After a confrontation Thursday, tipis still stood Friday at a Fort Snelling camp that indigenous people say they set up as a spiritual and community space for Native people.
The camp was established at Mni Owe Sni (Coldwater Spring) in February upstream on the Mississippi River from Historic Fort Snelling. Soon afterward, the four federally recognized Dakota tribes in Minnesota that are part of the Great Sioux Nation, along with other tribes, wrote to the National Park Service to express concerns.
“We are aware that a group claiming to represent the Oceti Sakowin has gathered at the sacred site and demanded that the land be turned over to them,” the four tribal leaders wrote in the letter dated Feb. 12. “These individuals do not represent our sovereign tribal governments, they do not speak on our behalf, and they have not been authorized to assert cultural or governmental status connected to the Dakota Tribes of Minnesota.”
AllenMichael Owen, who is a helper at the camp, said they received notice from the U.S. Department of Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, on Wednesday that they needed to vacate in 24 hours.
“This is Dakota land and we are here practicing our inherent rights. We are here legally and we have the authority to be here, and we’re fighting for our religious freedom,” Owen, a 31-year-old Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate member, said on Friday. “There is a historical reckoning happening in Indian country. There’s a clear division between age, direction and philosophy and that’s coming to a head here, and all we’re asking for is direction.”
Managed by the National Park Service, Mni Owe Sni is one of several sacred Native American sites at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, called Bdote in the Dakota language. According to Dakota tradition, Bdote is the place where their earliest ancestors were created by the deity Wakan Tanka.
Altercations arise
On Wednesday, a meeting was held between people associated with Dakota leadership and leaders of the prayer camp, community organizer Zachary White wrote Friday on social media.
“Despite the tension experienced during that meeting, camp members remained committed to maintaining peace and hoped that future discussions could take place in a more respectful manner,” White wrote.
On Thursday, people arrived at the camp and said they represented Dakota leadership and the Seven Council Fires.
“Later, several individuals approached the camp with visible hostility toward camp leadership,” White wrote. “At that time many camp members were actively packing supplies and cleaning the space in preparation for transitioning the camp responsibly.”
He also said “the interaction escalated and members of our group were met with threats and aggressive behavior. … Camp participants intentionally maintained a calm and de-escalating approach because we remained a prayer camp and did not want violence between Native people, especially on sacred land.”
Owen said he knew of several arrests of people who’d come to the camp, and the Hennepin County jail log showed at least one person in custody Friday who’d been arrested Thursday on suspicion of riot.
A Hennepin County sheriff’s office spokesperson wasn’t available Friday to provide information about an altercation or arrests. A media contact for the Prairie Island Indian Community said Friday he didn’t have information about the situation.
Tribal leaders working to preserve site
A view of the camp at Mni Owe Sni (Coldwater Spring) at Fort Snelling on March 6, 2026, with the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in the background. (Kathryn Kovalenko / Pioneer Press)
The letter last month from the leaders of the Lower Sioux Indian Community, Prairie Island Indian Community, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and Upper Sioux Community said they’ve “been working together with other partners to restore Mni Owe Sni to preserve the site and make it more accessible to our people to conduct prayer and ceremony in a respectful manner.”
Owen said Friday they plan to stay “and pray no matter how much violence comes our way … for as long as we need to.”
A Feb. 24 letter from the Fort Peck Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes cultural preservation director to the National Park Service also raised concerns that the “occupation” is “threatening years of concentrated habitat and ecological restoration.”
“Mni Owe Sni is one of the few remaining major springs in the Bdote area that still connects Dakota people to their traditions,” the letter continued. “We ask that you take the necessary steps to restore the health of the site and ensure it remains a protected space for prayer and ancestral connection.”
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Owen said there has been a misconception that they have an encampment, but he said the only people staying on site are those maintaining the grounds. There are four tipis, a fire they keep going around the clock, a sweat lodge and a kitchen. They’ve held traditional ceremonies and Dakota language teachings, Owen said.
The camp is near the Whipple Federal Building, where people have been detained during the recent immigration enforcement surge. What’s happening at Whipple “lives in our hearts,” Owen said, but it’s not the reason he came to the camp.
“This camp isn’t a prop in the background of Whipple,” Owen added. “This is our sacred site. The immigration enforcement, the oppression of brown people, these things are happening because of what this country allowed to happen to Native people. We’re the children of those people that were exiled.”
Nick Woltman contributed to this report.
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