Protecting "a gift from God," Episcopal priest works for prairie preservation

From South Dakota-

From a craggy limestone ledge above the place called Pe' Sla, Linda Kramer admired the land she loves.

"This is it," the 65-year-old Episcopal priest said with a sweep of the hand. "This is Pe' Sla, the holy place."

Her gesture took a visitor's eyes down the slope of Flag Mountain, out over a ponderosa pine forest speckled with beetle-killed trees and on to the tawny prairie beyond. There, the undulations of grass and thicket and occasional pine spread out across the high prairie north of Deerfield Reservoir for roughly 4,000 acres.

To most non-Native people, the place is known as the Reynolds Prairie, even though the ranch family of that name owns only part of the massive high-country meadow. The Reynolds' land, however, is a big part, and one that has made news far beyond this quiet hideaway in the Black Hills.

The announcement that Leonard and Margaret Reynolds were planning to sell about 2,000 acres of the prairie sent shock waves through Northern Plains tribes who hold the land here sacred. Among them are the Dakota, Nakota and Lakota people who believe Pe' Sla holds many of the truths of their creation. Many come to the place to pray and reflect and believe.

More here-

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/protecting-a-gift-from-god-episcopal-priest-works-for-prairie/article_c5813f38-2d1c-5e03-b083-f4ec47d8617d.html