Crazy Mountains Oral History Project Podcast Series and Listening and Discussion Sessions Debut
Image by Erik Petersen
The Crazy Mountains anchor the northern halves of Park and Sweetgrass counties and have drawn people to them for millennia. PCEC has been a tireless advocate and defender of these mountains since our founding over 36 years ago.
Join us on Thursday, November 19th at 7:00 PM at Elk River Books in Livingston to learn about the Crazy Mountains Oral History Project from Francine Spang-Willis and some featured narrators from the first three episodes. See event details here.
Several years ago, we were imagining what long-term stewardship and protection of the Crazies could look like, a landscape that is both deeply special and uniquely vulnerable. Over millennia, many Indigenous nations have been connected to the Crazies and the extending landscape. In more recent history, the area was recognized as Crow territory in the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty, and the range was ceded less than two decades later, deeded to the railroad, and sold off piece by piece. That history left a checkerboard of public and private land, and the long-running disputes over access that resulted have left many people divided from one another and disconnected from this important place.
The Crazy Mountains Oral History Project began with a thought-provoking question from Francine Spang-Willis. We were talking about land designations and what had worked in other places when Francine, founder of Appearing Flying Woman Consulting and a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, asked: How can we decide? Before any plan, she said, we needed to hear from more people, with more diverse connections to this place. We need to learn more about the historical processes of colonialism that got us here, and we need new models of collaborative conservation, co-stewardship, and management.
Francine Spang-Willis
Francine led this effort, from the project methodology to the interviews, curated podcast, transcript review, and archival preparation, guided by her oral history expertise, lived experience, and ancestral ties to this region. Together with PCEC, we sat down with 15 people, including historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, hunters, ranchers, and conservationists. We moved at the speed of trust, with each narrator’s consent, review, and permission, and worked with a few Tribal Historic Preservation Offices before making the podcast series accessible to the public.
Today, we’re honored to begin sharing their stories. Francine has curated the first three episodes of the podcast, Living with the Crazy Mountains: Shared Connection, History, and Responsibility, featuring five of the narrators.
Join us on Thursday, November 19th at 7:00PM at Elk River Books in Livingston for the first Listening and Discussion Session with our narrators.
Ten more narrators have stories still waiting to be shared. As funds become available, we hope to curate more episodes so every voice has a place in the public conversation. A gift of any size makes a difference.
This work was made possible by the Emerson Collective Fellowship, the Mellon Foundation, the Park County Arts Council, and Humanities Montana. Read more about the project on our blog at PCEC’s website.