National Parks and Native American Heritage

Throughout the United States there are 63 National Parks of which 14 of them are UNESCO World Heritage sites. Many of these sites have been designated because of the landscape and biodiversity they provide to the natural world. Although preserving land is important this site aims to inform on how different parks around the U.S. help to preserve the heritage and cultures of our Native people and Tribes. This site aims to demonstrate how individual parks share the culture and heritage of the Tribes who used to frequent them with those who visit the park. Whether it be through presentations, or demonstrations of things such as dancing, singing, and rituals. Each following park section also contains details on the history of each park and some of the Natives who used to live there, and their views on the park themselves. The parks that have been chossen to be discussed are abirtrary and have no real reason why they were picked over others.

Located in the north corner of Montana the Glacier National Park was established May 11th, 1910. After Lewis and Clark came within 50 miles of what is now the park during their exhibition George Bird Grinnell hired the known explorer James Willard Schultz in 1885 to guide him on a hunting expedition, this was the moment when Grinnell began 2 decades worth of work to establish Glacier Park and became the main contributor to it after establishment. His efforts led to the park being a designated forest preserve in 1897, before it was signed into a park by President William Howard Taft. Before it was founded the park belonged to the Blackfeet Nation and Flathead tribe. The US government bought land from the Tribes in 1855 and formed the Flathead and Blackfoot Indian Reservations by the Treaty of the Hellgate.

Native tribes are first started living in the Glacier area over 10,000 years ago. The main tribe occupying the land was the Blackfeet Nation and the Salish (or Flathead) Tribe, but many others were known to use the grounds for annual hunting of Buffalo. Tribes such as the Kootenai, Shoshone, and Cheyenne. The Blackfoot Native Tribe were known to be great warriors, living in bands of 80-240 people (Piegan, Siksika, and the Blood). Being nomadic the Piegan tribe followed Buffalo across Montana. After 1806 for more than 50 years the Blackfoot were able to prevent the British, French, and American fur traders from trapping animals on their land. In the first treaty with the United States in 1855 the Blackfeet Indian Reservation was founded, which included the eastern area of the park. Afterwards, the tribe remained nomadic, instead of farming, until the almost extinction of the wild Buffalo in the 1880s. In the winter solstice of 1883 and 1884 nearly one-fourth of the tribe died from starvation it was this tragedy that is believed to cause the selling of part of the mountain to become Glacier National Park. Today many members of the Blackfeet Nation feel that their ancestors were hoodwinked out of the land and that Glacier National Park belongs to them. Despite that fact, some members of the Blackfeet Nation recognize that by founding the Glacier National Park there is a great preservation of the land they once called home. In the video above from the National Park Service collection of videos "At Home in This Place" Salish and Pend d'Oreille leaders speak on how they feel the park in its well-preserved state allows them to feel at home with their ancestors.

The name "Flathead" was given to the Salish by Lewis and Clark because they believed that the people engaged in head flatenning, which was never true. Thier head seemed flatter because they did not engage in head lengthening like their neighboring tribes. The tribe were Plateau Indians, meaning that they lived in the plateau region between the Rockies, this also meant that they had a more stable and reliable food supply then their neighbors. Warfare and extended trade were not common in the center of the plateau culture as there was virtually no need for it. The Salish existed in bands of families in contrast to the Blackfoot tribe whose bands were not centered on family ties. The religion of the Salish focused chiefly on guardian spirits and shamanism. The Salish territory once extended through the Rocky Mountains and encompassed all of Flathead Lake, but it was reduced to the Flathead Indian Reservation in 1904 when the Flathead Allotment Act was put into action. The land not accounted for in the act was put up for sale and became a part of the park some years later. In the video below some Salish cultural leaders speak on how the relationship they have with the park is improving and how they hope that future generations can become even closer with the park.

During a visit to Glacier Park a visitor can participate in the Native American Speaks program. This program is hosted in the summertime and invites visitors to hear more about the history and culture from Salish and Blackfeet cultural leaders. This is conveyed through singing, storytelling, presentations, and hands-on learning. Native American Speaks is offered at multiple locations such as, Blackfeet Nation, Heritage Center, and the Chewing Backbones Campgrounds. The program began in 1982 and is the longest running program in the national park system. The programs is a leading example of how national parks make an effort to share and preserve culture and heritage of Native people.

Yosemite National Park first became federally protected land thanks to Galen Clark, who wanted to protect the park from development, in 1864. Years later, in 1890 Congress established the park thanks to a campaign by John Muir, it was this moment that paved the way for other national parks to be founded.

•  Park History: Glacier National Park | National Parks Traveler 
•  Glacier National Park (U.S.) - Wikipedia 
•  At Home In This Place - Glacier National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) 
•  Blackfoot | people | Britannica 
•  Flathead | people | Britannica 
•  Flathead Indian Reservation - Wikipedia 
•  Native America Speaks - Glacier National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)