FOUR BEARS VILLAGE, N.D. 鈥� The Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Nation in western North Dakota is creating a search-and-rescue dive team to help in boating accidents, or even cases of missing and murdered indigenous women.
Tribal Council Treasurer Mervin Packineau came up with the idea about three years ago, and now the plans for the rapid-response team are coming together with a building, equipment, and soon, divers. The headquarters, which will be perched on the shores of Lake Sakakawea near Four Bears Village, will house half a dozen divers, equipped with scuba gear, a mobile command center, heavy-duty all-terrain vehicles and boats.
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鈥淲e want to be able to respond to any incidents that happen and be there right away,鈥� Packineau said. 鈥淲e want to get away from just doing recovery and start doing more rescues.鈥�
Beyond water accidents, though, Tribal Chief Executive Officer Roger White Owl said the dive team is one of the 鈥減roactive things鈥� the tribe is doing to help combat the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women.
In October 2017, 32-year-old Olivia Lone Bear went missing, and in July 2018, searchers found her body inside a truck submerged in Lake Sakakawea.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no resource more valuable in our world as women. When such tragedies have happened with Olivia Lone Bear, it was something our community felt, our tribe felt,鈥� White Owl said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to be as proactive as possible.鈥�
Packineau proposed the resolution to create the search-and-rescue dive team, and the Tribal Council passed it last spring, budgeting $4 million, just for the building. According to Packineau鈥檚 office, the building must have a system in place for maintaining the oxygen tanks, a backup generator so power never goes out, a shower room for divers and a garage for vehicles. One of those vehicles is a Sherp ATV, which can drive on ice, and continue moving forward even if it breaks through. It can then resurface on thicker ice.
In the best case scenario, the building and dive team will be ready by the end of summer next year, though it may take a few years to work out the kinks of the new team, Packineau said.
Packineau must also recruit and train divers. He said he wants to start with six, one of whom would be a full-time director. Eventually, he wants the building to be staffed around the clock.
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Search-and-rescue diving takes an especially skilled person.
Police Sgt. Ben White leads the underwater search-and-rescue team for the sheriff's office in Williams County, N.D., which sits northwest of the Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Nation, or MHA. He helped locate the truck where Lone Bear was found underwater in 2018.
He said search-and-rescue diving 鈥渃an be very scary.鈥�
鈥淵ou鈥檙e not out there recreationally diving,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e out there searching for a dead person.鈥�
Diving in muddy water is like swimming in coffee, he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very claustrophobic.鈥�
Lake Sakakawea, a reservoir of the Missouri River, presents its unique challenges, Packineau said. The deeper a diver goes, the darker it gets and more disorienting. Plus, the bottom of the lake is silt, making it like quicksand. Divers must be trained on how to dig out, in case they get stuck.
Packineau said he鈥檚 going to soon open diving applications to both Natives and non-Natives seeking to join the team. 鈥淲e want to have an elite team,鈥� he said.
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鈥淭he overall goal is to add another layer, bring another resource to the MHA Nation to complement the other agencies already here and to take a proactive stance versus a reactive stance should something happen,鈥� he said.
