Redeemer helps fuel Standing Rock

For the past several weeks, Redeemer has offered its backyard as a space to process wood for Standing Rock. Learn about the effort through our photo timeline and story below.

Why wood for Standing Rock? 

Thousands of protestors, or "water protectors" as they call themselves are currently camped on or near the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota in protest of the Dakota Acess Pipeline (DAPL). The pipeline was set to cross Lake Oahe in North Dakota, just 0.5 miles south of the reservation. Water protectors protest the fact that the pipeline could contaminate their drinking water and the extent it represents decades of oppression against Native Americans. 

On Sunday Dec. 4, after eight months of protesting, the Department of the Army announced that it would not grant the easement allowing DAPL to cross Lake Oahe. While this was a cause of celebration,  DAPL is saying that it will drill anyways and feels comfortable that it will get the support it needs under the Trump administration. In the meantime, many water protectors are committed to staying at Standing Rock for the long hall. 

This week at Standing Rock, temperatures are already dipping below 0 degrees with wind chills skirting below -25. With Standing Rock's location in the plains of North Dakota, the wind can be brutal and there are no good sources of wood nearby. Every yurt, tipi and structure there is heated by wood – wood is literally the fuel this movement needs to continue. Redeemer is playing an important role by hosting a space where thousands of logs can be processed and sent to North Dakota.