Ethnography Resources Inventory Database

The ERI is a database-style inventory of culturally significant national park resources as identified predominately by American Indians, but also by other peoples traditionally associated with the park. Created in 1998, the ERI has been developed and maintained for the use of park service ethnographers at both the regional and park level. Yellowstone National Park is one of five pilot ERI program sites in the National Park Service. Yellowstone’s ERI contains information for more than 300 culturally significant resources (i.e., ethnographic resources), and 1,000 tribal associations. Ethnographic resource entries vary widely and include landscapes, animals, plants, minerals, water sources, thermal features, objects, and artifacts, as well as legendary and origin locations in the park. Each resource entry describes the resource and its precise location, explains the cultural significance, and identifies the source of the information. The database also tracks past tribal consultation and aids in determining future relationship directions and strategies. The ERI informs Yellowstone's planning, compliance, resource management, and visitor education activities (e.g., field studies, reports, proposals, etc.), and assists non-park researchers, upon approval of the tribes.

Ongoing ERI Endeavors:

• Entering oral history transcripts, video recordings, and interview tapes
• Scanning images
• Finding and entering archived oral histories
• Entering primary and secondary source documents from archives, ethnographic work, ethnohistories, diaries, journals and other sources
• Developing and modifying the ERI database to fit the needs of park divisions
• Working with our GYE partners (Grand Teton National Park, Bridger-Teton National Forest, the National Elk Refuge, and Shoshone National Forest) to cull ethnographic resource information for the entire ecosystem for purposes of environmental assessment and environmental impact statement planning, resource management, and visitor education
• Locating more ethnographic resources on the landscape
• Continuing research as to the cultural significance of resources found in the GYE