On Location: This New Docuseries Explores Humankind's Deep Connections to Yellowstone, Zion, and More
National Geographic/Daniel Zatz
With more than 325 million people visiting America’s National Park Service sites last year, the natural sanctuaries are some of our country’s most beloved—and popular—travel destinations. Yet during those visits, only a slice of these precious lands comes into view.
Now, a five-part National Geographic Channel documentary series, National Parks: USA (debuting September 8 and streaming the next day on Hulu), peels back the mystique, unveiling how history, geography, and wildlife intertwine beyond the marquee attractions travelers tend to seek out.
Indigenous actor Michael Spears, a member of the Kul Wičaša Lakota from the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, narrates the series, with episodes spotlighting five parks: Zion in Utah; Yellowstone in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho; Katmai in Alaska; Everglades in Florida, and Olympic in Washington state.
Living north of Yellowstone in the Gallatin Valley, Spears is especially tied to the nation’s first national park. “My connection to the land here goes back to my grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's—I can keep on going,” he tells Condé Nast Traveler of the region known as makoče waši, or the “land of abundance,” where tribes once agreed there would be no bloodshed because of the sacred water and plants. “Growing up, I have stories of my grandfather, who was a holy man, sending people over to gather water and medicines from Yellowstone for our healing ceremonies.”
Though his grandfather has since passed, Spears carries forth his knowledge. While narrating the series, the 46-year-old actor—who started his career in Dancing with Wolves (1990), and more recently appeared in FX’s Reservation Dogs, and the Yellowstone prequel 1923—was especially taken by the memories these lands can bring up. “To be able to narrate and talk about my relatives, the animal people [wamakaškaŋ oyate], is a very deep honor,” says Spears.
Below, Spears tells us about the parks that get the spotlight, how we can all be better visitors, and the importance of lending his voice to the series.
Five people, including an Eastern Shoshone conservationist and the park's chief ranger, describe their connection to the park and the impact it's had on them.
Given your connection to Yellowstone, what were you excited about highlighting in the show?
Yellowstone is a place of regeneration, not only for the tatanka, or buffalo, but for Lakota people and the surrounding tribes, in that we’re all survivors. During the time of the buffalos’ near-extinction, there was also the near-extinction of the Native people. We always say the buffalo went through the Holocaust with us. There are stories in which we used geographic areas that were hard to traverse, using the land as our protector. They did the same thing—they went and hid. There were under two dozen of the North American bison and they used the park to survive, and now there's the reintroduction of buffalo all across North America now just because of that. We survived together there in Yellowstone—and we're still here and now flourishing.
What about the other parks—what struck you about some of them?
The episode on Zion National Park starts out with some of the doctors and scientists rock climbing and spelunking. I really love that aspect of adventuring into Mother Earth and seeing what is down there and who lives there. They were testing some bats for a disease and luckily they were disease-free. That made me happy. For us, as Lakota people, they're our helpers. In our ceremonies, we have songs that connect us with bats. They help us, and we help them. [The episode] also had some bighorn sheep. We used to make bows and arrows out of their horns—they were some of the strongest bows. Our war shirts are also made of their hides because when it's tanned, it's the softest and the lightest.
In Katmai, in Alaska, I really connected with the bears because we say that the bear was the first medicine man of the earth. We don't kill or eat bears. They say from the ashes of the first bear that was killed and consumed rose the mosquito. We also learn about šuŋgmánitu táŋka, which is the wolf. There's a story that goes way back to some of our Lakota astrology stories about the asteroid belt that surrounds and protects our Mother Earth. We’re all supposed to sing, but the only ones who remember to are the wolves and the dogs because they howl—it's a song to the stars. They say, wičoni owelo or “There's a life coming.”
In addition to the traditions and stories these episodes evoked, were there other elements of human history that you were excited to see on display?
I loved how the Olympic National Park episode brought back to life the struggle the Natives had with the destruction of the dams. I personally grew up along the Missouri River in South Dakota, which at once time was hold to the largest earthen dam, the Oahe Dam. A lot of our family land was flooded. Our most precious hunting grounds and our most lush and fertile lands were taken out. So I can relate a lot to that episode in the struggle for life. Watching that footage also brought a big smile to my face, knowing that it's going to bring life back to the area.
Speaking of human history, your first role was in the Oscar-winning Dances with Wolves as a teen. Do you see any parallels between roles like that, and this current project?
Oh my gosh, that was many moons ago! For Dances with Wolves we got to be on the National Grasslands in South Dakota. That's on my home reservation. It definitely opened a lot of doors for the world to see the humanity of the Native Peoples. We're people, and this is our home. It's stories like this, and films like that, that are going to help humanize us and open everyone's minds, eyes, and hearts to the reality that we're just people who are trying to live as well.
A lot of this raises the question: How can travelers learn more—and overall be more mindful—when visiting our national parks?
Everyone has the ability to go out and hike and go and be part of the land, but with the tourist industry, I think what's missing is the storytelling element—the natural history and the connection that people had to the land prior to it being a national park. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of stories of animals and plants, because we as people depend on our Mother Earth to survive. Take your shoes off and put your feet in the dirt, so to speak, and learn the origins of a lot of the plants and animals that go with the land and all of these stories here.
What do you hope travelers will take away from the National Parks, USA?
The series highlights the natural and rich history of the lands—it's going to inspire people to want to come and take a piece home [metaphorically]. When they go outside, they’ll have a deeper appreciation for what is there besides the concrete jungle. Maybe they’ll think a bit more about the critters or the land because it takes all of us to live. We knock one of them out in the system, and it'll throw everything else off balance. So hopefully it opens everyone's eyes and their minds to the fact that we're all related.
Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler
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