Do Native Americans still live in Yellowstone?

Many tribes passed in and out of Yellowstone on a seasonal basis. However, some of the Tukudika, or Sheepeaters, named for the bighorn sheep whose migrations they closely followed, stayed through the winter and are thus considered Yellowstone's only known permanent residents.



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— There are 27 listed tribes who have historic connections to the lands and resources now found within Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Many think of YNP as an untouched wilderness, but human occupation in YNP goes back 11,000 years ago and includes an important history of indigenous peoples.

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1896 Supreme Court case Ward v. Race Horse decided that the legislation that had established Yellowstone as a national park was the legal foundation for efforts to keep Indians off public land.

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The Crow Indians called Yellowstone “land of the burning ground” or “land of vapors” while the Blackfeet called it “many smoke.” The Flatheads called it “smoke from the ground.” The Kiowas called it “the place of hot water.” Only the Bannocks had a name that did not call to mind the park's thermal regions: “buffalo ...

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Many tribes passed in and out of Yellowstone on a seasonal basis. However, some of the Tukudika, or Sheepeaters, named for the bighorn sheep whose migrations they closely followed, stayed through the winter and are thus considered Yellowstone's only known permanent residents.

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One of those girls is played by Aminah Nieves, an indigenous actress who landed the very important role of Teonna Rainwater — a veritable prisoner of the Catholics (and ancestor of Gil Birmingham's Thomas Rainwater, who we eventually meet in Yellowstone) who can dish it out as much as she can take it.

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Yellowstone has 40 mountain peaks above 10,000 feet, and we know from Native American testimonies that they were important religious sites. People went there to pray and seek visions by fasting.

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Instead, the name was attributed as early as 1805 to Native Americans who were referring to yellow sandstones along the banks of the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana, several hundred miles downstream and northeast of the Park.

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The Yellowstone supervolcano last erupted about 640,000 years ago. A sleeping giant is nestled in the western part of the United States. Though it stirs occasionally, it has not risen from slumber in nearly 70,000 years.

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