A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION,  To request the Department of Transportation to help promote and help direct travelers to the Oyate Trail.

     WHEREAS,  the Oyate Trail is a 388 mile route which begins at Interstate 29 near Vermillion and heads west along U.S. Highway 18 and State Highway 50 in southern South Dakota to Edgemont near the Wyoming border; and

     WHEREAS,  the Oyate Trail was established to develop and promote the cultural, artistic, scenic, and historic resources along these highways; and

     WHEREAS,  the Oyate Trail means a well-traveled road of nations and the trail offers off- the-interstate travelers unique cultural and historic experiences representing two civilizations: the Lakota Sioux Nation and European immigrants; and

     WHEREAS,  more than 150 miles of the Oyate Trail include state highway miles along or near the Missouri River bluffs and offer very scenic views; and

     WHEREAS,  the Oyate Trail includes such sites as the Shrine to Music Museum in Vermillion, the state's first capital in Yankton, a Czech arts festival in Tabor, cowboy poets in

Martin, and art centers on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservations; and

     WHEREAS,  the Department of Transportation has the means to help notify travelers of the existence of the Oyate Trail and to help promote tourism in southern South Dakota with little cost to the state:

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED,  by the House of Representatives of the Eighty- second Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the Department of Transportation is requested to help promote the Oyate Trail in its publications and its maps and with proper highway signs.