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The National Park Service has partnered with a tourism association to ensure cultures, traditions and contributions from Native Americans are thoroughly incorporated into programming and exhibits at national parks across the United States, the Associated Press reported.
The Park Service said it highlights the history of Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Native Americans throughout the year, and a new five-year agreement with the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association will further expand opportunities for recognition, officials said.
According to the park service, visitors increasingly want more authentic opportunities and experiences to engage with the tribal communities and their history and to support Native-owned businesses.
Sherry Rupert, chief executive of the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based tourism association, said previous partnerships have boosted awareness of tribes nearby and the recognition they have received. The tourism association also plans to host virtual and in-person forums for the park service to hear from tribes on how to go forward.
"Native American tribes have ancestral connections to public lands that pre-date the formation of the National Park Service by millennia. These wholly unique perspectives can serve as the foundation for one-of-a-kind cultural content for National Park Service sites," Rupert said in a news release Wednesday.
Upcoming projects will seek to imitate other parks' recognition of Tribal cultures, such as translating maps, noting attractions along trails and more.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
Rupert pointed to the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail, which stretches 1,200 miles from Nogales, Arizona, to northern California. A guidebook has tribal attractions on or near the trail, and a map translates locations into Native languages.
A similar project is in the works at Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail that runs 4,900 miles through 16 U.S. states, from Pennsylvania to Oregon, Rupert said.
In Arizona, 11 tribes associated with the Grand Canyon partnered with the park service to create an inter-tribal cultural heritage site at a historic watchtower at the national park.
Park Service Deputy Director Shawn Benge said the tourism association's past work demonstrates its understanding of the historic connections tribes have to park sites.
The agency oversees more than 131,000 square miles (339,288 square kilometers) of parks, monuments, battlefields and other landmarks. It employs about 20,000 people in permanent, temporary and seasonal jobs, according to its website.
President Joe Biden has nominated Charles F. "Chuck" Sams III to head the park service. If confirmed by the Senate, Sams would be the first Native American to hold the position. He is Cayuse and Walla Walla and a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon.
