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In his recent essay in The Atlantic, Obijwe tribal member David Treuer proposes returning ownership of America’s national parks to descendants of the Indigenous peoples who inhabited those lands prior to the arrival of white Europeans in North America.
If ever there was a scary-brilliant idea, Treuer’s is it.
Treuer’s proposal is scary because change is, well, scary.
His idea is brilliant because it offers a simple, straightforward way to honor America’s original stewards by returning the most magnificent and iconic portions of the American landscape to their descendants.
Yosemite National Park, California Associated Press
Treuer proposes turning over ownership of national park lands to modern tribes while leaving oversight of the parks by the National Park Service unchange
Making Bears Ears whole: The big swap with Utah state lands durangoherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from durangoherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In recent years, some Colorado cities and colleges have publicly recognized the land they are on as the traditional and ancestral homelands of Indigenous nations and peoples. These are known as land acknowledgment statements. A new class at Colorado State University is using them to help examine the reconciliation work that still needs to be done.
Culturally Significant Plant Species of the Pueblo Peoples
The latest study focused on artifact-rich locations that had at one time been occupied by the Pueblo peoples of the Colorado Plateau, including the Hopi, Zuni, Utes, and the Navajo (Diné).
The scientists were primarily interested in searching for culturally significant Pueblo peoples’ plant species that grow in the area. Puebloan populations in the region were at their peak 1,000 years ago, and these species would have been used back then and in later years for food, medicine, and ceremonial or religious purposes.
In total, the researchers identified and collected samples from more than 117 species of plant they knew had some significance to ancient and modern indigenous residents related to the Pueblo peoples. All of these species were found in the vicinity of various Puebloan archaeological sites , and other locations in the area were checked to see if the same types of plants could be found outside those sites.