One year ago, Osage artist Norman Akers was taking a different route home than his usual one when he noticed something strange on Highway 99.
The Osage reservation boundary sign between Sedan, Kans., and Pawhuska, which reads “You are entering the Osage Nation Reservation,” was missing.
Akers noted the missing sign to the Traditional Cultural Advisors committee, of which he is a member. The Nation began communicating with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT), who informed them they didn’t know why or how the sign was missing, but they did have some news: they would be updating and replacing all the Osage Nation reservation signs.
So began a year-long back-and-forth between ODOT and all of Oklahoma’s 38 tribes, not only the Osage, who opposed everything from the brown and white color of the newly proposed signs to the omission of “reservation.”
ODOT says they have done their part in taking comments, a process they began in 2023 when they sent Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear a letter asking for input on the new signage.
According to the letter, ODOT Director Tim Gatz said he hoped the new signs would bring “education” to travelers, “on the important role of Tribal Nations in Oklahoma’s history, as well as its future. Tribal Nations are incredibly valuable partners in building and maintaining our state’s infrastructure.”
Objections
Since that letter, the Nation has expressed multiple issues with the proposed signs, but ODOT has largely dismissed or overlooked their input. For instance, when the Nation protested the choice of the color brown for the signs, ODOT overlooked the concern without responding to their reasoning.
According to the meeting notes of Harold LaSarge, Osage, a transportation planner with the Nation’s Roads Department, who also sits on the Oklahoma Department of Transportation Tribal Advisory Board, the Nation objected to the color brown for the signs because brown is associated with historical sites – yet tribes still exist. In response, ODOT cited the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices and said, “brown is more appropriate for tribal boundaries.” ODOT did not respond to the Nation’s concerns about historical sites.
Among other protests, LaSarge made note of the input “the tribe, not ODOT or Federal Register, should determine what tribal name is used,” and that the signs should still use the word “reservation.”
ODOT doled out their dismissals to these various concerns. For instance, their response to the concerns about omitting “reservation” from the signs reads, “The naming convention followed for tribal boundary signs is the word ‘Entering’ and the name of the tribal nation as listed in the Federal Register. ODOT is not prepared to use the term ‘reservation’ in this context at this time.”
Criteria for what names will go on the signs comes from the U.S. Census’ Oklahoma Statistical Tribal Areas data, said Dr. Rhonda Fair, ODOT’s director of tribal coordination. “We needed a consistent source of information. So, we decided to go with the U.S. Census Bureau … they have the authority to recognize all of that,” she said.
Consistency
As for whether the word “reservation” will ever be on the signs again, Fair said ODOT does not want signs that will change back and forth. “The state, trust land, reservation status – that has been in flux over the past few years, and we wanted to have signs that would be appropriate regardless of that. … Not every tribe has a reservation, but every tribe has a name,” she said.
“Large, small, green, white, blue … discrepancy,” said Fair, summarizing the reasons for the change. “[Director Gatz] noticed that we had a lot of inconsistency between how we were representing tribes. That discrepancy has the potential to create confusion,” she said.
As of July 25, regardless of tribes’ positions on the proposed updated signage, the new policy from ODOT was released, directing all Oklahoma tribal signs to now officially be brown and white. The old Osage Nation reservation sign color – blue – is more general, ODOT advised, with blue used to indicate road-user services, tourist information and evacuation routes.
Although the traveling public will now have more consistent signs, not everyone is happy with the implications of the state’s directive that tribes homogenize their signs.
“I don’t think we should allow anyone to push us around,” said Kilan Jacobs, an Osage community member. He opposes the signs and said this is “just another fight against sovereignty.”
Rather than accommodating the perspectives of each sovereign tribe in the state, ODOT is focused on “balancing” tribes’ perspectives with the “traveler’s experience,” as Fair said. “We did outreach to all of the tribal leaders who are leading tribes who would be affected by this policy,” she said in ODOT’s defense.
LaSarge said other tribes had similar concerns to that of the Osage Nation but, ultimately, they can’t do much. “Because it is the state’s right of way,” he said.
Osage Minerals Estate
The Osage Minerals Estate – held in trust as a reservation six inches beneath the ground – is not the state’s right of way. Still, ODOT said they have a precedent in communicating with the Minerals Council. They will follow standard operating procedure in coordinating with them, according to a 2019 Memorandum of Agreement, said ODOT representative Tara Henson.
As the state asserts they’ve done their due diligence in collecting tribes’ concerns, they’re moving forward. Henson, however, said it is too soon to share any images because the whole process is still in “preliminary phases.”
Minerals Council Chairman Everett Waller did not confirm that he or anyone on the Minerals Council had received any official communications from ODOT.
He declined to comment.
Signs rescued
In the meantime, the Osage Nation has begun “rescuing” its signs, said Secretary of Development Casey Johnson.
“We’re rescuing the reservation signs, so the state doesn’t come and take them and do whatever with them,” he said. “So, I’ve instructed my guys to take them down and hold onto them … They will give us two signs on the highway close to the capital in Pawhuska that [have] orthography,” he added.
All seven blue Osage Nation Reservation signs have been taken down and stored by the ON Roads Department.
“To me, it’s not that big a deal – but that’s to me … I’m an old soldier, so I like everything the same. It will say Osage Nation, so that’s good,” he said.
