the Black Hills were the Lakota people. As stated in an article by author Amy McKeever, “For Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho communities, the region was not only spiritually important, it was also where tribes gathered food and plants they used in building and medicine”. The Lakota also referred to the Black Hills as Paha Sapa (Black Hills) or He Sapa (Black Mountains). Some popular Lakota tribe members are Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. According to author Annette McGivney, decades before the construction of Mount Rushmore, "Lt. Col George Armstrong Custer led a survey into the Black Hills.” The convoy foraged through the Black Hills without the prior permission of the tribes. Custer brought in these convoys to scavenge the hills for resources. This broke treaties the government had with the tribes; however, the US constitution allowed gold prospectors to settle in the Black Hills as well as the area around. Nicholas Black Elk, a member of the Oglala tribe, saw patterns of elimination and charged that the government was attempting to wipe out Lakota culture. In the 1870s, Americans argued the Lakota had never lived in the Black Hills at all. Later, in the 1900s the Lakota began to seek compensation for their relocation and surrender of the hills; however, the United States denied their right to compensation. The members of the Sioux Nation surrendered their territory and were then relocated onto reservations. Following the relocation, the construction of Mount Rushmore began on the mountain the Lakota referred to as “Tunkasila Sakpe”, which translates to Six Grandfathers. Tunkasila Sakpe was a granite bluff that remained untouched until construction began. In recent decades, the Lakota demanded their land be returned, as they argue that they have inhabited the Black Hills for centuries, if not millennia. Construction of Mount Rushmore began in 1927. Before the construction, Doane Robinson saw Six Grandfathers as an opportunity to increase tourism in the Black Hills. Robinson hired Gutzon Borglum to create a sculpture that honored “the West’s greatest heroes, both Native Americans, and pioneers”. Borglum proposed to Robinson that they use the faces of past U.S. presidents. The Lakota viewed Mount Rushmore as a symbol of United States dominance. Environmental concerns In an effort to bring awareness to the concern with the event, a report was put out by The National Park Service. Bill Gabbert, an editor at Wildifre Today and Fire Aviation, stated that “fireworks