Tribal members still visit certain sites, and some traditional uses persist in these parks. Simultaneously, park management has proven incompatible with some traditional uses, and past park managers have been, at most, vaguely aware of the enduring significance and use of Crater Lake and Lava Beds to tribal members. Consequently, the NPS had not addressed the concerns of this constituency in any consistent or systematic way. The agency lacked ethnographic information on both park units specifically and on traditional land uses generally. Although park officials knew the identity of associated tribes, they had not developed ongoing collaborative interactions or formal consultation procedures with the federally recognized Klamath Tribes.
Since managers at both parks needed to consult with the same tribal government, there was a compelling case for a traditional use study uniting both ends of the Klamath Basin. Recognizing the wide range of cross-cultural issues facing these two parks, Fred York (cultural anthropologist for the NPS Columbia-Cascades Cluster) and Steve Mark developed a scope of work for a traditional use study of both parks. Unlike a more conventional ethnographic overview and assessment that draws from existing materials, York and Mark proposed a study that would additionally seek tribal input on, and provide an analysis of, future resource interpretation and management. As such, the Crater Lake/Lava Beds Traditional Use Study represents an innovative effort to bridge certain enduring divides—cultural, historical, administrative—between the NPS and local tribes. The contract was awarded to Douglas Deur, a researcher specializing in traditional land use and cultural geography who has collaborative research experience with Pacific Northwest tribes. The Klamath Tribes then hired tribal member Orin “Buzz” Kirk to serve as research liaison, with NPS allocated funding.
The study now seeks to identify and locate culturally significant sites and landscape features. Further, by interviewing tribal members, and looking for recurring narrative themes, this study has identified many perceptions of the land that appear to be shared and intersubjective. By emphasizing the geographic dimensions of traditional land use, in lieu of conventional ethnographic information, the study has already identified a wealth of previously unrecorded information about both parks. Contextualized within a broader discussion of resource use patterns and sacred geographies, such “data” provides a valuable tool for NPS managers. The study methodology was designed not merely to gather information, but also to be of mutual benefit and to develop a lasting dialogue between the NPS and local tribes. To that end, the NPS agreed to permanently archive tape recordings, notes, and other project materials with the Klamath Tribes, so that consultants’ families might continue to access these materials in the future.
