Tribal presence acknowledged at Craters of the Moon
LCPD's Original Territories Historical Researcher Nolan Brown with Craters of the Moon officials at new sign dedicated at the Devils Orchard Interpretive Wayside on September 20.
By LORI ANN EDMO
Sho-Ban News
CRATERS OF THE MOON — The National Park Service and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes dedicated the Devils Orchard Interpretive Wayside signs at the Craters of the Moon September 20 to acknowledge the Tribes presence in the area.
National Park Service representatives Wade Vagias and Kurt Akeda welcomed everyone to the dedication after participants cedared themselves and Doyle Punkin, Shoshone-Bannock elder did the prayer.
Fort Hall Business Council member Devon Boyer talked about the significance of the area where plant medicines are found, along with where the four-leggeds travel through such as deer, antelope and elk. He thanked all the folks who put the event together that work here making things possible for everyone, tourists as well, the information given. He said Craters of the Moon has a lot of stories attached to it. He wanted to make sure the Park Service knows his personal thank you for making sure the area is pristine as it is – good job. He also thanked the Culture team for assuring they put their efforts into being present – working with the National Park Service.
Wade Vagias, Craters of the Moon (COM), Hagerman Fossils Beds and Minidoka National Historic Site superintendent, said the conversation to do a wayside trail started six years ago with Nolan Brown and Derek No Sun Brown, through the lens of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes to better tell the Tribes story on the landscape. They’re telling a more inclusive story – it’s the centennial of the Craters of the Moon and the NPS has stewarded the landscape of the Tribes homelands.
A trail way at Craters of the Moon shows the unique landscape.
He said every year they get about a quarter million visitors to the park noting if the visitation continues to remain steady, they look forward to the future assuming millions of others will get to experience this story through your lens. “That makes me really proud today and really thankful for what we’ve accomplished.” He’s grateful for the partnership with Nolan and Bailey Dann, along with many others. “I feel like we worked really closely with you all.” He also thanked his staff for their hard work.
Brown, LCPD Office of Original Territories and Historical Research manager, explained, along with his colleague Bailey Dann, they work closely with tribal elders, tribal council, the tribal culture committee and the LCPD staff to bring important knowledge to the public so they understand who we are, where they are when they come here. “And we're just very proud and fortunate to have these opportunities to bring these opportunities to the park service, the public and our tribal membership,” he said, “because we, as much as we have a connection here with our homelands, it's also important for everyone else to have that same connection because we all live here together.” “You know, we all exist together - we're all interrelated, interdependent.”
Brown noted in some places where they’ve worked there was only a mention of Native peoples not even by name for example at Hagerman the signs were in the context of manifest destiny – that idea that Native peoples were destined to be wiped out and another civilization out there to replace us. “And that’s not the case – we’re still here. We still have all these strong connections to our homelands, to each other, to our language. I'm so very fortunate that we're able to hear and use our language here today, and that it echoes off these rocks, and off these trees, and off everything else.”
RoseAnn Abrahamson said historically, the stewards of COM were the Agaideka people – the salmon eaters – publicly known as Sacajawea’s people. “Scientists have talked about native people and their stories and how it aligned with geological events. Yes, we have stories that align with geological events. This place here was said that long time ago there was a tokoa. tokoa among our people is a reptile,” she said. It laid in the channels of the Snake River until it decided to move and curled itself around a small mountain. The weather changed a thunderstorm came and it was lightning. There was thunder, it was crackling, it woke him up and made him angry. It kept flashing and thundering. Tokoa coils started to tighten around that mountain. He started squeezing and squeezing until molten rock came from underneath the ground. “And the old people said that it caused this place that you see here today – Craters of the Moon.” He crawled away near what is called the Lemhi Valley near a peak called Womuta.
She told those in attendance they’re sitting in a sacred place as the rocks are used for sweat lodge ceremonies where tribal people connect, reconnect and rebirth.
Following Abrahamson, Susan Avila Dixey sang a song about the antelope because the area is referred to as Tennambo'i – antelope’s trail.
FHBC member Devon Boyer speaks.
Bailey Dann, who also works with the Tribes LCPD Original Territories and Historical Research Program, said the COM collaborative project is for everybody to begin to learn and understand “that our story extends beyond millennia. We extend, you know, our presence, our people have always been here, and we will always be here. “And so, I want to really emphasize that because our story is not in history books, this collaborative project with the National Park Service and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes is really a powerful, a powerful way that we can reclaim our story. And share it with the world in a way that's appropriate and from our perspective.”
Susan Avila Dixey looks at a sign.
Her message for the youth is they are the future leaders – you are our future Treaty protectors, “the project that we see, the signs that you'll see on the lands today, I want it to remind you of who you are and where you come from, who you come from,” she continued. “This is the place where the rattlesnake melted the land. It's the place where the antelope's path begins, where they showed us the way home. And this, it is our hope that this is where your path begins, too. This will be a path to remembering and building a relationship with our land, plant and animal relatives.”
“We're walking with purpose and intention and we're making those relations,” Dann said. “So, I want you to remember that and that path that you walk, know that that leads you to someday passing down our story. Once you know the story, and when elders share that with you, it is now your responsibility to pass that down.” It’s their responsibility, “This is the story of our people, your ancestors. And it's your responsibility to carry that on to your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren so that this path that you walk, the stories that you pass down, will survive for thousands of more years. Because they've already survived for thousands of years. Despite all that has happened to us, it's still here.”
Tokoa Shoshone story sign.
Afterward the attendees went up to the trail to view the eight signs along the trail after Park Service and Language & Culture Preservation Department staff cut the ribbon to the trail. Students from Blackfoot High School, Independence High School and Sho-Ban High School were present. Participants created art of the Craters of the Moon area to end the day.
