America’s Scenic and Historic Trails on Public Lands: The Intersection of Cultures, Heritage, and Outdoor Recreation

The new teaching guide from the Bureau of Land Management, America’s Scenic and Historic Trails on Public Lands: The Intersection of Cultures, Heritage, and Outdoor Recreation, gives middle school teachers three activities to explore conflict and collaboration between emigrants and American Indians.  Because what are now scenic and historic trails brought many of the emigrants to the west, students begin the unit by identifying where scenic and historic trails are located today.  They then parse some of the language in the 1968 law that establishes scenic and historic trails.  The teaching guide concludes by presenting excerpts of pioneer diaries with evidence of both cooperation and conflict between the two cultures.