Actions continued as the week drew to a close. Protesters blocked Highway 6 northwest of the camp Friday and locked arms at the entrance to a Dakota Access staging area just west of Mandan on Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n Organizers have been planning a series of demonstrations nationwide Tuesday since before the election. The goal of those 153 events nationwide \u2014 including one at Standing Rock with activist Robert Kennedy Jr. \u2014 is to push President Obama to take action to delay or stop the 1,172-mile project through executive action.<\/span><\/p>\n That message is more urgent now, said Jade Begay, an organizer on the ground at Oceti Sakowin who works with the Indigenous Environmental Network.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOur fight has gotten a lot harder, but it actually makes us stronger,\u201d Begay said. \u201cThis is our time to put pressure on President Obama.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The Obama administration took action this fall, but the decisions lacked finality.<\/span><\/p>\n Three federal agencies forced the delay of an easement to drill beneath Lake Oahe to complete the final 90-115 feet of North Dakota construction in September, just hours after a judge ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had properly consulted Standing Rock on the project\u2019s potential impact to culturally sensitive sites.<\/span><\/p>\n Obama said a re-route was on the table earlier this month, but the Justice Department said Thursday it plans to offer a \u201cpath forward\u201d on the easement.<\/span><\/p>\n Trump\u2019s election has given pipeline supporters hope for an end to such rhetoric, and with good reason.<\/span><\/p>\n Trump has between $500,000 and $1 million invested in the pipeline, according to a financial disclosure form filed with the Federal Election Commission before Nov. 8. Kelcy Warren, CEO of Dakota Access operator Energy Transfer Partners, contributed $103,000 to Trump\u2019s campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n Trump\u2019s priorities for his first 100 days include a re-start to the stalled Keystone XL pipeline and an across-the-board expansion of oil, coal and natural gas production.<\/span><\/p>\n In a call with analysts last week, Warren called Trump\u2019s commitment to infrastructure \u201crefreshing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n None of that news has slowed the steady growth of the North Dakota opposition camps.<\/span><\/p>\n The flags of hundreds of indigenous tribes worldwide fly in the right-of-way along Highway 1806 leading to Oceti Sakowin and line the well-traveled dirt paths that weave through it. All day and all night, a sacred fire burns, prayers are spoken or sung over the beat of traditional drums and campers paint banners bearing phrases like \u201cNoDAPL,\u201d \u201cWater is Life\u201d or \u201cDefend the Sacred.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The camp has grown markedly in the past two weeks, Begay said, with at least 20 new large tipis erected and the placement of additional solar panels for electricity. A wooden enclosure for the camp\u2019s water supply is rising just south of the sacred fire and yurts are popping up all along the grounds to prepare for the coming winter.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely grown,\u201d Begay said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s lost spirit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Sonny Iron Cloud, 25, has watched the growth, as well. He left Sioux Falls to come home to Standing Rock a few months ago.<\/span><\/p>\n He\u2019s left the camp a few times since then, and each time he\u2019s returned to find larger crowds, particularly on Saturdays and Sundays.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt gets really packed here on the weekends,\u201d Iron Cloud said.<\/span><\/p>\n Iron Cloud didn\u2019t see any sort of exodus after the election Tuesday \u2014 or even a slowing of the visitors to the tipi where he and a group of young men care for a handful of Crow Creek Reservation horses.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPeople stayed,\u201d Iron Cloud said. \u201cPeople are here until the end.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Philadelphia-born Joe Kirby, 31, arrived Thursday from Portland, Ore. Kirby spent months working with Occupy Philadelphia activists in 2011 and says he\u2019s ready to stay in North Dakota as long as he can be useful to the cause.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNow it seems bigger,\u201d Kirby said of Trump\u2019s victory. \u201cIf anything, it makes me even more committed to change things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Twelve students from Linfield College in McMinville, Ore., arrived Friday to volunteer. They\u2019d planned their trip in a Linfield vehicle 10 days before learning the election\u2019s outcome.<\/span><\/p>\n Sarah Stark, a 21-year-old senior, was disappointed in the outcome, but it didn\u2019t detract from their desire to \u201cdo something beyond online activism\u201d to help the protest movement.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think it gave our group more of a reason to come,\u201d Stark said.<\/span><\/p>\n Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault II formally responded to Trump\u2019s election Wednesday, urging President Obama to \u201cset a lasting and true legacy and respect the sovereignty and treaty rights of Standing Rock and tribal nations across the U.S.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n On Friday, however, Archambault II took a conciliatory tone, saying the tribe is ready to work with anyone on the issue of alternative, renewable energy.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen the new president made his speech, he said, \u2018We need to unify,\u2019\u201d Archambault II said. \u201cI\u2019m looking at that and saying we can take the good with the bad.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The bad is expected in tribal communities, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Historically, the election of one presidential candidate over another has made scant difference in the day-to-day lives of indigenous communities. Democrats and Republicans alike have overlooked tribal struggles and sidestepped tribal sovereignty for hundreds of years.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe understand that there is a lot at stake with this new president, but when you think of the Great Sioux Nation, we\u2019ve had a lot of issues,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve lived with high poverty rates regardless of who the president is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Source:\u00a0http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation-now\/2016\/11\/13\/dakota-pipeline-protesters-dig-trump-nears-oval-office\/93768488\/<\/span><\/p>\n