Informing Klamath River Restoration Planning with Indigenous spatial analysis and community-identified relational values: Pêeshkeesh Yáv Umúsaheesh

This project will weave together science and technology studies (STS), critical physical geography (CPG), and Indigenous studies to contribute to reparative approaches for Indigenous-led and place-based river restoration theory and practice. By mapping field research projects with intergenerational knowledge exchanges between Native youth and elders and interviews with Native and non-Native natural resource scientists the project will investigate how Karuk-led and Western-science-led approaches to riverscape planning may conflict with and complement each other due to differing epistemologies and governance structures. It will focus on Karuk knowledge-making practices that integrate geospatial, and ethnographic data with place-based understandings of ecological processes. The team—comprising Karuk cultural practitioners, Karuk Tribal agency staff, and non-Karuk academic researchers—will design, participate in, and evaluate an intervention into river governance to develop a riverscape restoration plan. The work will culminate in public presentations of findings and analysis of broader river governance processes that implement and maintain a community focused restoration plan.  

Co-funding for this award is being provided by Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) program one of NSF's 10 Big Ideas. NNA supports projects that address convergence scientific challenges in the rapidly changing Arctic, empower new research partnerships, diversify the next generation of Arctic researchers, enhance efforts in formal and informal education, and integrate the co-production of knowledge where appropriate. This award aligns with those goals.

Additional co-funding of this award is provided by EcoSystem Science, Geomorphology and Land Use Dynamics, Hydrological Sciences Program and Science of Broadening Participation.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.