{"id":48,"ordinal":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:33:18","content_modified":"2026-04-17 19:33:18","featured":0,"title":"US Wildlife Areas and American Indian Lands","creator":"Len Truelsen, Northern Arizona University","description":"<p>The United States federal government claims public ownership of vast amounts of land in the Intermountain West. As Americans became interested in preserving natural environments in the twentieth century, the nation set aside parts of this western land as national parks, wildlife refuges, wildlife management areas, and recreation areas. Americans often imagined they were preserving untamed, untouched wilderness and setting it aside, beyond human use.\r\n\r\nHowever, the land was not truly untouched or untamed. Indigenous peoples of the Americas had inhabited, traveled through, foraged from, and relied upon the natural landscape for generations, sometimes even thousands of years. While the United States made its own claims to the land—sometimes truly preserving the environment and sometimes exploiting the landscape for more destructive ends—tribal nations also expressed their land rights derived from heritage and treaties.\r\n\r\nThe following tour highlights tensions at five different federally designated sites in the Intermountain West. The history of various claims and uses speaks to how contested the territories are and to ongoing struggles over who truly controls the land.</p>","postscript_text":"","tour_img":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/74cfd8c703bc5ebd8b073c9827586909.jpg","items":[{"id":545,"title":"Desert National Wildlife Refuge and Competing Agendas in Nevada","latitude":36.43848198250015713028915342874825000762939453125,"longitude":-115.3586208016882181937035056762397289276123046875,"thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/74cfd8c703bc5ebd8b073c9827586909.jpg","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/74cfd8c703bc5ebd8b073c9827586909.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":"16001 Corn Creek Road, Las Vegas, NV 89124","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":546,"title":"Prairies, Pollution, & Coeur d’Alene River Wildlife Management Area","latitude":47.48248499999999694409780204296112060546875,"longitude":-116.73214600000000018553691916167736053466796875,"thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/9aec81bc49a356f757d3701f2832dada.jpg","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/9aec81bc49a356f757d3701f2832dada.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":547,"title":"Land Claims in Malheur National Wildlife Refuge","latitude":43.270124791215863524485030211508274078369140625,"longitude":-118.86901153110238738008774816989898681640625,"thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/c51a6682c39eab1642916d4143f1a27d.jpg","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/c51a6682c39eab1642916d4143f1a27d.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":"36391 Sodhouse Ln, Princeton, OR 97721","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":548,"title":"Conflict, the Crow, & Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area","latitude":44.8375196345337627690241788513958454132080078125,"longitude":-108.37666144454027516985661350190639495849609375,"thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/12b26f748b2756ade61e702354e7b22a.jpg","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/12b26f748b2756ade61e702354e7b22a.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":"20 U.S. 14, Lovell, WY 82431","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":549,"title":"Culture, Coulee, and the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge","latitude":46.90051862774777902131972950883209705352783203125,"longitude":-119.2291028933351668683826574124395847320556640625,"thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/0e3a173212c0e651de5a1cbf4b33e802.jpg","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/0e3a173212c0e651de5a1cbf4b33e802.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":"51 South Morgan Lake Road, Othello, WA, 99344","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}}]}