Little Jack’s Creek Wilderness Area originally posted by US Interior} Little Jack’s Creek Wilderness is on Shoshone-Paiute Land. Although this public land is under the Shoshone-Paiute Cultural Resource Protection Plan and the executive order that created the Shoshone-Paiute of Duck Valley reservation acknowledges the area as their homeland, representations like these on social media naturalize the region as inherently wilderness, ignoring the history of forced removal, illegal settlement, and war that emptied the land in the first place.
It is only by constructing these wildernesses that this new #FindYourWay campaign by the BLM makes sense, allowing outdoor adventurers to recreate a romanticized colonial experience without the messiness of participating in genocide. Don’t be an “explorer” when you visit public land, be an ally and remember the history that makes your visit possible.