More than 300 million people visit national parks each year, and a new project is asking travelers to donate to tribes whose homes and sacred sites are covered by parks and monuments.

“In each and every one of these parks, Native peoples maintain a rich cultural relationship and cosmology,” says Chase Iron Eyes, an attorney and activist who leads the Lakota People’s Law Project, which launched the Sacred Defense National Parks & Monuments initiative this summer.

The aim is to compensate the tribes associated with the land, who in many cases were forcibly expelled from there.

“These places are very special and we feel like the American park system and the way people interact with the land is missing the indigenous aspect,” Iron Eyes said. “This is a way to connect directly with Americans.”

The initiative began with 14 parks and monuments, including Arches in Utah, Grand Teton in Wyoming and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. So far, $6,000 has been raised and the money will be distributed each year to tribes that sign up.

So far, the Sovereign Nation of Hawai’i, the Big Sandy Rancheria of the Western Mono Indians and the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe have received donations, among others. The money comes from visitors to Haleakalā National Park, Yosemite National Park and Death Valley National Park, respectively. Other tribal governments are considering signing up as beneficiaries.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration among Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) in Las Vegas, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations throughout the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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