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Show 2. ULF Other Considerations The only other considerations for this area apply to the Coyote Basin, where there are oil wells and where a dumping area for toxic waste was supposed to have been located on a section of assignment land ( 4.2). 2. iv The Yellowstone River. Its Canyon and Watercourses The Yellowstone River, its canyon and high bench bed, is not as well- known or apparently as variably used as areas further east. The major resources regularly taken along the waterways of the Yellowstone are berries, deer, elk, and sage grouse. There was hardly any comment on the social or spiritual significance of the area. A few of the consultants, however, emphasized the need to speak with those who still reside in the area or with elders who spent a lot of time in the region in the past. 2. ivA Floral Resources The canyon of the Yellowstone River is reported to contain sites for collecting buffaloberries ( Appendix A. 1.2), chokecherries ( A. 1.3), currants ( Appendix A. 1.4), raspberries ( Appendix A. 1.6), and serviceberries ( Appendix A. 1.7). The prime sites, however, are located below the canyon especially near the confluence of the Yellowstone and the Lake Fork, and also further south along watercourses in the vicinity of Altonah. Sites along the confluence of these two rivers are considered some of the best, if not the choicest, locations for collecting buffaloberries, and consultants stressed the importance of preserving these berry patches ( Appendix A. 1.2). Along the Yellowstone River from its confluence with the Lake Fork to the campgrounds at Cow Canyon are identified stands of trees ( Appendix A. 2.1; Appendix A. 2.2), shrubs ( Appendix A. 1.13; Appendix A. 1.6; Appendix A. 2.3), root crops ( Appendix A. 3.8; Appendix A. 3.11), and leaf crops ( Appendix A. 5.11; Appendix A. 5.14) which have reported uses by the Utes. And there are probably other valued plant resources in the area which were not identified. At least from the perspective of the Ute consultants, this does not appear to be an area that is heavily utilized today for gathering plant products other than berries, kinnikinnick ( Appendix A. 2.3), and bear root ( Appendix A. 3.8). One consultant who spent summers in the region as a child, encamped at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Lake Fork, when Ute families still herded cattle over the surrounding range, remarked that it was the men who traveled the upper reaches of the Yellowstone while herding and that the women rarely went up there ( 1.4). This suggests that the Yellowstone was not a priority location for the collection of plant foods that women customarily gathered. Instead, according to this consultant, women were more involved in securing berries and plant foods along the 23 |
