Fort Pierre Chouteau Historic Site Management Plan, Fort Pierre, South Dakota

Stark Preservation Planning LLC; Loki Interpretive Group; Hoisington Koegler Group Inc.

From introduction: "The Fort Pierre Chouteau Historic Site Management Plan is a synthesis of preservation and educational goals. Protection of the site’s integrity and its archaeological resources is the top priority for all future planning and management efforts. Fort Pierre Chouteau is a non-renewable resource, and all recommendations for future site enhancement take that into careful account. Enhancing the visitor experience of the site, and improving public knowledge of local heritage, is also a key objective. It is through the interpretation of cultural resources that public stewardship is cultivated. This management plan recognizes that the public cannot be expected to support preservation efforts if they cannot understand an historic site’s relevance or rarity. Creating a visitor experience grounded in high-quality interpretation, sensitivity to the site, and broader connections to regional history are all key goals. Fort Pierre Chouteau is a site of local and national importance. Located approximately two miles north of the cities of Fort Pierre and Pierre, South Dakota, the site consists of 33.5 acres of open field (Figure 1: Location Map). Although all historic evidence is presently invisible—remaining physical traces of the fort lie buried underground—the site is home to a rich and layered history, a story that begins with indigenous legacy, one that later includes the country’s burgeoning fur trade, a U.S. military presence, and culminates in saving the North American bison population from extinction and an eventual return to nature. Designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1991, the nomination form states that, “Fort Pierre [Chouteau] may well have been the most significant fur trade/military fort on the western American frontier.” The Fort was the largest and busiest port in the entire region; at no point during the history of the U.S. fur trade did the volume of furs traded and shipped to markets reach the level of the Upper Missouri region from 1830-1865. Fort Pierre Chouteau was a place where Native and European cultures came together under shared economic interests. As the nomination form elaborates, “rarely can an igniter of such vast cultural and economic diffusion throughout a region be traced to a single locality [the Fort].” In addition to such national significance, the Fort is also a profound touchstone of local heritage and namesake of cities Fort Pierre and Pierre. This management plan is divided into four sections: an introduction and overview, articulation of a vision for the site, an historical outline of the site with descriptions of current conditions, the management plan with in-depth discussions of interpretive opportunities and site operations, and a detailed strategic implementation plan. The management plan is designed to function as a practical and motivating tool to guide action and site management decisions for years to come. Project funding was provided in part by a 2009 Historic Preservation Fund grant to the South Dakota State Historic Preservation Office (project number SD-09-030, grant number 46-09-21847) administered by the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Fort Pierre Chouteau Historic Site Management Plan, Fort Pierre, South Dakota

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