Blackfeet Nation

A nation today

Going-to-the-Sun Road switchbacking up a steep mountain wall in Glacier National Park.
Tim Rains, National Park Service · Public Domain

Background

The Blackfeet held the prairies on the east side of what is now Glacier before explorers arrived, which NPS records. The Blackfeet Reservation in northwest Montana was set aside by treaty in 1855, and it took in most of the northern half of the state. It covers 1.5 million acres today. Glacier National Park runs along its west side, and Canada lies to the north. The Blackfeet Nation counts itself among the 10 largest tribes in the United States.

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Visit and learn

Museum of the Plains Indian

Browning, Montana·museum

Founded in 1941 near Glacier National Park, the museum shows art, historic clothing, horse gear, and other material of the Northern Plains peoples, the Blackfeet among them.

https://www.nps.gov/places/museum-of-the-plains-indian.htm

Native America Speaks

Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet Nation·event

Each summer, members of the Blackfeet Nation and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes give talks at park campgrounds and lodges. NPS calls it the longest running Indigenous speaker series in the park service, started in 1982.

https://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/nas.htm

Blackfeet Nation's own site

Tribal lands have their own laws. Check the nation's site before you visit.

Parks on its homelands

Going-to-the-Sun Road switchbacking up a steep mountain wall in Glacier National Park.Glacier National Park

The Blackfeet Indian Reservation covers 1.5 million acres, shares Glacier's eastern border, and is home to about 8,600 members of the Blackfeet Nation, the largest tribe in Montana. Before European explorers began arriving, the Blackfeet held the prairies on the east side of Glacier, while the Salish, Pend d'Oreille, and Kootenai lived in the more forested west side. Source

Jenny Lake with the Cathedral Group of the Teton Range rising directly behind the far shore.Grand Teton National Park

The Blackfoot are among the peoples NPS says were harvesting the valley's seasonal riches when Europeans arrived, and the park says they camped near rivers and lakes and left for milder country with the coming of winter. Source

Programs

  • Blackfeet Tribal Historic Preservation Office

    Works to protect, preserve, and promote Blackfeet history and culture, through federal consultation, NAGPRA work, and a project that digitizes census records and historic photographs.

    https://www.blackfeet-thpo.com/·preservation

  • Piikani Studies, Blackfeet Community College

    Blackfeet Community College offers an associate degree, a minor, and a one-year certificate built on Piikani language courses. The certificate prepares graduates to seek Montana's Class 7 license to teach a Native language.

    https://bfcc.edu/Piikani-Studies·education

Sources

Checked September 2026.

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