Three bands—the North Blackfoot, Blood, and North Piegan—have rights to lands in Alberta, Canada. Another group, made up mostly of South Piegan, has a reservation in Montana. Their tribal headquarters is located in the town of Browning, the gateway to Glacier National Park. The Museum of the Plains Indian also is located at Browning.
The Blackfeet have been working to protect a sacred site known as Badger Two-Medicine in the Lewis and Clark National Forest in northwestern Montana. Recreational use and cattle grazing is damaging the terrain and forcing elks and other wildlife to abandon it. Moreover,
Blackfeet toy drum (modern)
Companies want to drill the site for oil and gas. Blackfeet and other peoples have held Sun Dances, Vision Quests, and sweats at the site since pre-horse times.
Since 1996, the Blackfeet have been fighting with the U. S. government to claim the billions of dollars held in trust since the late 19th century. Over the years, federal officials mismanaged, and even stole, the money from its rightful beneficiaries. In the meantime, health problems have arisen on the reservation. Some result from poorly built homes—houses sponsored by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development—infested with toxic mold and mildew. In 2000, the reservation’s deteriorating water system began producing black sludge. It took until 2002 for the tribe to receive grants to build a new water system.
World History
