The ancient Indigenous history of Yellowstone National Park is extensive, complex and profound, yet it remains a mystery to most of the world. A new collaborative nonprofit calledYellowstone Peoples has been formed to reboot and upgrade Yellowstone National Park’s Indigenous cultural engagement and interpretations. Here, the group’s founder, Dr. Shane Doyle (Apsáalooke), shines a light on the significance of this landscape to Native Peoples.
I started Yellowstone Peoples during the summer of 2024 with the mission to establish an annual Intertribal Tipi Village in Yellowstone Park and foster a supportive and interactive community of Tribal ambassadors, elders, and youth. The vision is to support working groups of three or more that include one Tribal ambassador, one Tribal elder, and one youth intern who will be provided with educational and professional mentorship through their participation in the Tipi Village.This type of historic and interactive gathering of Indigenous cultural representatives from throughout the Yellowstone region made its debut during Yellowstone’s 150th anniversary summer in 2022, and it was a great success by all measures. Beyond just the elegant beauty of the white lodges glimmering in the sun, the event proved to be educational, engaging and inspiring for the Yellowstone Park representatives, Tribal participants and Yellowstone guests from throughout the nation and across the globe.
When Yellowstone was created as the world’s first National Park in 1872, military and territorial authorities sought to attract early visitors by describing the place as empty of Native people, and thus a safe and secure landscape to explore and experience wonder.
That original narrative propaganda included stories about how Native people feared the geysers and other geothermal features, so they kept their distance and rarely, if ever, ventured into the heart of the steaming caldera. The convenient story of Yellowstone as an Indian-free zone was as much a sales-pitch to would-be tourists as it was a spin on the seasonal significance of the area by dozens of Tribal nations. Although it was true that very few Tribal communities spent the winter months within the boundaries of today’s Yellowstone Park, there were smaller bands of Sheep-eater Shoshone people who maintained communities and campsites within the zone year-round. More to the point, dozens of Tribal nations traveled annually, from near and far, to hunt, gather, trade, pray, and sight-see.
Along with ancient Tribal place names and stories, archaeological and genetic evidence indicates that Native people have been living in and around the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem for at least 12,600 years. Proof of this comes from the Anzick Clovis site, which is the oldest known burial in the Western Hemisphere, and it is located about a day’s walk from the Park’s northern entrance. A plethora of physical evidence also shows that Tribal communities utilized the 10,000 foot Beartooth Plateau as a high-altitude hunting zone during the summer months. Indeed, there were really no places in Yellowstone that Native people did not go or utilize in some way, shape or form.
Oral traditions from Tribal nations like the Apsáalooke (Crow) show that Yellowstone is filled with placenames that are associated with ceremonial sacred sites, hunting and gathering areas, trading and rendezvous zones, culturally consequential places of origin and mystery, essential resource spots like Obsidian Cliff and the thermal hot pots. Learning about these placenames and the remarkably colorful and rich stories behind their origins create a new level of understanding and appreciation for Yellowstone visitors because this beautiful cultural history humanizes both the people and the place. The stories and the people teach us that Yellowstone has always been a place of magic and mystery, and will always be a sacred place of healing and inspiration to those who hold it in their heart.
Over the past 152 years, Yellowstone National Park has become a global icon as one of America’s most beloved destinations as well as one of the world’s most treasured and admired public landscapes. Still, Yellowstone can be much greater than just a famous tourist destination, and a wild island-in-the-sky homeland to species like bison and wolves. Yellowstone is far more than just geysers, hot pools, and the world’s first National Park; Yellowstone is an ancient cultural nexus zone for Tribal nations like the Shoshone, Bannock, Nez Perce, Kootenai, Salish, Blackfeet, Cree, Apsáalooke, Cheyenne, and others. Native people and their amazing relationship with Yellowstone Park has been hidden for long enough – it’s time to bring that ancient connection back into the lives of contemporary Native youth and into the public venue. Through cultural exchange and education, the Yellowstone Peoples Tipi Village seeks to empower and enlighten Native youth, as well as transform, enrich and inspire the experience of every Park visitor.
It has been said that National Parks are America’s best idea, and this is no doubt one of our nation’s greatest legacies. Yet even the best ideas can sometimes be improved upon, and with time and care, can grow into something much greater and more significant than had ever been expected. Yellowstone Park is getting better all the time, and like the nation that birthed it, it will be at its best and most resilient when it is most whole and most healed.
