Speaker called 'Native American voice in the National Parks'

Not long ago, just one decade, American Indian histories were on the fringes of the country's national parks.

But that's been changing, said Gerard Baker, an American Indian and national park superintendent who has led the change.

Baker was one of three speakers who shared their views on the evolution of National Park Service rangers Friday at the 31st annual Montana History Conference in Whitefish.

Baker, a full-blood Mandan-Hidatsa Indian from western North Dakota, grew up at his reservation home thinking of park rangers as 15-foot-tall heroes.

He started in the park service cleaning bathrooms at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota and rapidly ascended to become a historian and interpretive ranger and finally superintendent of Little Bighorn Battlefield. He is now superintendent at Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

All along, Baker said he recognized the enormous value of Indian oral histories and their potential to provide a more complete view of national parks and the lands around them.

"I think we're changing," said Baker, a tall man with graying hair braids draped on his green National Park Service uniform.

Baker got his opportunity to bring about change during his four years as superintendent at Little Bighorn, the battlefield in south-central Montana where Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer met his infamous end in 1876. For years, it was known as Custer National Battlefield, but that changed because of pressure to recognize the Indian histories behind the battle.

The door to that history was initially opened by Barbara Boohrer, the first Indian woman assigned to a superintendent's position. Baker said Boohrer's push for change at the Battlefield was met with surprising opposition, mostly from those who insisted on preserving it as a U.S. military monument.

The pressure forced her out of the job after two years, but Baker picked up where she left off. Baker said he was faced with a petition signed by 20,000 people seeking his removal, along with seven verified death threats.

But the change came anyway. The name of the battlefield was changed, a monument depicting Indians and U.S. cavalry riders was erected, and American Indians were hired as interpreters to add new perspectives to the official military chronicles.

"If there's anybody who has led the charge for the Native American voice in the National Park Service, it's Gerard Baker," said Glacier National Park Superintendent Mick Holm, who worked with Baker at Knife River Indian Village National Historic Site.

Slowly but surely, Baker said, the battlefield has been developing a public constituency that is indeed interested in Indian perspectives about the famous battle.

"There is a constituency among the American public that is looking for more," said Baker, who contends there is room for Native American histories across the National Park Service.

Baker has been influential in shaping interpretive programs related to the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Those interested in the subject should be eager "to get off the boat and get on the shore, and imagine what it was like when that boat came around the bend," he said.

"This story is not just about Lewis and Clark. This story is about the Indian people they came into contact with," he said. "We have an obligation to open that door because it gives a complete perspective."

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com