198-7 Cultural Connections to the Living Landscape in the American Southwest

Session: Geoheritage Without Borders: International Perspectives on the Conservation and Celebration of Geodiversity, Part II

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Abstract:

Many Indigenous Tribes have had and continue to have a reciprocal and harmonious relationship with the land. Working with the National Park Service for the past 9 years in parks such as Navajo National Monument and Grand Canyon National Park, I often hear Tribes refer to our planet as a living landscape which includes every geological feature. This presentation will highlight local Indigenous connections to geology by sharing examples of appropriate cultural practices, heritage, and traditional uses in relation to geology. This includes how south facing alcoves in the canyon are geologically formed and used as shelters, the rocks used for ancestral cliff dwellings which are still spiritually occupied, the cultural importance of minerals and why we wear it in our jewelry, why desert varnish is used to carve petroglyphs in and sandstone is used to paint pictographs on, and the sacred significance of springs and water which gives us life. I share this Indigenous knowledge through my work at Grand Canyon because it is important to share a different perspective on geosciences and include First Voices when communicating with science communities and the public. Additional methods to do so will be discussed such as how local tribes are leading that initiative through First Voice interpretation/Tribal tourism not only at Grand Canyon but within Tribal lands.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-9361

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