GPS Training: “Putting Winnemem Back on the Map”
Sitting upon a rocky perch, high above the McCloud River canyon, Winnemem Wintu Tribal Member Michael Preston takes a GPS reading at the sacred Eagle Rock.
With help from the DataCenter, the Sacred Land Film Project and the Pacific Institute, the Winnemem Wintu Tribe was trained to use Global Positioning System (GPS) devices and software this past weekend for a new effort to use technology to protect and reclaim traditional lands and sacred places.
In addition to collecting geographic data and creating maps, the Tribe will also gather oral histories and personal memories of traditional sites. This will improve the cultural knowledge of the entire Tribe as well as build strong evidence for the Tribe’s cultural, spiritual and generational ties to their sacred places.
Collecting all this data will also help correct errors early “explorers” made in mapping Winnemem territory, errors that to this day are often used to hinder or obstruct the Winnemem’s voice in development projects within their homelands on the McCloud River (Winnemem Waywakit) watershed.
“It’s time to put the Winnemem back on the map,” said Traditional Hereditary Chief and Spiritual Leader Caleen Sisk-Franco.”We used to believe we had to keep these locations secret to protect them. But now houses are being built in places we’d never thought we see them. Development is coming, and I think we have to collect this information and decide what we need to share in order to protect our sacred places.”
No Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.