The first-ever Jackson Intertribal Gathering celebrated the theme of “The Wisdom of Tribal Unity.”
As the sun went down on a golden October day in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, over 200 local residents gathered in front of seven illuminated teepees in Phil Baux Park, enjoying performance art and participating in an impromptu Round Dance to the beat of Native hand drums. The beautiful community event was sponsored by Jackson Hole Public Art to celebrate the Wisdom of Tribal Unity and put an exclamation point on over a week of intertribal events and activities held in Jackson. The last weekend of September saw the inaugural Jackson Indigenous Art Market at St. John’s Episcopal Church, and that was followed immediately by the Pretty Shield Foundation’s Lighted Teepees, and the first-ever Jackson Intertribal Gathering, held at Snow King Resort.
The Jackson Intertribal Gathering had over 90 participants and included official representatives from 13 Tribal Nations, over a dozen conservation nonprofit organizations, seven federal agencies, and a handful of scholars and Tribal elders. The extensive Intertribal symposium was a collaborative effort in every way but spearheaded by the Wyoming Wilderness Association’s Carlie Ideker and facilitated by Dr. Shane Doyle (Apsáalooke), Montana Wilderness Association Tribal liaison. The purpose of the event was to connect Tribal nations, who share the area as a common homeland, with public land supervisors and interested NGOs, to begin dialogues about the future of natural and cultural resource management on public lands. The guiding theme of the event was “Sharing and amplifying Indigenous knowledge, wisdom, and voices in federal land management of the southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,” and the topics discussed included models of Tribal co-stewardship of National Monuments and Forests, priority topics in National Parks, and Tribal cultural connections to the Southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
The planning team for the Jackson Intertribal Gathering agreed early on in their meetings that the “Lighting of the Teepees” would be a stunning addition to the overall agenda, as their elegant beauty is a powerful symbol of tradition, collaboration, and unity. Bill Snell and his late mother, Alma Hogan Snell, were the founders of the Pretty Shield Foundation, which does the Lighted Teepees and is now coordinated by Karen Snell, Bill’s wife. Bill and Alma started the group to honor and keep special traditions alive in Native communities and as a tribute to Alma’s grandmother who raised her, the Apsáalooke medicine woman Pretty Shield. During the Christmas Pandemic of 2020, they were inspired to set up seven 18-foot white canvas lodges on the Billings rimrocks, as a beacon of hope during a time of sadness and loss. The seven teepees represent the seven Montana Indian Reservations, and their popularity was a community revelation, drawing a steady stream of visitors and viewers from predawn to the midnight hour. Since that first installation in 2020, the graceful and magical Lighting of the Teepees has been displayed once in Bozeman on Peet’s Hill, and twice in Gardiner, at the entrance to Yellowstone Park. Pretty Shield President Bill Snell personally selects a theme for each lighting event, and for Jackson Hole it was “The Wisdom of Unity.” Given the diverse group of people, cultures, and topics coming together in Jackson over the week, the name reminds us of what is possible and beckons all of us to a rousing future of multiculturalism in Jackson Hole.
Photography: courtesy of Jade Snell
