Pipeline Protesters Enter Seventh Month of Missouri River Watershed Encampment

What began in April with a handful of Standing Rock Sioux tribal members camped on a small piece of land has grown into one of the largest Indigenous-led demonstrations in decades — and with no resolution to the underlying dispute in sight, the encampments along the Missouri River watershed show no sign of winding down.

From Three People to a Movement

The camp traces its origin to LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, a tribal historian whose own land sits along the Cannonball River. Allard had walked the pipeline’s proposed route with Army Corps of Engineers officials to point out burial grounds, ceremonial sites, and other locations of cultural significance to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. When it became clear the pipeline company intended to move forward regardless, Allard was encouraged to start a camp on her own land. “Five days later the Sacred Stone camp began with three people and grew from there,” Allard told CBC Radio. When she received notice on July 15 that pipeline construction was set to begin, she posted a short video to Facebook asking people to come help. “People came,” she said, “and people are still coming.”

That growth has been extraordinary by nearly any measure. What started as Allard’s small Sacred Stone camp has since spawned the much larger Oceti Sakowin camp — named for the Seven Council Fires of the Sioux Nation — along with the Red Warrior camp and the Rosebud camp across the river, drawing what organizers describe as representatives from several hundred Native American tribes across North America, alongside non-Native environmental activists, veterans, and supporters who have traveled from around the world.

Daily Life at the Encampment

Far from the confrontational scenes that have periodically made national news, life inside the camps is organized around prayer, ceremony, and communal labor. Camps now include their own kitchens, medical tents, solar charging stations, horse corrals, and even an informal school for the children living there with their families, according to firsthand accounts from visiting environmental organizers. Days typically begin at first light with drumming and morning prayer along the river, with cooks preparing communal meals while others chop wood, build additional shelter, or sort the steady stream of donated supplies arriving from supporters around the country.

A Legal Fight Running in Parallel

The encampment’s growth has run alongside an escalating legal battle. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, represented by Earthjustice, sued the Army Corps of Engineers in federal court in July, arguing the agency violated the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act by failing to adequately study the pipeline’s environmental and cultural impact before approving it. That lawsuit remains unresolved, even as construction activity and the encampment opposing it have both continued to grow throughout the summer and into the fall.

Conditions at the perimeter of the camps have grown increasingly tense as that legal fight drags on. Water protectors attempting to physically block construction equipment have described clashes with both North Dakota law enforcement and private security contractors hired by the pipeline’s parent company, including incidents involving pepper spray and guard dogs turned on protesters attempting to block bulldozers from advancing.

An Encampment Built to Last

For the thousands who have now passed through Standing Rock’s camps, the scale and duration of the mobilization already mark it as a watershed moment for Indigenous organizing, regardless of how the underlying legal fight is ultimately resolved. Camp organizers have been explicit that they intend to remain for as long as the fight against the pipeline requires — a commitment that, months into the standoff, shows no sign of wavering even as colder weather approaches and the legal process grinds on without resolution.

For related coverage of this same standoff, see our piece on Cheyenne River Sioux Chairman Harold Frazier’s meeting with President Obama, or browse our full Environment archive.