Craters of the Moon gets new interpretive waysides
ARCO, Idaho (KIFI) - The National Park Service and Shoshone-Bannock Tribes held a special event and ceremony on Friday to dedicate Craters of the Moon Trail interpretive waysides.
The Devil's Orchard Nature Trail's new interpretive waysides share the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ story and perspective.
Craters of the Moon is located in the ancestral lands of the Shoshone and Bannock peoples, who still have a strong connection to the area.
“It's important for us that the bands and the peoples who still have a connection to our homelands are recognized, and that their knowledge and their history is shared with the general public,” said Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Original Territories and Research Program Manager, Nolan Brown.
The new interpretive waysides replaced the old ones Craters of the Moon used to have. Those signs didn't mention tribal peoples at all, let alone the Shoshone and Bannock Tribes.
"We wanted to do so in partnership with the Shoshone-Bannock tribes at Fort Hall. And we specifically wanted to redo that trail in such a way that it told the story of the animals and the plants and the weather and the creation of the landscape through their lens, not the lens of the National Park Service," said Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve Superintendent, Wade Vagias.
"Now we have this wonderful series of interpretation that discuss our traditional place names for the area and at least two, stories from our oral tradition, our oral history," Brown continued.
The signs also incorporate aspects of shoshone-bannock tribal history, culture, and language, as well as challenge visitors to consider the difficulties of protecting the fragile environment.
