Yellowstone Becomes a National Park
The 1872 designation created a new conservation model while displacing Indigenous people.
In 1872, the United States established Yellowstone as a national park, often described as the world's first national park. The designation limited certain forms of private exploitation and helped create a model for government-managed conservation.
The landscape was not pristine wilderness without people: Indigenous nations had longstanding relationships with the region and were excluded or displaced as federal control expanded. Conservation policy protected some ecosystems while reflecting colonial power and tourism interests.
Without the park designation, mining, settlement, or other commercial uses might have expanded, though other protections or ownership arrangements were possible. It is not possible to know that privatization would have destroyed the entire ecosystem.
Conservation choices reveal who is allowed to live in, use, and define a protected place. Ecological protection and justice for Indigenous communities must be considered together rather than treated as opposing concerns.
Ecological protection and justice for Indigenous communities must be considered together rather than treated as opposing concerns.
When I call a place untouched nature, whose history and relationship with that land am I erasing?