Abstract

Using GIS to Understand How the Paiute People Irrigated Lands
Track: Tribal/Indigenous GIS Programs
Authors: BryAnna Vaughan

This project began with one man's enjoyment of walking in his indigenous lands. A Paiute elder spent much of his life walking around the Owens Valley contemplating the way life used to be when only Native Americans inhabited the area. In doing so he began noticing linear depressions in the landscape. It became evident that these features were irrigation ditches and they were created prior to non-Native settlement into the Valley. See how GIS, GPS and LiDAR were used to reconstruct history.