Native Americans are at the heart of Yellowstone. After 150 years, they are finally being heard | James Hardcastle
America’s first national park inspired a global movement of ‘fortress conservation’, but we know today indigenous peoples are essential stewards of nature
• Read more: Yellowstone at 150: busier yet wilder than ever, says park’s ‘winterkeeper’
On 1 March 1872, the US president, Ulysses S Grant, enacted a federal protection for the Yellowstone landscape, creating America’s first national park and one of the first in the world. The decision affected thousands of people from at least 27 distinct Native American tribes. More than 10,000 years of history were erased from the narrative at the stroke of a pen.
Yet Yellowstone inspired a global national parks movement. Early parks were established to preserve “wilderness”, mostly by colonists grabbing land. The removal (or worse) of local people was not always an objective, but was too often a result. Despite many successes, protected area designations worldwide have notched up a catalogue of legacy issues.
