Yellowstone at 150: Can Indigenous Stewardship Save Our Parks?

150 years after Congress established Yellowstone National Park, it remains the jewel of a system that comprises some 400 national parks. But for Indigenous Americans, the history is bitter. Thousands were forced to leave, families were massacred, and the Army was brought in to exclude Native Americans. Today, as droughts, floods and fires threaten the parks, many are calling for Indigenous control. Indigenizing the National Parks wouldn’t just be morally and legally right, but it just might be what saves the parks for future generations. Wes Martel of the Eastern Shoshone, and Valerie Grussing, Executive Director of the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers — fill Laura in on a recent Inter-Tribal Gathering that examined this question. What do Indigenous people want for the future?

“We're in this together for reconciliation and healing. When one of us isn't whole, then none of us are whole. It impacts all of us — the healing that needs to happen to address generational trauma.” - Valerie Grussing

“We must let people know we're still here. We're going to be here forever. And we want our rightful place in this country's economic and social picture.” - Wes Martel

_______________________________________________________________________________________

GUESTS
- Valerie Grussing: Executive Director, National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers
- Wes Martel: Eastern Shoshone/Northern Arapaho; Senior Wind River Conservation Associate, Greater Yellowstone Coalition-Ft. Washakie Office
- Faith Spotted Eagle*: Ihanktonwon Dakota Elder & Co-Founder Brave Heart Society, Activist, Yankton Sioux Nation

*Hear Faith Spotted Eagle at the Wind River Inter-Tribal Gathering.

CONTENT:
00:00 - What is a Tribal Historic Preservation Officer?
04:44 - 150 Years of Removal at Yellowstone
10:56 - How Would Indigenous Stewardship Address Climate Disasters at Yellowstone?
14:55 - Strengthening Tribal Consultation
19:33 - Closing Comments

CREDITS
Executive Producer: Laura Flanders
Senior Story Producer: Sabrina Artel
Consulting Producer: Rory O'Connor
Field Producer/Reporter: Kizzy Cox
Editors: Nat Needham, David Neumann
Radio & Podcast Producer: Jeannie Hopper
Communications Manager: Janet Hernandez
Co-Director Development: Dominic Marcella
Motion Graphics: Nat Needham

SPECIAL THANKS:
Jen Cohen & Cole Parker Christine
Native Organizers Alliance

🎧 PODCAST:

✏️ RESEARCH & READING LIST:

📺 RELATED EPISODES:

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

The Laura Flanders Show is non-commercial independent media that relies on the contributions of viewers and listeners.

FOLLOW The Laura Flanders Show

ACCESSIBILITY
This episode is closed captioned.

#Yellowstone #Indigenous #NationalParks #Environment #Climate #Indigenizing #Stewardship #NativeAmerican #Reparations #NPS #Tribes #TribalLand

[katherinelane]

Very informative and sobering. It would help if all rangers in Yellowstone were first people.

[Ianpact]

Thank you, Wes Martel, Valerie Grussing, and Laura.

[pamstubbs]

I absolutely think they should be in charge of Yellowstone..They would stop the tourists visiting there from not respecting the wildlife there...

[Growingwiser]

Absolutely not! 2000 year old Sequoia trees are falling over because of good intentioned conservationists. The removal of smaller trees from around these monsters has caused the wind to basically blow these trees down and the lack of other trees essentially turns the surrounding dirt into quicksand because there’s no other vegetation to suck up the excess water.
Also, in California, you have unmanageable fires because we’re quick to put out fires immediately after perhaps a lightning strike. This allows brush to grow much thicker than otherwise left alone causing a much larger uncontrollable wild fire.
Those were just two examples though there are so many more examples of where human intervention has caused more problems.