“When we talk about the Los Angeles landscape and what was here before, people usually insist the area was a desert,” Bram said. “Well, that’s not necessarily true. I don’t think people realize, for instance, that parts of central Los Angeles used to be a massive wetland complex. It’s really important that people understand the land we now occupy when they think about its use and the role of water.”
Zappia and Bram have partnered with faculty at University of California, Los Angeles and University of Southern California, who initiated the project as well as faculty at Cal State Long Beach and Cal State Los Angeles and members of the Tataviam, Tongva and Chumash tribes to synthesize indigenous knowledge, historical topographical data, indicators of wildlife species, cultural archives and historical aerial photography to create the first-ever interactive online map of Los Angeles’ historical landscape. The project is being funded by a grant from the John Randolph H
February 21, 2021 at 3:42 pm by Rachel Lim
On Feb. 16, native elders from the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation and Indigenous activists came together to lead a discussion about the significance of sacred land to Native American cultures and to explore UC Santa Barbaraâs legacy as a land-grant university built on Indigenous land, as well as the University of Californiaâs role in funding the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Mauna Kea, a sacred volcano on the island of Hawaiâi.Â
Rachel Lim / Daily Nexus
The panel, called âUnderstanding the Sacred: Listening to Indigenous People and Land,â was held by UCSBâs MultiCultural Center as part of its Conscious Conversations Series and was co-sponsored by the Mauna Kea Protectors, a group fighting for the immediate termination of the construction of the telescope.
February 17, 2021 at 1:00 am by Sean Crommelin
Save the San Marcos Foothills, an organization led by Channel Islands Restoration and established to protect undeveloped property next to the San Marcos Foothills Preserve, carried out a demonstration on Monday, January 8th to announce a series of legal actions to the public.
Ernestine Ygnacio-De Soto, a Barbareño Chumash Elder, spoke alongside members of Channel Island Restoration and Save the San Marcos Foothills.
Sean Crommelin / Daily Nexus
The San Marcos Foothills Preserve is a protected area encompassing 200 acres of oak savanna and grassland between Santa Barbara and Goleta in the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains.