Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks said today that mineral exploration beneath Rosebud Battlefield State Park is on temporary hold thanks to a new agreement between private mineral rights owners and Pinnacle Gas Resources, Inc., an o il and g as exploration and production company .
"Everyone involved feels an urgent need to find a permanent solution to protect the Rosebud Battlefield within the 15 months secured by this agreement," said Chas Van Genderen, FWP Parks Division assistant administrator. The agreement holds off drilling in key locations within the battlefield grounds.
In the previous lease agreement between the mineral rights owners and Pinnacle, methane gas exploration could have begun in April.
Rosebud Battlefield State Park is the location, on June 17, 1876, of one of the largest Native American battles ever waged in U.S. history. The battle at Rosebud was a pivotal struggle between the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne Nations and General George Crook’s command, including Crow and Shoshone scouts. It took place eight days before and about 30 miles away from the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Rosebud Battlefield State Park’s 3,000 acres of public land is being considered for designation as a National Historic Landmark.
A representative of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Denver said they are pleased to see a partnership working to find solutions to protect this important cultural landscape from being irretrievably altered by oil and gas development.
"The Rosebud Battlefield is irrefutably significant to the history of the West and of the United States," said Jennifer Buddenborg, program officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Denver. "Few sites associated with the Native American Wars of the late 19 th century retain the pristine character this one does."
The new agreement allows Pinnacle an additional 15 months before test drilling would need to begin. That gives the state and other interested organizations time to negotiate a workable solution for all parties, including structuring a trade for equivalent mineral rights elsewhere, or other real estate trades or transactions.
Those interested in assisting the state in preserving Rosebud Battlefield include the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Montana Preservation Alliance, the Frontier Heritage Alliance, and the Crow, Northern Cheyenne, and several tribes of the Sioux Nation.
"We are responsible to our shareholders, but in the case of Rosebud Battlefield State Park we don’t want to drill," said Pete G. Schoonmaker, CEO of Pinnacle Gas Resources, Inc. "We are very hopeful an equitable agreement can be reached to preserve the battlefield as a Western history legacy for future generations."
FWP is concluding a two-year management planning process for the site that involved neighbors, tourism interests, historians, Pinnacle, recreational interests and representatives from the Indian tribes connected to the site.
For more on Rosebud Battlefield State Park, visit the FWP web site at fwp.mt.gov and click on Parks and Recreation and then on Rosebud Battlefield State Park.
Recent News
