fire Crews will spend the week of May 22-26 in Kiowa County working with the National Park Service at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. The crews will travel to southeastern Colorado from their home communities near Lame Deer, Montana and Hammon, Oklahoma. Approximately a dozen firefighters will be on hand for the project.

Several members of the crews are descendants of Standing Water, Red Moon, Scabby, and other Cheyenne who were camped along Big Sandy Creek in November, 1864.

The crews will work on tribally owned land along Big Sandy Creek. In an effort to reduce hazardous fuels, downed limbs and some underbrush will be cleared and removed. Accompanying the crews will be several Cheyenne Sand Creek Massacre Representatives.

Similar projects, in conjunction with the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho, were undertaken at the site in 2005.

Travel and lodging for the firefighters was made possible by a fuel treatment grant from the National Fire Fund. An additional Rural Fire Assistance grant will enable Kiowa County crews to assist the fuel reduction effort by mowing a fire break around the site boundaries. The entire project would not be possible without the support and assistance of Kiowa County officials.

For general information about the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, please visit the park’s website at www.nps.gov/sand, or call (719) 383-5051 or (719) 438-5916.