Land Acknowledgments of the US National Parks

This is the Land Acknowledgments of the US National Parks.

Our National Parks have a long and storied human history. It doesn’t start in 1916 with the creation of the National Park Service. It doesn’t even start in 1872 when Yellowstone was declared the world’s first National Park. Our National Park’s human history starts somewhere between 33,000 and 10,000 years ago when the first Paleolithic hunter-gatherers crossed over the Beringia land bridge and started to explore the vast landscape of North America.

These early hunter-gatherers spread across the land and started to develop cultures and Nations with their own unique language, culture, and way of life. By the time the Europeans “discovered” North America, it was home to between 2 million and 18 million people who lives were fundamentally changed.

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Thank you to Native Land Digital

I’d like to say thank you to Native Land Digital. Without their research and interactive map, I would have probably never been able to compline this information.

Thank you to the Native Land Digital for making the ancestorial land claims accessible to all. Native Land Digital is a registered Canadian not-for-profit organization with the goal to creates spaces where non-Indigenous people can be invited and challenged to learn more about the lands they inhabit, the history of those lands, and how to actively be part of a better future going forward together.

National Park Obsessed made a donation to Native Land Digital because without their hard work, this post would have been nearly impossible to produce.

Why are Land Acknowledgments Important?

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Map of the Land Acknowledgments of the US National Parks

Land Acknowledgments By National Park National Parks

Acadia – Abenaki / Abénaquis, Penobscot, and Wabanaki Confederacy land

Arches – Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) land

American Samoa – Unlike other National Park units, the National Park of American Samoa is not owned by the National Park Service. NPS currently has a 50-year lease on the land that makes up the National Park of American Samoa this is due to the communal land ownership system in American Samoa.

Badlands – Cheyenne, Mnicoujou, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, and Oohenumpa land

Big Bend – Jumanos, Coahuiltecan, Mescalero Apache, Chiso, and Pescado land

Biscayne – Seminole, Matecumbe, Taino, Tequesta land

Black Canyon of the Gunnison – Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) land

Bryce Canyon – Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), Southern Paiute and Pueblos land

Canyonlands – Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) and Pueblos land

Capitol Reef – Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), Southern Paiute and Pueblos land

Carlsbad Caverns – Mescalero Apache land

Channel Islands – Chumash, ‘Anyapax, Michumash, Limuw, Wi’ma, Tuqan, Tongva, Payómkawichum (Luiseño), and Kizh land

Congaree – Santee, ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Cherokee, East), Wateree, and Congaree land

Crater Lake – Takelma, Klamath, Cow Creek Umpqua, and Molalla land

Cuyahoga Valley – Eroe and Mississauga land

Death Valley – Northern Paiute, Newe (Western Shoshone), Kawaiisu, Southern Paiute land

Denali – Upper Kuskokwim, Koyukon, Dënéndeh, Dena’ina Ełnena, Ahtna Nenn’, and Tanana

Dry Tortugas – Seminole land

Everglades – Seminole, Calusa, Miccosukee, Taino, and Tequesta land

Gates of the Arctic – Inupiat, Dënéndeh, Gwich’in Nành, Kuuvuan KaNianiq, Koyukon land

Gateway Arch – Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo), ?????? ???? ???? ??^??^(Osage), Myaamia, and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land

Glacier – Niitsítpiis-stahkoii ᖹᐟᒧᐧᐨᑯᐧ ᓴᐦᖾᐟ (Blackfoot / Niitsítapi ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ) and Ktunaxa ɁamakɁis

Glacier Bay – Michif Piyii (Métis), Lingít Aaní (Tlingit), Dënéndeh land

Grand Canyon – Southern Paiute, Hopi, Havasupai, and Pueblos land

Grand Teton – Shoshone-Bannock, Apsaalooké (Crow), Eastern Shoshone, and Cheyenne land

Great Basin – Goshute land

Great Sand Dunes – Jicarilla Apache, Cheyenne, Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) land

Great Smoky Mountains – S’atsoyaha (Yuchi) and ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Cherokee, East) land

Guadalupe Mountains – Mescalero Apache land

Haleakala – Kanaka ʻŌiwi land

Hawaii Volcanoes – Kanaka ʻŌiwi land

Hot Springs – ?????? ???? ???? ??^??^(Osage) and Caddo land

Indiana Dunes – Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo), Peoria, Bodéwadmiakiwen (Potawatomi), Myaamia, and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land

Isle Royale – Michif Piyii (Métis) and Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ land

Joshua Tree – Yuhaviatam/Maarenga’yam (Serrano), Southern Paiute, Cocopah (Xawiƚƚ kwñchawaay), Cahuilla, Newe (Western Shoshone), and Chemehuevi land

Katmai – Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) and Yup’ik/Cup’ik land

Kenai Fjords – Alutiiq (Sugpiaq), Dënéndeh, and Dena’ina Ełnena land

Kings Canyon – Northern Paiute, Eastern Mono/Monache, and Western Mono/Monache

Kobuk Valley – Inupiat land

Lake Clark – Dënéndeh, and Dena’ina Ełnena land

Lassen Volcanic – Atsugewi, Mountain Maidu, and Yana land

Mammoth Cave – ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Cherokee, East), Shawandasse Tula (Shawanwaki/Shawnee), S’atsoyaha (Yuchi), Adena, ?????? ???? ???? ??^??^(Osage) land

Mesa Verde – Pueblos and Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) land

Mount Rainier – Cowlitz, Nisqually, Coast Salish, Puyallup land

New River Gorge – Moneton, Tutelo, S’atsoyaha (Yuchi), ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Cherokee, East) land

North Cascades – Nłeʔkepmx Tmíxʷ (Nlaka’pamux), Coast Salish, Skagit, Nuxwsa’7aq (Nooksack), Nłeʔkepmx Tmíxʷ (Nlaka’pamux), and Syilx tmixʷ (Okanagan) land

Olympic – Coast Salish, S’Klallam, Quinault, ChalAt’i’lo t’sikAti (Chalat’), and Quileute land

Petrified Forest – Hopi, Zuni (territory), Pueblos, and Western Apache land

Pinnacles – Popeloutchom (Amah Mutsun), Ohlone, and Chalon land

Redwoods – Yurok and Tolowa Dee-ni’ land

Rocky Mountain – Eastern Shoshone, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) land

Saguaro – O’odham, Tohono O’odham (Papago), Sobaipuri, and Hohokam land

Sequoia – Tübatulabal, Eastern Mono/Monache, and Western Mono/Monache land

Shenandoah – Monacan and Manahoac land

Theodore Roosevelt – Hunkpapa, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara, Michif Piyii (Métis), Assiniboine, Cheyenne, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land

Virgin Islands – Kalinago (Island Carib) and Taino land

Voyageurs – Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land

White Sands – Mescalero Apache and Tampachoa (Mansos) land

Wind Cave – Cheyenne and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land

Wrangell – St. Elias – Dënéndeh, Ahtna Nenn’, Eyak, Upper Tanana, and Lingít Aaní (Tlingit) land

Yellowstone – Shoshone-Bannock, Apsaalooké (Crow), Eastern Shoshone, and Cheyenne land

Yosemite – Northern Paiute, Western Mono/Monache, Me-Wuk (Southern Sierra Miwok), and Me-Wuk (Central Sierra Miwok) land

Zion – Southern Paiute and Pueblos land

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