Shoshone-Bannock

It’s called America’s first extreme sport. It’s certainly old … and extreme. Mountain West News Bureau reporter Nate Hegyi takes us to the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho, where Shoshone Bannock tribal members are gearing up for Indian Relay.

Archeologist Lael Suzann Henrikson operates out of the Cultural Resource Management Office of Idaho National Laboratory where she works to insure the labs are in compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act. Her most recent project involved excavating the area south of Lake Terreton looking for evidence of the earliest residents to the region, believed to be ancestors of the Shoshone-Bannock peoples. Henrikson joins Idaho Matters to talk about the first Idahoans.

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could restore tribal hunting rights in Wyoming, which could affect tribes throughout our region.

Three Native American tribes are in talks with the Bureau of Land Management about repatriating two skeletons found outside Mountain Home last April.

This new kindergarten classroom on eastern Idaho’s Fort Hall Indian Reservation looks and feels much like any other. Tiny tables and chairs fill the room, bright drawings and artwork hang on the walls, and small coats hang on low-to-the-ground hooks. It’s the sound of the classroom that’s truly one-of-a-kind.

About 30 five-and-six-year-olds are learning to speak Shoshone.

“Benna, ne naniha J.J.”

“Ne naniha Miley.”

Idaho’s capitol city celebrates its 150 anniversary next year. But long before Boise became a city, the Treasure Valley was home to the Shoshone–Bannock people. In the mid-1800s the tribe was forced to relocate to Eastern Idaho.

Their story, from early history to present day, unfolds in a new musical piece called Sacred Land which premiers this weekend.