Pine Ridge Reservation
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Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Wazí Aháŋhaŋ Oyáŋke Pine Ridge Agency |
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| Reservation | ||
Badlands in the northern portion of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
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| Nickname(s): Pine Ridge Rez | ||
 Location of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota |
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| Country | United States | |
| State | South Dakota, Nebraska | |
| Counties | Oglala Lakota, Jackson, Bennett, and Sheridan County | |
| Established | 1889 | |
| Government | ||
| • Governing Body | Tribal Council of the Oglala Sioux Tribe | |
| • Tribal President | John Yellow Bird Steele | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 3,468.86 sq mi (8,984.306 km2) | |
| Population (2000) | ||
| • Total | 28,700 | |
| Time zone | MST (UTC-7) | |
| • Summer (DST) | MDT (UTC-6) | |
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (Lakota: Wazí Aháŋhaŋ Oyáŋke), also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Native American reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Great Sioux Reservation, Pine Ridge was established in 1889 in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border. Today it consists of 3,468.85 sq mi (8,984.306 km2) of land area and is the eighth-largest reservation in the United States, larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined.
The reservation encompasses the entirety of Oglala Lakota County, the southern half of Jackson County and the northwest portion of Bennett County. Of the 3,142 counties in the United States, these are among the poorest. Only 84,000 acres (340 km2) of land are suitable for agriculture. Extensive off-reservation trust lands are held mostly scattered throughout Bennett County (all of Bennett County was part of Pine Ridge until May 1910), and also extend into adjacent Pine Ridge (Whiteclay), Nebraska in Sheridan County, just south of the community of Pine Ridge, South Dakota, the administrative center and largest community within the reservation. The 2000 census population of the reservation was 15,521; but a study conducted by Colorado State University and accepted by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development has estimated the resident population to reach 28,787.
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