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The Mono Lake Kootzaduka’a tribe is one of seven traditionally associated tribes of Yosemite National Park, and one of only two who lack federal recognition. As an unrecognized people, the tribe has been denied land ownership, sovereignty, social services, and federal funding. This project originates in that status, and in the tribe’s desire to achieve their goals through alternate means, rather than waiting for federal recognition.

The tribal territory, known as Kootzagwae, extends from Yosemite to the Great Basin of Nevada, encompassing much of Mono County, California . The post-colonization history of this region is driven by extraction, and its future is inextricably linked with climate change processes. In response, the tribe seeks to revitalize their culture, take a leading role in ecological stewardship, create new economic opportunities, and build their capacity. They formed a partnership with the National Park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program (NPS-RTCA), who subsequently connected with Cal Poly Pomona for planning and design assistance.

The project team worked with the tribe to: (1) co-develop strategies for cultural heritage revitalization and education; (2) help identify opportunities to improve ecological health and resilience to climate change impacts within Kootzagwae; (3) explore potential economic opportunities for the Kootzaduka’a tribe within new projects; and (4), support the tribe’s efforts to become a model for other unrecognized tribes, building capacity through mutually beneficial collaboration with agency partners.

The team worked within a co-design framework, inhabiting the role of designers as facilitators, in partnership with community leadership throughout all stages of the project. This approach requires a critically socially conscious mindset to be embraced by designers, empowering the community to shape the project with their needs and values in mind to realize their own vision.

To assess the landscape, students worked with the tribe as well as government agencies to understand regional and local context. This included mapping and analyzing cultural assets, ecological systems, climate issues, and socioeconomic factors. Methods included field study, participatory mapping, spatial modeling, and UAV technologies. The team maintained consistent contact with the tribe and the NPS-RTCA, facilitated design charrettes and workshops with tribal leaders, and joined meetings with regional stakeholders. Students traveled to Kootzagwae each semester, recording their experiences, ground truthing ideas, and empathizing with the tribe’s relation to its ancestral homelands.

The collaboration resulted in plans and designs for a tribal heritage park, an interpretive trail and trail-builder prototype, ecological restoration, recognition of sites of consciousness, and design for a community housing & health center, as well as a climate impact report. The implementation of these plans relies on partnership and negotiation with a mix of governmental and nonprofit agencies. The results of our collaboration will enable the tribe to be ready for new opportunities as they arise, and may serve as a model for unrecognized tribes throughout North America.

This multi-partner collaboration is an affirmation of the capacity of landscape architecture to support tribal communities in reconciling human-land relationships. It offers valuable lessons to other designers working with indigenous tribes.