Land Acknowledgement
For the Peoples of the Tahoma Watershed and All Our Relations
The Land Beneath the Code
This project is built in the shadow of Tahoma — known to settlers as Mount Rainier — the great volcanic peak that the Puyallup people call Tacobud ("Mother of Waters"), whose glacial meltwater feeds the rivers, the Sound, and all living things downstream.
We acknowledge that this work takes place on the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the Coast Salish peoples — specifically the territories of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Nisqually Indian Tribe, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Squaxin Island Tribe, Steilacoom Tribe, and Duwamish Tribal Organization.
These nations are signatories to the Medicine Creek Treaty of 1854 and the Point Elliott Treaty of 1855. These are not historical peoples. They are here. They govern. They fish. They teach. They lead.
Indigenous Data Sovereignty
WKit generates virtual representations of real Indigenous territories. This carries obligations under the OCAP Principles (Ownership, Control, Access, Possession) and CARE Principles (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics).
What we DO NOT map without permission: Sacred sites, ceremonial grounds, medicine gathering locations, culturally restricted knowledge. The void in the map is itself data — it says "here is knowledge that exists but is not ours to display."
Right of reply: Indigenous communities have the standing right to request corrections, additions, or removals of any data representing their territories in this engine.