Blackfeet Community College, Park Service sign MOU on education

The Student Commons at Blackfeet Community College was filled with folks on Thursday, Jan. 18, observing a full panel of people from the National Park Service and staff and administrators from BCC. All came together to witness the Deputy Director of the National Park Service sign a Memorandum of Agreement with the college that aims to enhance their working relationship, each contributing to the other in the name of education.

The event came amid BCC’s annual two-day remembrance of the Bear Creek Massacre. The commemoration features speakers and activities that mark a cold day in 1870 when Major Eugene Mortimer Baker and his men murdered approximately 200 members of Heavy Runner’s band, most of whom were women, children and older men. Heavy Runner had official protection granted him by the United States government, but it did his people no good in the face of Baker’s assault. 

Just 13 years later, a harsh winter conjoined with paltry government support in the “Starvation Winter” of 1883-84 which cost the tribe between 600 and 700 souls and forced the sale of what has become Glacier National Park.

In light of that history, the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between the Park and the College marks an historic moment in which the two entities aim to cooperate in each other’s missions.

The various points in the agreement all point to what benefits each party. Professional development for Park staff, for example, is enhanced by BCC-hosted cultural events within the park. Some of those have already been tried out in preparation for the formal signing.

“We have hosted events in Two Medicine and St. Mary,” BCC President Dr. Brad Hall said. “We tested the waters and learned the Park’s expectations and requirements.”

Resource sharing is another point of the agreement, with the Park’s landscape on the one hand and the college’s workshops, trainings and cultural library on the other. The Park’s “resources and landscapes” will find their way into BCC course curricula as its students explore the Park for on-the-ground experiential learning. The Park agrees to create paid internships and service-learning opportunities for BCC students as well.

BCC, in turn, will offer workshops, seminars and programs geared toward training Park staff as BCC expands its lecturing series within the Park.

“Our Knowledge Carriers Lodge sponsored a native plant event at Two Medicine which included presentations and guided hikes and were open to the public,” Hall said. “The college was able to learn the protocols of the park in accordance with leaving no trace and minimizing the impact on the landscape.”

Finally, the agreement calls for the college and the park to designate liaisons to coordinate details and collaborate in future planning. The agreement spans five years, renewable by both parties and subject to termination by either with 60 days’ notice.

“In a nutshell, this partnership allows the college to help facilitate community access to the park and to use it as a source of knowledge and healing,” Hall said.