Blackfeet Indian Reservation

The Blackfeet Indian Reservation or Blackfeet Nation is an Indian reservation of the Blackfeet tribe in Montana in the United States. It is located east of Glacier National Park and borders Canada to the north. Cut Bank Creek and Birch Creek make up part of its eastern and southern borders. The reservation contains 1.5 million acres (6,070 km²), half again the size of the national park and almost the size of the state of Delaware. It is located in Glacier and Pondera Counties.

History

A large area of Northern Montana was set aside for Indian use by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. Part of this land was reclaimed by the U.S. in 1874. The Sweetgrass Hills Treaty of 1887 broke the Indian reserve into reservations for several separate tribes and established most of the modern reservation borders. In 1893, the Great Northern Railway was completed through the reservation starting the tourist economy and in 1896, the tribe sold off the western part of the reservation which later became part of Glacier National Park, although initially mining was attempted there.

The Blackfoot tribes were a traditional buffalo culture until the failure of the buffalo hunt in 1883 as a result of non-native overhunting. This led to the Starvation Winter when 600 natives died. The federal government tried to establish farms and cattle ranches to reduce hunger and settle the nomadic tribe; however, the area proved marginal for either use and the tribe never became agriculturally self-supporting.

Geography

Elevations in the reservation range from a low of 3,400 feet (1000 m²) to a high of 9066 feet (2763 m²) at Chief Mountain. The eastern part of the reservation is mostly open hills of grassland while a narrow strip along the western edge is covered by forests of fir and spruce. Free-ranging cattle are present in several areas, sometimes including on roadways.

Several waterways drain the area with the largest being the Saint Mary River, Two Medicine River, Milk River, Birch Creek and Cut Bank Creek. There are 175 miles (282 km) of streams and eight major lakes on the reservation.

Demographics

The population living on the reservation is 9000; 7500 out of the 15000 total enrolled Blackfeet members and 1500 others. The population density is less than 4 people per square mile (1.5 people/km²). The main community is Browning which is the seat of tribal government. Other towns serve the tourist economy along the edge of the park: St. Mary and East Glacier Park which has an Amtrak station and the historic Glacier Park Lodge. Small communities include Babb, Kiowa, Blackfoot, Seville, Heart Butte, Star School, and Glacier Homes. North American Indian Days is an annual festival held on pow wow grounds near the Museum of the Plains Indian in Browning.

Government

As on other American reservations, the tribe runs local government and provides most services including courts, child welfare, employment assistance, wildlife management, health care, education, land management, senior services as well as garbage collection and water systems. The native police were replaced by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs in 2003 because of problems in the local force.

The reservation includes several types of land use. Of the total 1,462,640 acres (5919 km²), 650,558 acres (2633 km²) are held in trust for enrolled tribal members, 311,324 acres (1260 km²) are held directly by the tribe, 8,292 acres (34 km²) are Government Reserve, mostly irrigation projects and the Cut Bank Boarding School Reserve. The remaining 529,826 acres (2144 km²) are Fee land which is taxable and may be privately owned by the tribe, tribe members or non-tribe members.

The tribe leases land for homes, farms, grazing, and commercial uses. Leases must always be offered to tribe members first before non-members. The tribe also has the right of first refusal; all private land offered for sale must be offered to the tribe first. If they decline to purchase it a waiver is granted.

Economy

Unemployment runs very high on the reservation. In 2001, the BIA reported 70% unemployment among registered members of the tribe.^* Among those who were employed that year, 26% earned less than the poverty guideline. The Blackfeet tribal business council is chaired by Earl Old Person, who has also been chief of the Blackfeet Nation since 1978.

The major income source of the reservation is oil and natural gas leases on the oil fields on tribal lands. In 1982, there were 643 producing oil wells and 47 producing gas wells. The reservation also has a significant tourist industry. Other economic activities include ranching and a small timber industry which supports a pencil factory in Browning.^*

There are no paved north-south roads in Glacier National Park, access to sites on the east side of the park is provided by US 89 which runs through the reservation to the Canadian border crossing near Chief Mountain which provides access to the Canadian sister park, Waterton Lakes National Park. Both east-west routes for the park travel through the reservation as does passenger train service. Several hiking trails continue out of the park across the reservation and require Blackfeet-issued permits.

Farms located at least partially on the reservation reported a total income of $9 million in 2002. A total of 354 farms covered 1,291,180 acres (5225 km²), the majority of the reservation's land. Most of these farms were family-owned including the 198 farms which were owned by Native Americans. Eighty percent of the land was used for raising beef cattle, which also produced eighty percent of farm income. Other livestock included hogs, and chickens with only small numbers of milk cows, bison, horses, and sheep. Of 245,530 acres (994 km²) used for growing crops, only 32,158 acres (130 km²), 13% were irrigated. Crops raised included wheat, barley, and hay with a smaller amount of oats.^* Wildfire firefighting is a major seasonal income source. In 2000, some 1,000 Blackfeet worked as firefighters including the elite Chief Mountain Hotshots team. Firefighting income brought in $6.1 million that year. However this income is highly variable depending on the severity of the wildfire season.

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