Protesters of the Dakota Access pipeline are considering moving their biggest encampment several miles south for winter, near a town on the Standing Rock reservation.

About a thousand mostly American Indian protesters continue to inhabit a makeshift camp on federal lands near the Missouri River in North Dakota, which the pipeline must cross to complete its route to southern Illinois.

While construction on the pipeline continues, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is withholding permission to cross the river while it reviews complaints by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. They say they weren't properly consulted on the project and that the pipeline threatens their water supply.

MPR's Cathy Wurzer spoke with Lauren Donovan who has been covering the protests since they began more than six months ago for The Bismarck Tribune.

Click on the audio player to hear their conversation.