Not in My Backyard: Anti-tourism Sentiments in Yellowstone National Park

Leading a hike with LatinXHikers in the GYE. Photo by Micheli Oliver

Imagine this: you move to a scenic mountain town full of opportunities for outdoor recreation. You are surrounded by wildlife, beautiful scenery, refreshing lakes, and endless trails for hiking, climbing, and biking. You are within driving distance of Yellowstone National Park.

You moved here for all of the same reasons people come to visit: access to nature makes you happy and your life is more fulfilled when you spend time outdoors with your family and friends. Yet, you are annoyed or even angry by the crowds of family vacationers and road trippers. You scoff at people who stop to take photos of all of the magnificent views and wildlife. You are even more aggressive when these visitors are folks of color. 

It’s important to point out that access to national parks is not the only issue BIPOC folks face. If we create access to these spaces without changing the harmful cultures that manifest within them, an invitation outdoors is really just an invitation to experience racial violence. 

An important disclaimer to this article is that our relationships to nature in the US are deeply rooted in colonization and displacement of Indigenous peoples. Our “public lands” are stolen lands. While creating access to the outdoors for BIPOC communities is an important step, we can’t stop there. We must advocate for a radical shift in our land management policies and ideologies and center Indigenous leaders every step of the way. Further, how we treat the homes of others is not a one-size-fits-all formula. Please be a culturally responsive tourist and understand the implications of your travel.

1.Reject NIMBYism

Photo by Micheli Oliver

Mountain towns tend to be a haven for white liberals, and it has recently become trendy to promote inclusivity and access to the outdoors. However, these populations are quick to return to blatant racism and exclusion when access to the outdoors occurs in their own backyards. This is an extension of NIMBYism that is common in the white environmentalist movement.

Not in my backyard (NIMBYism) is a concept that developed in the 70s when awareness about environmental pollutants first began in the US. Once people became aware that factories and power plants were directly harming their health, they flocked to the picket lines with signs that read “not in my backyard”. The problem with this movement is that instead of calling for a complete abolition of these harmful pollutants, white people simply asked that they be placed in someone else’s backyard. And of course, that “someone else” became low income Black and Indigenous communities with less political power.

Believing that BIPOC do not deserve the same access to nature as white communities is an environmental racism issue. Believing that BIPOC do deserve access to nature, but not in your backyard, is still racist. It follows the same thread that the NIMBYism movement of the 70s did, and creates hostile spaces for BIPOC tourists in mountain towns.

2. If you love something, share it

Whenever I complain about a place having too many people, my mom always reminds me: “nosotros no somos gente?” or “aren’t we people too?”. If you are annoyed that there are too many people in one place, and you are also a person in that place, and that place is public land, what are you really saying?

If you love something, share it. That is the narrative I grew up with. My beautiful home country, Colombia, is known for its hospitality. We take great pride in sharing our favorite and most beautiful spaces with every visitor. We want to share the gifts the land has given us with everyone because we know they are not ours to keep.

In the United States, and in Yellowstone specifically, our public lands are rooted in the colonization, forced removal, and genocide of Indigenous peoples. And yet, mountain town locals often gatekeep these stolen lands. This type of gatekeeping is deeply rooted in models of scarcity and white supremacy; it is a symptom of modern-day colonization.

3. What makes you local to a place? 

What makes you local to a place? How many years you’ve lived there? Owning property? Having a local job? Gatekeeping others from that space? Does making fun of others reaffirm your position as a local? What about discriminating against people that come visit from non-European countries? The amount of racial slurs I have heard in National Parks really reaffirms who is welcome in those spaces and who isn’t. In Yellowstone specifically, anti-Asian rhetoric and hate has increased significantly with COVID-19, and a lot of it is coming from “locals”. If national parks are welcoming to all, what can local communities do to ensure AAPI communities have safe and positive experiences in Yellowstone? Let’s not forget that most of us are visitors to these spaces, and our existence here relies heavily on the tourism industry.

Lastly, if you are tired of visitors who overstay their welcome, have you ever considered how you have overstayed your time on stolen land long enough to believe it’s yours?

4. Let others experience joy

BIPOC joy on the trail!

A few years ago I spent some time with a reputable outdoor education organization based in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. I went on a walk with a few of the staff members, who laughed when they told me that their favorite thing to do in Yellowstone was pull over and start pointing at nothing so that “clueless tourists” would pull over in their excitement of potentially seeing wildlife and start traffic jams. The elitism and gatekeeping rooted in this activity that the staff members do for fun spoke volumes to me.

Just because someone’s joy looks different than yours does not mean it’s wrong. Remember the excitement you had when you saw your first bear or played with snow for the first time. Don’t take that excitement away from somebody else. Joy looks different across cultures, too. Joy might be loud, it might include 20 family members in a packed rental van, and it might mean lots of photos, videos, and souvenir t-shirts to bring home as memories. None of it is wrong.

5. Redirect your energy

If you have made it through this entire article and are still upset about the tourism in your town, consider channeling your energy to more productive places, such as voting and advocacy.

Are you upset that tourists are not being respectful to wildlife? Consider volunteering as a guide or outdoor educator. Are you annoyed by the hour-long traffic jams during the busy season? Consider educating yourself on infrastructure laws in your town and getting involved with your local city council. Are you concerned for the safety of a less experienced hiker? Consider sharing some of your knowledge instead of making them feel like they don’t belong. Concerned about the impacts of travel? Consider reading up on Land Back movements in your area, reaching out to community leaders, and continue advocating for Indigenous sovereignty.