BIA Forestry and Wildland Fire Management - East River Agencies - (605) 226-7621

East River Fire Management Zone provides fire protection for 9 tribes that are spread across nearly 500,000 acres in South Dakota and Nebraska.

The East River Fire Management Zone is a vast area that lies east and west of the Missouri River Basin and is one of the largest tall-grass, short-grass, and mixed-prairie landscapes in the U.S. A variety of vegetation and unique ecosystems occur in this area, from the hardwood timber, grassland marshes, and glacial lakes of South Dakota to the rolling cedar breaks and yucca-mixed-prairie of Nebraska.

The Service area includes 495,913 acres held in Trust. The East River Fire Management Zone covers 2 states, from South Dakota to Nebraska east and west of the Missouri River Basin.
Fire protection is provided for the following tribes:
Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation
Crow Creek Sioux Tribe
Lower Brule Sioux Tribe
Yankton Sioux Tribe
Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe
Ponca Tribe of Nebraska
Santee Sioux Nation
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska
Omaha Tribe of Nebraska

Within the zone the Great Plains Regional Office (SD-GPA) is located in Aberdeen, SD. The zone covers five agencies in the Great Plains Region: Sisseton, Crow Creek, Lower Brule, Yankton, and Winnebago Agencies.

In addition to providing fire protection, approximately 5,000 acres of prescribed fire and mechanical treatments are conducted annually.

The National Indian Forestry and Wildland Fire Management Program is a cooperative effort of the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of the Deputy Director - Trust Services, Division of Forestry and Wildland Fire Management, Intertribal Timber Council and individual Tribal governments on reservations that contain woodland and forest resources.

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