The story of the Ponca underscores a stark but often-overlooked truth, that many of the trails we hike or bike in the US today were originally forged by Indigenous hunters and traders centuries earlier. When their lands were taken, federal and state governments turned some of these trails into roads and railways. (The Ponca’s Trail of Tears route, for instance, later became a now-defunct part of the Union Pacific railway line.)
But in recent years, tribes, states and organisations like the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy have been converting these Indigenous tracks into modern bike and pedestrian routes, and breathing new life into them in the process. As Native groups are creating more slow tourism opportunities (such hiking, cycling and paddling) on their land or in areas strongly connected to Indigenous history, tribes are increasingly reclaiming their ancestral spaces.
“All these trails were trails that were here before, and most trails throughout American Indian country that people are using now for slow tourism, were our trails, wherever you go,” said Judi gaiashkibos, the executive director for the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs and a Ponca Tribe member. She explained that the deed to the Chief Standing Bear Trail now belongs to the Ponca, and educational kiosks and signs along the route help tell their history. Gaiashkibos hopes to attract travellers “to come hear new stories, to slow their lives down and to be connected to the land”.
Indigenous tourism is growing across North America. In Canada, it accounts for nearly $2bn of the nation’s GDP, while in the US, Native tourism is a $14bn industry. Tribes are increasingly making use of their best assets to propel this trend: their people and their land.