Initiative aims to fund sacred site education

The Lakota People’s Law Project is asking visitors to national parks to donate money to help fund tribal education programs focused on sacred sites

Summer is the peak season to visit the splendor of America’s National Parks, to see geysers, buffalo, wolves, elk, lakes, waterfalls and mountains. These wild, untouched areas hold awe-inspiring geological and spiritual places.

But often the history of those who originally inhabited these lands gets the short end of the walking stick at visitors centers from the 325 million travelers who visit annually.

A new program, the Sacred Defense National Parks and Monuments Initiative, has been established by the Lakota People’s Law Project (Lakota Law), which has worked with Indigenous communities and leaders toward Native and environmental justice. The Lakota flourished for centuries before Europeans arrived, and the Native tradition of living in relation to all things is more important today than ever. 

“Everywhere in this great, beautiful country of ours that you find a national park or a national monument, you’re going to find Indigenous sacred sites,” said Chase Iron Eyes, director of Lakota People’s Law Project.

Iron Eyes said he wants tribes to tell visitors tribes’ stories about sacred sites. He doesn’t want people to just read a page at the visitors center.

“We also want to let you know that this place is significant to us and has been for untold millennia,” he said. “We want to share the stories of these places with depth and substance.”

He asked for visitors to sites considered sacred to tribes to contribute voluntary fees that would allow tribes to better tell their own stories.

”We can begin to increase our agency and our reputation in America’s national parks and national monuments,” he said.

U.S. national parks and monuments are important as they preserve essential, sensitive ecosystems and make them accessible to all. They support hundreds of thousands of jobs and contribute a reported $50 billion to the economy.

Yellowstone National Park was the first national park to be established in 1872. The creation of national parks reflected contemporary intellectual, social and economic changes and a growing appreciation for wilderness and wildlife, a strong desire to escape increasingly urban places resulting from industrialization, and the popularity of the automobile.

With increased awareness of nature’s fragility came the desire to preserve the most spectacular landscapes and significant historical and cultural sites for future generations. It also became a major refuge from the hunting of once endangered species, such as the buffalo and wolf.

Americans wanted to visit these places to experience their beauty firsthand. The parks were described as “pristine” by early tourists, who were told more about the geology and wildlife but were often unaware that Indigenous peoples had been stewarding the land and ecosystem all along.

By the time the modern conservation movement began in the late 1800s, Indigenous peoples were facing genocide by the government and pressure to give up their lands.

Those visiting national parks and monuments are being asked to make a voluntary donation to the tribes whose homelands they are visiting. The money goes to tribes participating in this program so they can better educate others about their sacred sites.

The program is starting with 14 national parks and monuments and will grow every year until each of this country’s national parks and every tribal nation associated with the land is included.

The parks in the program stretch from Wyoming to Hawaii.

The initial group includes:

Arches National Park in Utah

Bears Ears National Monument in Utah

Crater Lake National Park in Oregon

Death Valley National Park in California/Nevada

Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming

Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona

Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming

Haleakalā / Hawaii Volcanoes National Parks in Hawaii

Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado

White Sands National Park in New Mexico

Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota

Yellowstone National Park in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming

Yosemite National Park in California

Zion National Park in Utah

For those representing a tribal community that would like to benefit from this program, contact program leaders here.