Glacier National Park, a place often celebrated for its natural scenery, offers an equally diverse and rich cultural landscape.

In this episode of Headwaters, food offers an introduction to the area’s Indigenous communities. We also explore the longest-running Indigenous speaker series in the National Park Service.

Featuring: Darnell Rides At The Door, Vernon Finley, Mariah Gladstone, Rose Bear Don’t Walk, Tony Incashola Sr., and Kelly Lynch.

For more info, visit: go.nps.gov/headwaters

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TRANSCRIPT:

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

COOKIES INTRODUCTION

Michael: This is Michael. [music starts] I am currently in my kitchen in West Glacier, because while I am not the most accomplished baker, I learned an interesting cookie recipe that I wanted to make for Andrew before recording tomorrow.

Michael: [kitchen] I don't know how much I need to add, but let's start with that.

Michael: Again, not the best baker, so I hope they turn out all right. But we'll see.

Michael: [kitchen] Into the oven they go [tray sliding into oven, timers going off]. Well, I think that's as good as I could have hoped for. I hope he likes them!

Michael: Hey Andrew, before we started out today, I have a surprise.

Andrew: Oh? Yeah, what is it?

Michael: Well, I made some cookies last night and I was wondering if you'd want to try some.

Andrew: Oh, for sure! Yeah. Hand me one of those.

Michael: Here you go.

Andrew: Oh, is that huckleberry?

Michael: I had some frozen huckleberries leftover that I put on the top. What do you think?

Andrew: [stammering with mouthful, both laughing]. They're pretty good! Not as sweet as I was expecting, but a really nice, fresh flavor to them. What's the occasion?

Michael: While these cookies are simple to make and tasty, what interests me the most is that they're made using only ingredients indigenous to North and Central America.

Andrew: Oh really? That's, that's pretty cool.

Michael: Huckleberries, for instance, are native here. And as you know, have been eaten and used by people for thousands of years.

Andrew: Yeah. Lots of people too, Glacier National Park like America as a whole is a place where a ton of different cultures have converged.

Michael: In each episode, you'll hear us acknowledge some of those cultures, the ǔmssk̇ǎaṗiiṗiik̇ǔni, Kootenai, Selis, and Qlispe people.

Andrew: Because while Glacier National Park has only been around since 1910, this area has long been and continues to be the traditional territory of these and other Tribes.

Michael: On the east side of the park, the Blackfeet Reservation is home to the ǔmssk̇ǎaṗiiṗiik̇ǔni South Piegan. Also known as the Blackfeet.

Andrew: On the west side of the park, the Flathead Reservation is managed by a Confederation of Tribes, the Kootenai, Selis, and Qlispe or Pend d’Oreille people.

Michael: And these Tribes aren't monolithic—like any other culture, they are diverse. And reservation boundaries fail to define the extent of their people today, or their place in a vibrant Indigenous community that stretches far beyond Montana.

Andrew: To date, throughout the United States, there are 637 federally and state recognized Tribes. Odds are, wherever you are right now is the traditional territory of one or probably several Indigenous groups. Yellowstone National Park, for example, has 26 associated Tribes.

Michael: And whether here or at home, learning about the people who came before you—whose connection to a place reaches beyond scholarly definitions of history itself—that could strengthen your understanding and appreciation of wherever you are.

Andrew: That's especially true here at Glacier. A place still visited and used by Native communities today.

Michael: But my question is what is the best way to start learning about another culture?

Andrew: Uhh. Let me think...

Michael: I'll give you a hint. It's not reading.

Andrew: Okay. Um...

Michael: [whispering] What did I bring in today?

Andrew: Cookies?

Michael: Yeah, well food.

Andrew: Okay. I like where you're heading.

Michael: So take as many of these cookies as you like.

Andrew: Don't mind if I do,

Michael: Because on my journey to learn this simple recipe, I learned a lot, lot more.

Michael: Welcome to Headwaters - a Glacier National Park Podcast. Brought to you by the Glacier National Park Conservancy, and produced on the traditional lands of many Native American Tribes, including the Blackfeet, Kootenai, Selis and Qlispe people.

Andrew: We’re calling this season: The Confluence, as we look at the ways that nature, culture, the present and the past all come together here.

Michael: I’m Michael.

Andrew: I’m Andrew.

Michael: And we’re both rangers here. We had the chance to cover loads of different topics in this season of the show.

Andrew: And throughout it all, we’ve tried to seek out Tribal perspectives on concepts like wildland fire, the night sky, climate change—

Michael: But in this episode, we met with Tribal members directly to learn more about their cultures. How they shaped the place as we know it now, and how it shaped them.

NATIVE FOODS AND CULTURE

Michael: To kick off this episode, I drove to Two Medicine, the southeast region of the park,

Michael: [in the car] Welcome to the Blackfeet Nation,

Michael: Which means driving through the Blackfeet Reservation who shares our eastern boundary. There are some opportunities for recreation on the reservation, including a section of the continental divide trail, but you'll need to grab a recreation permit from the Tribe first. If you're going to the park though, you'll pass through the gateway community of East Glacier.

Michael: [in the car] Here we are in East Glacier, head straight to make it to Browning or turn left, to get to Glacier National Park.

Michael: That left-hand turn takes you under the train tracks at the East Glacier train station. One of the first places early tourists, disembarked from.

Michael: [in the car] My favorite part—driving under the train tracks.

Michael: And a short drive later, you'll find yourself in Two Medicine.

Michael: [in the car] Man. The view never gets old.

Michael: When I got there, just past the entrance station, I stopped at the first real destination on the drive in: The Running Eagle Falls Trailhead.

Michael: [outside] ...alright, as you hike around this trail, you see the option to go to Running Eagle Falls itself or along a nature trail.

Michael: But before we go any farther, have you hiked the Running Eagle Falls Nature Trail?

Andrew: I've definitely been out to the waterfall. I don't know if I've walked the whole loop there. Why?

Michael: Well it's a short hike, just under a mile, and it's one of the few wheelchair accessible trails in the park. Now the waterfall view is stunning, but on the rest of the trail, you'll find illustrated signs that teach you how to identify native plants.

Michael: [outside] Black cottonwood can be recognized by the deep, rough, furrowed, gray bark on mature trees...

Michael: And they also teach you their traditional names and uses.

Michael: [outside] the wood is said to be ideal for TP fires, because it does not crackle and produces clean smoke. Huh?

Michael: I have one of them here. I just sent to you for thimbleberry, if you want to look at it.

Andrew: Sure. Okay. Oh, wow. This is a nice watercolor illustration here at thimbleberries one of the best berries in the park. I agree. I'm like a raspberry. Um, okay. This must be the Blackfeet name then, otohtoksinii.

Michael: Yeah. So there are seven different signs on that trail, all teaching you something about different native plants and foods. And, I said at the beginning, that food is the best way to start learning about other cultures. And I stand by that. I mean, we all need to eat. So you immediately have something in common with folks you may have never met before. You're pretty well-traveled. Do you agree with that take?

Andrew: Definitely. Yeah. You learn so much from, you know, having some yakitori in the stall of a Tokyo market, or sharing some fresh mango on the banks of the Mekong, it's—in many cases, it can be hard to know where to begin otherwise.

Michael: Yes, precisely, which is doubly true of the Tribes in and around Glacier, who have been here for a long time.

Darnell: [Speaking in Blackfeet] What I just said is: "hello, my name is lone camper and I am from the South Piegan. You know, it as Blackfeet, but we call ourselves the ǔmssk̇ǎaṗiiṗiik̇ǔni.

Michael: I met with a Blackfeet Tribal member whose English name is Darnell Rides At The Door, who told me about the history of the Blackfeet in this area.

Darnell: Well, we've been here since time immemorial. We have always been here is what we say as the niitsitapiiysinni, the real people, and creator gave us this, this area to take care of. And, um, we are very unique because we are as the Blackfeet, the Blackfoot Confederacy, we're the only inhabitants that are in the original territory that creator gave us.

Michael: Now Two Medicine where I went was an area primarily used by the Blackfeet, much like the rest of the east side of the park. But there are a lot of Tribes associated with the land that is today Glacier.

Andrew: Yeah. The Kootenai, for example, predominantly used to the area on the west side of the park. I've had the chance to learn some of their stories about Lake McDonald.

Michael: That's right. And a lot of these stories were shared with the public and the park by Tribal members like Vernon Finley.

Vernon: Uh, my name is Vernon Finley. I am a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes that are on the Flathead Reserva