Title
WCS Working Paper No. 44 - Vital Lands, Sacred Lands: Innovative Conservation of Wildlife and Cultural Values Badger-Two Medicine Area, Montana
Author(s)
John L. Weaver
Published
2015
Abstract
The Badger-Two Medicine (B2M) area lies at the northern end of the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana, where the Great Plains first meets the dramatic uplift of the Rocky Mountains. Once part of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, the B2M is now part of the Lewis and Clark National Forest. It is encircled by majestic Glacier National Park on the northwest; the foothills and prairies of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation to the north and east, and the rugged Bob Marshall and Great Bear Wilderness Areas on the south. Over the past century, successive generations of citizens and government leaders have worked hard to protect these treasured landscapes of Montana. Their collective achievements constitute a great gift … but, one important piece remains missing in this remarkable legacy: the Badger-Two Medicine.
The Badger-Two Medicine is vital land for several vulnerable species of fish and wildlife that have been vanquished from much of their historical range, and it is sacred land for the Blackfeet people who have hunting, fishing, and other rights they reserved in an agreement with the United States in 1895-96.
From a strong base of affirmed treaty rights and cultural identity, tribes are reaching for more meaningful participation in the stewardship of traditional areas on public lands. Over the years, the Forest Service has built up considerable management capacity and resource expertise. More recently, the agency has developed new and progressive policies that recognized the tenets of tribal rights and seeks constructive relations.
Earlier political efforts in the 1980s and 1990s to safeguard the Badger-Two Medicine area through Wilderness designation by Congress did not succeed. But could there be a new and different path? The pursuit of conservation around the world indicates that sometimes new information or understanding … a new kind of protective designation or management framework … new leadership … can break open a ‘log-jam’ in controversy and divisiveness and trigger a dramatic shift in relationships between people and governments of diverse interests. Such new currents can re-freshen the dialogue, re-configure alliances and brighten prospects for conservation of important values and places.
It is essential for us to have some mutual understanding of this place and context - ecological, cultural, and legal. In this report, I bring together much new information about these dimensions. I suggest a co-stewardship framework and different options for protecting the outstanding natural and cultural values of the Badger-Two Medicine in a way that encompasses diverse perspectives in a common purpose. It is my hope that this report will provide useful background and context for the Blackfeet Tribe, the Lewis and Clark National Forest, and others as they consider the future of the Badger-Two Medicine.
May they bring their best to the circle of co-stewardship.
Keywords
indigenous land
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