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PRESTON, Idaho — Restoration of the Bear River Massacre site is underway Monday as some 400,000 invasive trees will be removed.
It's all part of a process that the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone calls "a healing of the land" and a blessing to have on workers who will spend dozens of hours working on the project.
"We think it bonds us together. We think that those spiritual blessings create a community," said Brad Parry, vice chair of Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation.
Parry is grateful that this project has drawn state leaders' attention from Utah and Idaho.
As the Utah Conservation Corps starts tearing down hundreds of thousands of invasive Russian olive trees, it's the first step in returning these traditional wintering grounds to what they would have looked like before the Bear River Massacre in 1863.
"It's overwhelming. It's a good day today," Parry said. "The feeling on the land is beginning to change to one of peace and happiness, whereas before, it was a lot of sorrow."
Conservationists say just one Russian olive tree can take in 75 gallons of water a day, and there are about 400,000 of them on the land.
Around 150,000 native trees and plants will be put back, and some 13,000 square acre-feet of water will be sent into the Great Salt Lake once more.
It's an approach that's now gaining international attention.
"It was well-received. It was something that they probably never heard a lot of," said Darren Parry, former tribe chair of Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation.
Restoration is underway at the Bear River Massacre Site. Workers with the UT Conservation Corps were blessed and started cutting down Russian olive trees this afternoon. I'll tell you how this effort by the NW Shoshone is getting some international attention. @KSL5TV at 5pm. pic.twitter.com/QgZKagNhgS
— Mike Anderson (@mikeandersonKSL) October 17, 2022
Darren Parry is back from Denmark, where he was invited to share Indigenous wisdom with a room of environmental scientists.
"All the science in the world isn't going to solve selfish behaviors. And I think the Indigenous perspective on how we live our life will help craft the policy going forward," Darren Parry said.
The fact that people are watching is bringing hope that all of us can take more personal responsibility for the environment.
"This is a really important day for us," Brad Parry expressed.
Over $6 million in grants and other funding is going towards the rehabilitation of the site here, but the tribe is still looking to raise about $5 million more for an interpretive center up above.
