Life of the Salt River
Lab: Indigenizing Food Systems, Spring 2023
Instructors: Myla Vicenti Carpio, Melissa Nelson
Type: Map
Tags: Native, Food Systems
Team: Ciera Parkhurst, Elora Bevacqua, Zac Whaley
Learn more about this Lab
About the outcome
Our outcome is a digital story map that narrates the life of the Salt River and the watershed's changes over time due to historic colonization and current decolonization work. We gathered material through library archives, online research, and site visits to the local watershed to find information and visuals that readers can connect with and learn from.
About the team
Ciera Parkhurst is a senior at ASU studying sustainability and geographic information science. She enjoys projects that combine these fields by using spatial data and mapping technology for sustainability projects, especially projects that help achieve environmental justice. She also works as a GIS Technician and Conservation Research Aide at ASU. She was born in New Mexico but lived in the Phoenix area for most of her life. As a desert native, she enjoys hiking, camping, and exploring our landscape.
Elora Bevacqua is a senior at ASU studying sustainability for food systems and ecosystems. She is from what used to be a rural part of Arizona and grew up growing food and raising animals with my family. That was the origin of her interest in food systems. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, traveling, and being with family and friends. She is a student worker at the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems and an intern for the Maricopa County Food System Coalition. Indigenizing Food Systems has brought so many new perspectives to her life and she is excited for the impact of their project.
Zac Whaley is an undergraduate student at the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University studying conservation biology and global health with a minor in political science. His research interests include social-ecological systems and indigenous food sovereignty, both of which he has been able to pursue in his research on the indigenous food pathways of the Salt River. With this project, he hopes to contribute to the restoration of the Salt River social-ecological system, for the benefit of both Indigenous peoples and settlers.