Sqigwts 3-D Landscape

The Sqigwts 3-D Landscape is an interactive three-dimensional experience developed to provide an opportunity to effectively learn about the important cultural significance of sqigwts, the water potato (Sagittaria latifolia) to the Schitsu’umsh or Coeur d’Alene Indian (of the Pacific Northwest USA) and potential risks and vulnerabilities climate change may pose for this species and the Schitsu’umsh living relationship with it. Schitsu’umsh knowledge and practice is called hnkhwelkhwlnet, “our ways of life in the world,” and is conveyed through acts of re-telling their oral traditions and stories. For the Schitsu’umsh, storytelling is a living act and can only truly occur in-person as a shared experience between the storyteller and listeners as active participants. While a simulation of this active in-person exchange, this 3-D Landscape provides a storytelling experience that attempts to replicates how hnkhwelkhwlnet can be accessed and understood. This format more effectively expresses indigenous meaning than a literacy-based format. Conveyed in the 3-D Landscape are insights into this unique indigenous form of knowledge and practice and how it has provided a means for Schitsu’umsh to successfully adapt to various forms of environmental and social change. Schitsu’umsh hnkhwelkhwlnet offers insights into how the indigenous and the scientific, in concert with each other, can be applied to address climate change. In offering this 3-D Landscape to the public, the Schitsu’umsh invite you to participate in this story, interact with its content, and see for yourself what mi’yp, lessons, about their hnkhwelkhwlnet are revealed to you. The Sqigwts 3-D Landscape was developed under a project funded by the United States Geological Survey entitled "Schitsu'umsh Relationships with Their Dynamic Landscapes: Identifying, Managing, and Applying Indigenous Knowledge and Praxis," with Co-PIs from the Schitsu'umsh Tribe and from the University of Idaho. All final materials developed for this project, both intellectual property and traditional knowledge, were reviewed by the Tribal Council and related Committees, and approved for public dissemination. Technical Note: To visit the 3D Landscape, you must either use Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Opera for your web browser; Google Chrome does not support the needed functionality.