The Winds of Minidoka: Preserving the Japanese American Past

Like other sites of Japanese American incarceration, Minidoka Relocation Center was long neglected after World War II. Buildings were removed or deteriorated, and few visited the isolated spot. Increased public recognition of the injustice of mass incarceration, culminating in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, catalyzed public history projects to preserve sites of Nikkei1 World War II history and led to the eventual establishment of Minidoka National Historic Site. In recent years, significant restoration and interpretation projects have transformed the site, providing visitors with a rich historical context. However, its future is threatened by a proposed massive wind farm near the historic site. The project has mobilized both Japanese Americans and local Idahoans in resistance for divergent reasons that speak to the historical tensions over land use in the American West. The situation underscores the precarious state of Japanese American history, how its establishment and preservation rely upon the community, but is still powerfully shaped by the federal government and, now, the exigencies of responding to global climate change.