COMPATIBLE INDIGENOUS AND GEOSCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE, FLATHEAD INDIAN RESERVATION, NORTHWEST MONTANA

The Flathead Geoscience Education Project (FGEP) investigated the natural and cultural history of the Flathead Indian Reservation through a combination of geoscience study, traditional tribal knowledge, and oral histories. Tribal college educators initiated the project as a way to bridge gaps between geoscience concepts and Indigenous knowledge. The FGEP was intended to fulfill the following objectives: 1) expand students’ understanding of geoscience concepts and local geology; 2) promote explorations of tribal knowledge; 3) consider compatibilities between Western science and Native knowledge; and 4) provide multiple perspectives for the same landscapes. The project, which involved collaborations between geoscientists and local communities, promoted the inclusion of both perspectives in the curriculum. Educational resources produced during the project were developed in collaboration with tribal elders and the Salish-Pend d’Oreille and Kootenai Culture Committees, which approved the materials for general distribution.

Participants identified multiple localities throughout the reservation that served as field sites critical to understanding local geoscience concepts, traditional knowledge, and oral histories. One such place (the Big Draw valley west of Flathead Lake) figures prominently in both geoscience and Indigenous narratives. Similarities between the interconnected viewpoints are indicative of compatible perspectives that benefit from mutual reinforcement. According to both histories, a large volume of flowing water played a major role in creating the local landscape, which currently is devoid of perennial streams. Geoscientists describe braided glacial outwash and spill channels formed downstream of a terminal moraine which likely marks the western limit of the Flathead Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet during its furthest ice advance. Tribally distinct narratives tell of 1) a monster that drank all of the water in Flathead Lake and later released it into the Big Draw; 2) a giant beaver that built a series of dams (moraines) on Flathead Lake until it overflowed, spilling water down the valley; and 3) Coyote, who had almost finished digging a river channel (Big Draw) eastward toward the lake when he became distracted and left behind a large hill (moraine) just west of Big Arm Bay.