Arches National Park is on the homeland of the Ute Nation (Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ or Nuutsui) who have used and lived on the land since time immemorial. The land that now makes up the park was ceded in the treaty of 1868 largely through negotiation between Kit Carson and Chief Ouray. Unlike some treaties from that era where tribes retained certain rights over ceded land, the “Kit Carson” treaty specifically stipulated that the Ute relinquish all claims and rights over the land - reflective of the treaties main purpose to open up for mining and settlement. Various Ute communities were removed to a large unified Ute reservation in Colorado where they were often forced to remain sometimes through military action.

But Arches is and has been a spiritually, culturally, and economically important site for more nations that just the Ute including the Zuni (A:shiwi), Hopi, Paiute, and Navajo. None of these nations signed treaties ceding their ancestral rights over the land and yet the Ute treaty meant they also were barred from access to what would become Arches. Giving hard borders to different nations was an intentional strategy of removal by the United States to dispossess as many Indigenous people as possible for the least amount of money and effort. While treaties were made with individual nations, in practice, the U.S. considered the land cessions of any treaty to apply to all “Indians,” if not the payments. When visiting Arches, it is important to remember that while the land may have been legally ceded by the Ute (although we know many treaties were forced), it is and remains unceded, illegally occupied land for many more nations