Bishop / Paiute Nation

Harris Environmental provided GIS support to the Bishop Paiute Tribe’s Cultural Preservation Project through the production of aboriginal territory maps, and maps specific to their Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) project. Working with the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, we synthesized data from historic territory boundaries with early ethnographic and anthropological research and oral history from Paiute Shoshone people of the Owens Valley. This data was reviewed and approved by traditional cultural practitioners and the Bishop Indian Tribal Council. Two museum-quality maps were produced that the Bishop Paiute Tribe uses to educate visitors to the Paiute-Shoshone Cultural Center and to further their claims of cultural affiliation for repatriation of human remains and funerary objects under NAGPRA law. The maps were submitted as part of the tribe’s interim progress report required under their NAGPRA consultation and documentation grant, and were praised by the National NAGPRA office in Washington, DC. In January, 2012, the Inyo County Superintendent of Schools requested the maps be integrated into local curriculum.