Oahe Downstream Recreation Area by Congress transferred ownership of the recreation area to the State of South Dakota in 2002. Oahe Downstream Recreation Area Oahe Downstream Recreation Area is a state recreation area in Stanley County, South Dakota in the United States. The recreation area is named for being immediately downstream of the Oahe Dam and Lake Oahe, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam and reservoir. The recreation area is located along the Missouri River and is popular for camping, fishing and other water-based recreation. The area is located about 7 miles upstream of Pierre - the state capitol. The recreation area was
Lake Oahe Dakota were flooded by the Oahe Dam alone. As of 2015, poverty remains a problem for the displaced populations in the Dakotas, who are still seeking compensation for the loss of the towns submerged under Lake Oahe, and the loss of their traditional ways of life. Lake Oahe became a point of contention in protests to block the Dakota Access Pipeline. The construction project has been controversial for its environmental impacts, and several Native American tribes in the Dakotas and Iowa have opposed the project. These include several Sioux nations and the Meskwaki. In 2016 a group from the Standing