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of the three tribes, lived at the site in Lincoln County, S.D, and Lyon County, Iowa, three to five centuries ago. But in the late 1800s, the federal government forced the Ponca, Otoe and Missouria from the Upper Midwest to Oklahoma. The tribes established headquarters in Oklahoma, but many Ponca returned to Northeast Nebraska.
• The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska achieved federal recognition in 1990.
• The Omaha Tribe's last tobacco-giving ceremony with the Otoe-Missouria was held in 1960, organizers said.
• Such gatherings are important ways for tribes to reaffirm their culture and history together, said University of South Dakota professor Samual Herley.
• "It gets harder and harder for Native tribes to keep their language, to keep their culture," Herley said. "These events where tribes come together and do these kind of things can be a huge way to keep it going."
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• LEMMON, S.D. (AP) -- A fire that has scorched more than 16 square miles of Dakotas grassland is about 90 percent contained, officials said Saturday.
• Sixteen fire engines and two water tankers were still working Saturday on the fire in the Grand River National Grasslands. It spread Wednesday after a 130-acre prescribed burn by the U.S. Forest Service southeast of Hettinger, N.D., escaped containment and moved into South Dakota's Perkins County.
• No injuries have been reported, but one farm building has been confirmed lost. The fire has burned about 10,800 acres in a rural area between Hettinger and the South Dakota towns of Buffalo and Lemmon. Forest officials lowered their original size estimate of 14,000 acres Saturday after finishing a mapping the fire's perimeter.
• The U.S. Forest Service has said it intends to compensate landowners for damage to fences, hay bales and anything else that has been affected. It is holding a public meeting 4 p.m. Saturday at the North Dakota State University Research Extension Center in Hettinger to field questions from ranchers and property owners.
• Some residents said the Forest Service hadn't listened to warnings about conducting the prescribed burn.
• Tim Smith, president of the Grand River Cooperative Grazing District, said the Forest Service never should have started the burn.
• "They had very poor judgment in what they did on that day," Smith told The Dickinson Press. "There were red flag warnings out -- the temperature in Hettinger, North Dakota, was 71 degrees, highest in the state of North Dakota."
• John Johnson said he advised crews not to burn Wednesday because of a cold

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