Missing voices at the birthday party: When parklands are Native lands

The National Park Service turns one hundred on August 25, 2016, and our government is marking the occasion in numerous ways, from a new Postal Service commemorative stamp set featuring national parks to President Obama’s family trip earlier this summer to the Carlsbad Caverns and Yosemite.

Much has been made of the seminal efforts of early visionaries like naturalist John Muir, President Theodore Roosevelt, and Stephen Mather, the first director of the park service. But as we praise the pivotal achievements of these conservation pioneers, it is equally important to remember that some of our treasured parks, wildlife refuges, and monuments have been home, and sacred places, to Native peoples for thousands of years. In fact, many of our parklands are Native lands.

In some cases, early conservationists advocated for turning Native lands into national monuments or parks as a form of protection (ironically, Native peoples for centuries managed their own lands with an eye towards the delicate balance between use and conservation of natural resources). This appears to have been the inspiration of Californian Ansel Hall of the National Park Service, who in the 1930s organized the Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley Expedition, comprised of an intrepid group of archaeologists, ethnologists, scientists, artists, filmmakers, Native American guides, and others. For six years this diverse coalition that included scholars, federal agencies, the local Kayenta Trading Post, Navajo packers, and representatives from sponsor Ford Motor Company researched the land, wildlife, and peoples of a remarkable expanse in southern Utah and northern Arizona.

Within the 3,000 square miles surveyed by the expedition are Pueblo cave sites Betatakin and Keet Seel, which had already been designated national monuments. Also nestled in this majestic landscape is Rainbow Bridge on the edge of Lake Powell, the largest natural bridge in the world at 290 feet tall and 270 feet across. Rainbow Bridge—which was named a national monument in 1910—has been known since ancient times to Native peoples and is a traditional and significant place for five local tribes: the Navajo, Hopi, San Juan Southern Paiute, Kaibab Paiute, and White Mesa Ute. It symbolizes the deities responsible for creating clouds, rainbows, and rain—the very essence of life in the desert. Today as in the past, members of neighboring tribes use Rainbow Bridge as a ceremonial area, leaving offerings near and under its impressive span.

Until the formation of the Lake Powell reservoir in the mid-60s, the bridge was one of the most remote and inaccessible regions in the United States. Today, trails through the Navajo Reservation usher in a small number of hikers (who must obtain permits from the Navajo Nation). But in rainy years, Lake Powell’s rising waters bring sometimes-raucous pleasure boaters right to the base of Rainbow Bridge. The National Park Service cautions tourists to visit the site in a respectful manner, including avoiding walking or boating beneath it. But such policies are difficult to monitor, and some Navajo leaders would like to see Rainbow Bridge returned to Native hands.

On the other hand, other Native peoples see national monument designation as a strategic way to protect their ancestral lands. At present, a coalition of five tribal governments—Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute, and Uintah & Ouray Ute—has asked the Obama Administration to designate as a national monument Bears Ears, a rugged landscape of 1.9 million acres in southeastern Utah that contains more than 100,000 archaeological sites.

The non-profit organization Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley Expedition–Onward (RBMVE–Onward)—which is compiling and sharing with the public the tremendous breadth of material associated with the historic 1930’s expedition—is working with Native communities in addition to capitalizing on the power of technology to provide access of a different sort to protected places like Rainbow Bridge. RBMVE–Onward is assembling information about Native contributions to the expedition as well as traditional interpretations of geographic sites, objects, and stories tied to the region. With virtual landscape mapping, RBMVE–Onward’s online and other digital resources will serve as a model for allowing people to “visit” protected places that are remote or normally off-limits—and should remain so—and understand their significance over time and for different stakeholders, all without disturbing the land.

Since the founding of the National Park Service one hundred years ago, much has changed vis-à-vis appropriate and respectful ways to collaborate with Native communities. So as we celebrate the centennial of our parks service—and there is indeed much to celebrate—we must also integrate into the narratives and management of our parks and monuments the cultural landscape, history, and voices of Native peoples.

Elizabeth Burke Kahn

President
Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley Expedition–Onward

Santa Monica, California
June 30, 2016