What Happened Next

The WHC, with planning assistance from the National Park Service’s (NPS) Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance (Rivers and Trails) program, hosted a conference of representatives of cultural, historic, and natural resource sites, community representatives, elected officials, educators, and representatives of the Crow and Northern Cheyenne nations to discuss the establishment of a heritage area. Agreeing to work together to protect and promote the Yellowstone River Valley’s natural and cultural heritages toward a sustainable economy, the 40 attendees from communities in Montana, northern Wyoming, and western North Dakota created the Yellowstone Heritage Partnership (YHP) in 1996.

To explain its purpose and goals to the public and gather ideas from citizens, the partnership hosted 10 meetings in the spring of 1997. Facilitated by Rivers and Trails, the meetings were held simultaneously in small communities in the three-state region. The outcome of the meetings came together in YHP’s first major project, “Explore the Yellowstone!” This traveling exhibit—funded with grants from NPS, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), local governments, the WHC and private trusts and foundations—presents the cultural, historic, and natural resources in the region through historic and contemporary photographs, oral histories, interpretive text, and student art. It is hauled in a stock trailer to places where people gather: rodeos, fairs, pow-wows, shopping malls, libraries, and museums.

YHP developed two electronic field trips aimed at sixth graders, which takes armchair travelers on an e-journey to Chief Plenty Coups State Park and Museum and Pictograph Cave State Park and National Landmark. These parks are open to the public only during the summer months, but through cyberspace, their wonders can be shared with virtual visitors all year, all the time. Funded by a Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, each e-field trip website gets more than 2,000 monthly hits from online visitors.

In 1999, through an Economic Development Agency grant, the Yellowstone Heritage Partnership conducted a survey of the economic impact and potential for cultural tourism in the Yellowstone region. Based on visitor surveys and other data analysis, the partners planned a humanities-based series of exhibits, entitled “Living in Modern Times,” which includes a long-term exhibit at the WHC and at satellite sites like highway rest stops and chambers of commerce.

Regional outreach continued in 2000 as the partnership began developing cultural loop tours, modeled after the popular Heritage Craft Tours produced by Hand-made in America in Asheville, N.C., in which traditional crafts and arts are highlighted. An NEA-FS Arts and Rural Community Assistance Grant allowed Montanans to visit North Carolina to learn more. The partnership plans to publish a guidebook and accompanying CD-ROM and website.

Timeline

• 1995 - “Our Place in the West” exhibit opens at WHC
  
  Gatherings conducted around the region

• 1996 - Yellowstone Heritage Partnership formed

• 1997 - YHP hosts public meetings for input

• 1998 - “Explore the Yellowstone!” traveling exhibit prepared
  
  YHP develops 2 e-field trips

• 1999 - Partnership develops “Living in Modern Times” exhibit

• 2000 - Partnership plans cultural loop tour

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