Shelters can be seen within the Oceti Sakowin Camp on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota. [Photo by Graham Lee Brewer, The Oklahoman]

CANNONBALL, N.D. — News of the Christmas Day blizzard that would engulf the camp of about 1,000 protesters in less than 12 hours had many on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation preparing for temperatures lower than they had ever experienced.

The wind was beginning to pick up as Tushka Hill, a member of the Fort Sill Apache tribe who lives in Seminole County, climbed on top of his yurt and handed heavy sand bags to another volunteer. They had to fix a tear in the small, round hut before the sun set and the biting winds started sweeping across the snow-covered hills. The night before, temperatures hovered around 0 degrees, and the next few days were not going to be much warmer.

Hill had arrived at the Oceti Sakowin Camp the day before to volunteer with the Indigenous Environmental Network, which was helping coordinate efforts to protest and demonstrate against the Dakota Access Pipeline. While construction on the pipeline was halted in December when the Army Corps of Engineers declined to approve an easement that would allow the proposed pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe, hundreds of protesters dug in and vowed to stay.

“It uplifts the activists' spirit to see so many people here that actually care about what's going on,” Hill said. Citing a lack of cohesive information on the pipeline and local efforts to stop its construction, Hill said he hopes many more decide to join the protests by showing up at camp themselves.