The United States are a government construct that exists atop indigenous nations that predate it by thousands of years. The National Park System is built atop federal lands of the U.S. that were taken by force from tribal nations in the European colonization of the North American continent.

There is no way to reconcile the atrocities indigenous peoples suffered at the hands of the U.S. military, nor the betrayals by the U.S. government. Yet indigenous survivors endure.

There continues to be a long journey ahead. Today, the NPS does increasingly collaborate with indigenous nations in actions that acknowledge the unconscionable violence visited upon them, the sovereignty, the cultural history, and the proven techniques of sustainable environmental care that define indigenous nations’ heritage.