Dogs will no longer be allowed to roam free at a Minneapolis park because there is some chance Native Americans may be buried there.
Last week, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board voted to close down the off-leash area of the Minnehaha Regional Park because it “is now believed to be a Native American burial site,” CBS reported. However, a 2025 archaeological assessment did not conclude that human remains were present at the site, as Alpha News MN noted.
The resolution does not stop Fido and Spot from peeing on the supposed burial site or clawing at the ground.
Instead, the Minneapolis parks department announced on June 18, following the vote, that it will “decommission the off-leash recreation area no later than Dec. 31, 2026, or sooner if feasible.”
“The area within Minnehaha Regional Park identified as a dog park area is not closing and will remain open to the public,” the board wrote. “This change will only affect off-leash dog use.”
The announcement continued:
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board recognizes that the Minnehaha Off-Leash Recreation Area is meaningful to many residents and dog owners. At the same time, this land is part of the broader Mni Owe Sni/Coldwater Spring area, a place of deep cultural, spiritual, historical and archaeological significance to Dakota people and other Tribal Nations.
Last week’s vote, which followed a separate resolution calling for the change, sparked some passionate debate.
“We’re in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. It does seem obscene that we have only one safe area to recreate with our dogs in the water,” one man said.
Maggie Lorenz with the Wakan Tiki Center had a different view: “I think we have an opportunity to become a model for how to rectify centuries of wrongdoing.”
Some took a stronger, anti-white stance during the meeting.
“Imagine that area before the white man, before the pilgrims, pioneers and settlers, the extreme white Christian terrorists,” Mike Forcia (pictured) said.
https://x.com/AlphaNews/status/2067724757802610797?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Post Millennial published longer comments from Forcia, including a comparison of the dog park to concentration camps. At least this time, Forcia decided to peacefully protest – in June 2020, he took it upon himself to tear down a statue of Christopher Columbus, which earned him a glowing profile in Smithsonian Magazine.
He said:
That park is being closed. Sorry about that. Get used to it. But you have no say. Imagine what the Dakota were going through. Beautiful. And then they hit. Turned it into a concentration camp. And, um, you think of… Auschwitz, and Birkenau. Would you like to see a dog park in those places? Those are sacred places now. So really, you guys have no say in this whatsoever. That park is being closed. Sorry about that. Get used to it. But you have no say.
A woman named “Erica Crazy Hawk” also reportedly kept interrupting the hearing, as The Post Millennial reported.
After she spoke, she kept shouting at another audience member, as video from Alpha News MN shows.
At least one woman held up a sign that said “no dog is illegal.”
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