Badlands

In the southwestern region of South Dakota, Badlands National Park is a sublime landscape of jagged canyons, sharp buttes, and the largest undisturbed prairie in the United States. The vast natural environment brings together a community of national park locals like Scotti Clifford, a singer-songwriter and member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe, and Frank Bloom, president of South Dakota Public Lands, a third-generation rancher, and a volunteer firefighter for the national park. Both Scotti and Frank are dedicated to the preservation of its unique wilderness and a strong connection to the land is their inspiration and driving force. Named for its unforgiving terrain, Badlands is a place where communities must work together to adapt to its natural challenges. As Scotti says, The culture of the Badlands is not about living off the land but living with it.

Cousins Kansas and Rozyn Clifford, members of the Oglala Lakota Tribe who are deeply connected to the Badlands through their community and heritage.

Bryce Canyon

A wonderland of awe-inspiring rock spires and natural amphitheaters, Bryce Canyon National Park is an expansive preserve in Utah where generations of thriving communities have formed around its otherworldly cliffs and endless vistas and remain deeply rooted to the land. Just west of Bryce Canyon National Park is the family ranch of Yardley Cattle Company. The Yardley family has owned this part of the ranch since 1908, with a long history of caring for the land and were the first to start cross breeding Simmental and Maine Anjous cattle with the traditional Hereford cattle in the area. In Bryce Canyon City, the Syrett family was the first to homestead the area and has been welcoming travelers since 1919. Moved by the impressive beauty of Bryce Canyon, Reuben C. Syrett wanted to share the land with the rest of the country by donating a portion of their land to become the entrance to the newly formed national park. To this day, the Syrett family remains devoted to offering Western hospitality to tourists and locals alike.

Mules played a significant role in the discovery and formation of several national parks in different ways including developing roads and bringing supplies to remote parts of the area. Today, mules continue to unite national park communities by supporting park rangers, helping with trail maintenance, and search and rescue efforts.

Bryce Canyon Country Rodeo is held at Ruby’s Inn Rodeo Grounds, founded by the Syrett family, every summer from Wednesday through Saturday. An exhibition rodeo where any rider can sign up to compete, the rodeo grounds have given many athletes their start in rodeo and allow tourists from around the world to share in the spirit of the West.

Wrangell St. Elias

Wild, rugged, and beautiful—Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is 13.2 million acres of daunting peaks, glaciers, forests, and subpolar icefields making it the largest national park. So much of the national park’s wilderness is unchartered territory and other portions are only reachable by boat and plane. Others, still, are unreachable entirely. Yet, even in this remote landscape, people have developed ways to live off the land and form resilient communities of hunters, fishermen, miners, and homesteaders. Though the land is difficult to reach, Wrangell-St. Elias remains connected to the lower 48 states through these communities and its natural resources such as the Copper River, a 290-mile-long river which runs from the park’s Copper Glacier into the Gulf of Alaska where millions of salmon spawn every year.