Acknowledgements

The public lands in the United States have a dark and often violent history. The majority of permit programs identified by this study apply to wilderness areas. While today our society understands wilderness as a place void of humans, these lands were not always this way. In fact, wilderness often could only be established, based on its legal definition, if Native populations were first forcibly removed.

This study does not focus on federal tribal relations nor am I an expert on the subject, but the reality is that all land units in this study were once home to Native populations (see adjacent list). Throughout the thesis, I operate within a normative view of public lands because this allows me to best target what I have sought to do — to help visitor-limiting permit programs be as positive an experience as possible for the public, for the land, and for managers.

The first two chapters involve in-depth discussions on our public land systems, including their management and legal definitions. In including this acknowledgement, my hope is that you, as the reader, will be able to see this as a normative version of history and not an objective one — what new meanings come to light when you read the definition of wilderness with the knowledge that people did in fact once ‘inhabit’ those areas?

The following is a list of the Native populations whose historical territories overlap with the land units featured in this study. Please note that this is not an exact science; all information was sourced from Native-Land.ca, a non-profit organization that maps these territories and uses community input to make continual updates and revisions.

Original inhabitants of the land units featured in this study:

• Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests: Ute and Cheyenne

• Cleveland National Forest: Kumeyaay

• Coconino National Forest: Western Apache, Hopitutskwa, Pueblos, and Hohkam

• Deschutes and Willamette National Forests: Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, Klamath, Molalla, Yoncalla, and Tenino

• Denali National Park: Dënéndeh, Tanana, Koyukon, Dena’ina Elnena, Upper Kuskokwim, and Ahtna Nenn’

• Gifford Pinchot National Forest: Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde, and Cowlitz

• Mount Rainier National Park: Puyallup

• North Cascades National Park: Sauk Suiattle, NIaka’pamux, Coast Salish, Confederated Tribes of Colville Reservation, Okanagan, Skagit, and Nooksack

• Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest: Wenatchi, Confederated Tribes of Colville Reservation, Yakama, Skykomish, Tulalip, Snoqualmie, and Coast Salish

• Rocky Mountain National Park: Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho

• Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Tübatulabal, Yokuts, Western Mono/Monache, and Eastern Mono/Monache

• White River National Forest: Ute