Mapping for Sovereignty:

Seeds to Forest Defense

Mapping for Sovereignty:

A tech-enabled, culturally grounded campaign to stop destructive logging on Pine Mountain through community-driven monitoring and mapping.

Ventura, CA, USA

USA

Not registered as any organization

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We are addressing the threat of extractive logging in Chumash territory under the guise of federal “fire prevention.” A proposed project seeks to remove hundreds of acres of old-growth forest atop Pine Mountain near Ojai, California—an ecologically sensitive and culturally sacred area. Although the region is not at high risk of wildfire, logging companies are pursuing public contracts based on overstated fire threats initiated under the Trump administration. This pattern of land mismanagement, enabled by federal funding and lack of Indigenous consultation, mirrors larger climate and sovereignty issues across North America. Locally, thousands of Ventura County residents, including Chumash community members, risk losing access to a biodiverse ecosystem central to cultural practices, water health, and regional resilience. Globally, logging and false climate solutions threaten Indigenous-managed lands at scale, despite ample evidence that Indigenous stewardship protects 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity. We are a collective of land defenders and relatives and believe that increased visibility will further our campaigns to bring attention to these injustices. We are working to stop this destruction and protect the mountain by building a community-led, tech-enabled resistance that produces maps, visual evidence, and public pressure grounded in cultural knowledge and ecological truth.

Mapping for Sovereignty: Chumash Eyes on the Mountain is a community-led drone and mapping project that protects Pine Mountain in Chumash territory from extractive logging. Our solution combines drone technology, GIS mapping, and traditional ecological knowledge to document and defend culturally significant lands under threat. We will train Chumash community members—especially youth—in drone operation, GPS data collection, and basic GIS mapping. These tools will help us create detailed maps, time-lapse imagery, and visual reports that show the ecological importance and cultural relevance of the forest. This data will be used in public awareness campaigns, legal advocacy, and organizing efforts to stop logging. The solution uses accessible tools like QGIS (an open-source mapping platform), mid-range drones with 4K cameras, and story-based mapping platforms like Mapbox or StoryMaps to create powerful, community-controlled media. We’ll also host community events to share findings, deepen collective knowledge, and guide strategy. At its core, this is not just about monitoring—it’s about reclaiming the right to define what protection looks like, combining tech and story to advance land stewardship rooted in Chumash values.

Our solution directly serves Chumash community members and allied residents of Ventura County, California. The Chumash people are Indigenous to the coastal and inland regions of what is now Southern California, with ancestral lands stretching from the Channel Islands through the Santa Ynez and Santa Monica mountains to the interior valleys, including Pine Mountain. There are multiple Chumash tribal bands, including the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians—the only federally recognized Chumash tribe—as well as unrecognized but sovereign bands such as the Barbareño/Ventureño Band of Mission Indians, the Coastal Band, the Northern Chumash, and others. Chumash families continue to live throughout Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Los Angeles Counties, with many returning for gatherings. While the government has imposed fragmentation through missionization, displacement, and federal recognition policies, Chumash communities have maintained strong cultural, ecological, and kinship ties to our homelands. Pine Mountain remains a site for ceremony, prayer, and traditional practices that continue to this day. This project intentionally bridges tribal bands and geographic distances, bringing together Chumash people from the Santa Ynez Reservation, urban Native communities, and land return organizers to protect a site of collective memory, identity, and ongoing presence.