The CRD provides educational opportunities for Fort Peck’s members, agencies, and public-at-large. Recent activities include briefings and site tours for development agencies and community members, newspaper articles about the CRD, and various meetings for Reservation personnel. The CRD emphasizes the importance of Fort Peck’s cultural resources through videos and on-Reservation/off-Reservation booth displays, and has a strong community outreach program. Recent outreach efforts include:
Site tours offered to local communities, area schools, archaeologists and scientists.
Displays at local events including private, public and Tribal.
Newspaper articles, Tribal publications, and the Tribal News Paper.
Tens of thousands have been reached through these efforts. Because traditional members have been offered monetary benefit in the past for local school presentations, it is now problematic because CRD can not afford the going rate for presenters. This has caused a problem with the quality of programs and presenter participation.
Community Awareness
The CRD strives to involve community members in cultural resources initiatives. Community members are reached through the CRD active member outreach and cultural programs. The CRD works especially closely with school children and with volunteers from its traditional cultural communities, spiritual groups, visiting traditionalists, and curation authorities. Volunteers are organized through past recruitment lists and the accomplishments to the projects. Montana University volunteers have recorded and mapped new sites, and conducted test excavations. Traditional Practitioners assist with the curation of the Museum’s artifact collections and in leading archaeological site tours. The CRD is indebted to its volunteers, who provide service at essentially no cost.