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Wind River Inter-Tribal Virtual Gathering
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Description
March 1, 2022, marks the 150th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park. This important milestone is reason to both reflect on the history of this special place and envision its future. Before the Yellowstone Park Protection Act was signed in 1872, the lands that became the world’s first national park were inhabited by a vast array of Indigenous peoples. Today, close to 50 Tribes have ancestral ties to the park.
To honor Indigenous ways of life practiced here long before 1872 and explore how we can work together to create a brighter future, the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes of the Wind River Reservation are gathering people online on March 1 to commemorate the park’s anniversary while elevating the Tribal community’s voice in conserving and managing Yellowstone. Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly will be a featured speaker.
This Inter-Tribal event will acknowledge the dark history associated with the creation of the park. Indian people were killed and forcibly removed from the area to create Yellowstone, and these actions were not celebrated by Indian people. What can be celebrated, however, is the fact that Indian people are still here despite the federal policy of assimilation in existence at that time. Indigenous people are fortunate to have retained their lodges, ceremonies, healers, and medicines. And most importantly, their connection to Yellowstone National Park has continued to thrive.
Now is a critically important time to gather all 49 Tribes, and others, to drive the message home that Indigenous People are still here. Their cultural attachment to their homelands in and around Yellowstone must be honored and understood, and we must build consensus toward a future that includes more Tribal input and participation as it relates to Yellowstone National Park and America’s public lands.
The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Nations would like to welcome all Tribes and people who want to come together and make a difference for this land now and in the future.
View the agenda and register to attend this free, virtual event: https://greateryellowstone.org/events/2022/marchgathering
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