Trans Editor Considers The Indigenous History in His Backyard
The relocated petroglyphs at BLM Indian Rocks Area Many of the former park’s petroglyphs are no longer there. The freeway rest stop that once drew thousands of visitors to view them is gone, too.
The park closed in 1983, and the boulders were relocated five miles away to protect them from carelessness and outright vandalism.
Initially there was a visitor’s center in the new location, but it’s now gone, too. The federal government later named the BLM Indian Rocks Area a site of critical environmental concern, in part to protect the cultural resources of the tribes that still call this region home.Native American culture continues to thrive nearby.
The Fort Hall Reservation is about an hour away. Nolan Brown of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Cultural and Preservation Department recently collaborated with the Bureau of Land Management on two interpretive signs to provide historical context to the petroglyphs.
