What is now Glacier National Park in Montana was an important resource and spiritual area for the Salish-speaking Pend d’Oreille and Flathead, for the Kootenai, and for the Blackfoot. The visitor center at St. Mary entrance has a small Native American display. Salish and Pend d’Oreille Salish leader Sam Resurrection drew this map of the … Continued
Anshutz Exploration Corp., an energy exploration company that has been searching for oil and gas on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, has just announced that it would cease drilling and shut down the project. The company notified the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council of its decision on Monday. The Blackfeet Reservation’s western boundary forms the … Continued
Since there is going to be a meet up in Glacier Park in June, I thought it might be interesting to do a tour of the park from west to east along today’s traditional tourist trail, commenting on some of the Indian names and heritage along the way. As with many national parks, the names … Continued
In 1998, Congress, in its infinite wisdom, passed the National Park Service Concessions Management Improvement Act which was intended to open up the bidding process for national park concessions and make them more competitive. At the present time there are about 600 concession contracts at 120 national park units. While national parks are public … Continued
For centuries before the creation of the United States and the concept of a National Park Service, Indian people from several very different tribes utilized the plant, animal, geological, and spiritual resources of what is now Glacier National Park in Montana. The Blackfoot occupied the area east of the continental divide and the area west … Continued
Water is a living thing according to many Native American traditions. In some Anishinabe traditions, water symbolizes humility and provides the people with many important lessons regarding life, harmony, and healing. Water is often a part of Native American spiritual practices. I recently had the honor of escorting two Kossacks (oke and rfall) a … Continued
( – promoted by navajo) Glacier National Park was designated our nation’s 10th national park on May 11, 1910. Half of the new park was formed by the “mineral strip” which had been sold by the Blackfoot to the United States in 1895. The enabling legislation for the park, however, contained no reference to the … Continued
