Two Eagle River School teens report on Bison Range return to Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes
Two Eagle River School photography students reported on the Bison Range returning to the management by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes. The students created an audio news story with the support of the Montana Media Lab team and shot a collection of photographs.
After learning how to use recording gear and developing and researching their story, the students interviewed scientists, elders, history experts, community members, and their peers, searching for all angles of the story. On a day-long field trip, they recorded natural sounds and talked with the Bison Range staff to make listeners feel like they were at the Bison Range too.
The narratives of our youth provide a beautiful opportunity to share and represent our culture from unique perspectives. I genuinely cherish this for everyone involved and the connection it fosters.
-Tracey LittleWolf, Cskt community member
Tracey Littlewolf, a student of the Salish Kootenai College Tribal Preservation program and the mother of a previous Two Eagle River student, supported the Media Lab in teaching the audio reporting workshops. Following the workshop series, she spoke about the value of the Montana Media Lab workshop to the youth, and the community. “The narratives of our youth provide a beautiful opportunity to share and represent our culture from unique perspectives,” Tracey said. “I genuinely cherish this for everyone involved and the connection it fosters… Future generations will weave their narratives through vibrant visual art, becoming the storytellers who honor and carry forward the stories of our ancestors.” We hope that youth across Montana continue to share stories important to them through their invaluable voices.
A draft of the Bison Range story was presented at a Two Eagle River community dinner at the close of the workshop series. The school’s photography classes partnered with local arts nonprofit, A VOICE to pitch the Bison Range audio story and photo collection to Photoville, an annual photography festival in New York City.
Thank you to the Two Eagle River School and Pablo communities for working with the Montana Media Lab. We can’t wait to see the impact your stories and photographs will have.
You can listen to the Bison Range story, and see some behind the scenes photos here: