The mountains to the east lie in the Mission Mountain Wilderness and the Mission Mountain Tribal Wilderness, a range that is more than a natural wonder because it is the first place in America where an Indian nation designated tribal lands as a wilderness preserve. The crest of the range forms the eastern boundary of the Flathead Reservation. On the east side, 73,877 acres are managed by the Flathead National Forest, while 89,500 acres on the west side are under the purview of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai (Flathead) Tribes. Both wildernesses are managed cooperatively and are open to everyone, though differences in management styles reflect tribal ties and traditions on the west side. Some tribal elders can still trace old hunting trails through the Missions, routes hunters used to cross to the eastern Montana plains to hunt buffalo. The mountains also hold sacred sites where tribal members go alone to fast and seek spiritual guidance, as well as traditional summer camps where families pick berries, gather medicinal herbs, plants and roots, and cut tipi poles. Clarence Woodcock of the Flathead Cultural Committee expressed the tribes' deep-rooted spiritual and cultural ties to the mountains, calling them lands where their people walked and lived, and lands and landmarks carved into the minds of their ancestors through Coyote stories and actual experiences.