A Visit to the Indian Arts Museum in the Grand Tetons

Enlarge Image Image Gallery The beautiful Grand Teton National Park is the home of the Indian Arts Museum at Colter Bay. PHOTO: JACK BOUCHER

A couple of us MOTHER people were recently flown out to Grand Teton National Park to witness the dedication of a new Indian Arts Museum at Colter Bay. The trip gave us a fascinating insight into the way big and little government, advertising agencies and business, powerful families and struggling magazines interact in this country and — if we ever get caught up a little — we'll share those insights with you. For the moment, we'll just grab a minute to comment on the new museum and our National Parks System in general.

The Colter Bay Museum, we found, houses a brilliant collection of artifacts lovingly gathered over many years by a fine gentleman named David T. Vernon. I'm sure that many of our red brothers will take exception to yet another "white man's display" of their cultural heritage . . . but it should be noted that an honest attempt seems to have been made to assemble, house and present this particular collection in the best of taste and with great respect for the sacred vision on which "the old ones" of most Indian tribes based everything in their lives. It's at least noteworthy that the Colter Bay Museum has a special section in which you may buy real Indian handcrafts (not Hong Kong trinkets) from real Indians (not white girls tricked out in war bonnets). Yes, it's a small step . . . but a step. Perhaps the first proud nations that graced this continent will one day regain their rightful place in our land after all.

While we were in the Tetons we had a warm, friendly and highly informative conference with Gary E. Everhardt (Superintendent of Grand Teton National Park), Boyd Evison (Assistant Superintendent of Grand Teton) and Jim Coleman (Assistant Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park). They're a good bunch of men . . . clear-eyed, square-jawed and dedicated. We were impressed. Unfortunately, we've been increasingly unimpressed by the National Park Service high command that men like Everhardt, Evison and Coleman report to.

As you may or may not know, Friends of the Earth—a private environmental organization—has asked for the dismissal of George B. Hartzog, Jr., the Director of the National Park Service. FOE claims that Hartzog is taking the National Park Service downhill fast by refusing to preserve the parks as wilderness areas, by giving away NPS land in political deals, by allowing concessioners to turn parks into mini-cities, by opening up remote areas of parks to automobiles, by seeking to abolish park rangers in favor of administrators and by transferring park personnel so rapidly that such employees lose their effectiveness and perspective. Based on the (admittedly fragmentary) evidence we've gathered over the past year, we tend to agree with the FOE charges.