Ryan Spring (left) and David Batton of the Choctaw Nation Historic Preservation De- partment display an award for their work with geographic information systems.
Department Named Tribal GIS Program of the Year
By Brandon Frye
Choctaw Nation
Durant, Okla. - The Choctaw Nation’s Historic Preservation Department received a national award on Nov. 18 for its work mapping information of cultural importance.
The National Tribal Geographic Information Support Center (NTGISC), which represents more than 200 tribes, issued the award for the department’s outstanding performance in geospatial practice, community outreach, and contributing to the development of others.
Ryan Spring and David Batton are the individuals within Historic Preservation who work most closely with geographic information systems (GIS)–the method of organizing information in a geographic space.
The landscape is dotted with reminders of the Choctaw ancestors’ presence. These reminders include archaeological sites, burials, sacred places, and artifacts. Unique and irreplaceable, these sites are threatened by looting, development, and the progression of time.
But, documented historic sites are protected from disturbance at a federal level. When a road needs to be built or a cell tower needs to be constructed, federal construction must first check with Native governments.
Historic Preservation annually consults on 1,800 to 2,000 federally funded projects within a nine state region, to insure that these projects do not disturb Choctaw ancestral sites. The department also regularly consults with state agencies, tribal members, and the general public to protect Choctaw sites on non-federal land.
Spring gave a presentation at the Choctaw Nation Tribal Complex in Durant, explaining his GIS work with the Trail of Tears.
In addition to mapping out the Trail of Tears and pinpointing historic locations, Historic Preservation also used GIS in a Place Names Project.
“We are able to acknowledge the connection between Choctaw people and our homeland through the research and documentation of place names using Cultural GIS,” Spring said.
“Cultural GIS allows us to map the landscape without western boundaries and gives us a glimpse into the past,” Spring explained.
The department shares its work and knowledge with other tribes helping them to start similar programs. It also teaches students at the Talihina Kiamichi Technology EAST program, who get a hands-on experience with GIS equipment and methods.
See the complete story on ChoctawNation.com. For information, contact Ryan Spring with the Choctaw Nation Historic Preservation Department at (800) 522-6170 ext. 2137.