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Earth, including opposition to the Keystone pipeline, the proposed $7 billion project to carry oil from Canada to Texas that has drawn opposition from environmentalists. Supporters say the pipeline is a job creator that will also boost the country's energy resources.
• "We're seeing a lot of global disasters and we're seeing a lot of our climate affecting our ceremonies," said Arvol Looking Horse, who will discuss the importance of sacred sites. He said climate change has made it harder for tribal members to take part in traditional ceremonies involving dance.
• Looking Horse, who lives on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in north-central South Dakota, is a chief and spiritual leader. He is the 19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, a symbol of peace among Sioux tribal members.
• Looking Horse said leaders need to reactivate sacred sites and people should be visiting them more.
• One of those sacred sites is located in the Black Hills and will be discussed in depth during the meeting. Last year the Sioux tribes banded together and raised $9 million to buy back the land they call Pe' Sla from private landowners who had put it up for sale. An 1868 treaty set aside the Black Hills and other land for the Sioux, but Congress passed a law nine years later seizing the land after the discovery of gold in western South Dakota.
• Russell Eagle Bear, a Rosebud Sioux tribal council member, will give an update on the land purchase.
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