Crow Creek Agency

8:00 A.M. – 4:30 P.M. CST

Estimated Tribal Enrollment: 3,429
The Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Crow Creek Agency is located in Ft. Thompson, SD on the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation. The Crow Creek Reservation was originally established in 1863 and is located along the eastern shore of the Missouri River in Central South Dakota. The reservation covers an area of more than 295,000 acres within its exterior boundaries. Estimated tribal enrollment is more than 3,500 members. The Crow Creek Sioux Reservation is divided geographically into three districts/communities: Ft. Thompson, Crow Creek, and Big Bend, with Ft. Thompson being the largest community and also serving as the tribal headquarters.

Crow Creek Agency works with the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe within the government-to-government
Frame work to address the needs of the tribe and its members.
Major programs operated by the Agency include Real Estate Services, Natural Resources, Wildland Fire, Probate, Transportation, and Human Services.

Cattle on the prairie

Critical Activities/Services Provided to Tribe:
Executive Direction/Administration

• Work with the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in the framework of the government-to-government relationship to pursue opportunities and address issues of the Tribe and its members.

Real Property Management (Realty & Natural Resources)

Missouri River

• Crow Creek Agency manages on behalf of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe and individual Indian landowners approximately 125,000 acres of land held in trust. The predominant use of the trust land is agricultural in nature.
• Crow Creek Agency currently carries out administrative and technical duties for more than 185 agriculture leases and 31 grazing permits.
• Agency staff diligently perform lease compliance inspections to preserve the value of the lands and protect the interests of the Indian landowners.
• This fiscal year, the Agency has collected and distributed to the Indian landowners more than $1.3 million in lease/permit income.

Road Maintenance

Bad Nation Creek

• Crow Creek Agency maintains more than 52 miles of roads on the Crow Creek reservation with only two Transportation personnel.
• During the winter months, the BIA ensures snow is removed from the roads so that school buses are able to pick up students and that emergency vehicles are able to get to needed destinations.
• During the rest of the year, the Transportation staff is extremely busy maintaining approximately 22 miles of gravel roads and repairing 24 miles of paved roads.
• Fifty-six percent of the BIA inventory roads are in poor to failing condition, ratings of 4 and 5 respectively on the service level index. Both road maintenance and construction needs far exceed available funding.

Fire Controlled Burn

Wildland Fire

• The Agency Wildland Fire Department is the closest firefighting entity to the three communities on the reservation. The Department responds to an average of one fire a day during the fire season and as many five fires a day during times of high fire danger.

Human Services

• With limited funds, the Agency provides welfare assistance to over 100 persons per month on the reservation. Most of the recipients reside in Buffalo County, SD on the reservation, the poorest county in the nation according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
• Agency provides protective services/ child welfare services to all communities on the reservation.

Opportunities

• Principal Financial Group Chairman has provided funding for two recent law school graduates to work for two years on the Crow Creek Reservation to develop a long-term plan to stimulate economic development on the reservation. The Agency has coordinated meetings with the two individuals and the BIA Economic Development office.
• Meteorological data gathered reveal a significant opportunity for wind energy development on the Crow Creek Reservation.

In the 1990s, the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe received $29.5 million as reimbursement for lands lost due to the building of the Big Bend dam. These funds are maintained in a restricted account of which only the annual interest is available to the Tribe. Legislation commonly referred to as the “Parity Act” is in Congress to increase the amount of reimbursement by an additional $79 million.