Public Outreach and Interpretation

Public Outreach and Interpretation

Through our public outreach and interpretation services, we work with descendant communities and other stakeholders to craft compelling narratives that support project, community, and agency goals. From broadcast-quality films and interpretive signage to brochures, manuals and presentations, our educational and outreach products provide essential mitigation when impacts to cultural resources are unavoidable. Our skilled team brings these stories to life through community engagement, research, compelling copywriting, custom illustrations, photography, and archival sourcing.

Beyond digital and print media, we  are committed to developing and implementing in-person field trainings and workshops to educate the construction crews, land managing agencies, and the public on archaeological and tribal resources in collaboration with descendant communities and Native American organizations, understanding the important value in meaningful and long lasting relationships centered around education, environment, and resource protection.

To learn more, visit some of our key public outreach projects below:

A Point in Time is a 46-minute film on how archaeological research is conducted. Far Western Art Director and Producer Tammara Norton and Director Phil Gross recently completed this film for Nevada BLM. It has been shown on Vegas PBS Channel 10 and is available on the PBS streaming service.

In collaboration with  California State Parks and the Sierra State Parks Foundation, Far Western Art Director, Tammara Norton designed and fabricated underwater markers and ‘dive cards’ for three boats and two barges for the Emerald Bay Maritime Heritage Trail.

VIDEO: Gold, Water and Power, PG&E on the Stanislaus River California’s Gold Rush era water transport system would later play a critical role in PG&E’s hydroelectric system. (16 Minutes)

In the Time when Animals were People is a collection of traditional Yokut and Western Mono stories gathered by anthropologists from tribal Elders who could still remember the old times. Those times are gone, but the people and the stories remain.

Creating Vya: The Dream of Dry Farming in Long Valley, Nevada describes the rise and fall of the community of Vya with information on Northern Paiute lifeways, early explorers, cattle ranching, and the failed Long Valley Water Project. The book includes numerous photographs by John L. Henry.

The book Life on the River – The Archaeology of an Early Native American Culture explains archaeological techniques and discoveries at a Shasta County site, located on the Upper Sacramento River. It documents Wintu lifeways just before and during the arrival of Europeans into the area.

The Long Road Traveled is a public-oriented document about the Cuyama Valley. The full digital document is available in online-magazine form here. See the 3D Visualization Gallery here

People of the Tules: Archaeology and Prehistory of California’s Great Central Valley presents information about excavations that revealed evidence of environmental and cultural changes. An audio version is available for the visually impaired.

Written on the Land: 10,000 Years of Human History along Marsh Creek. For thousands of years before the Spanish, the Mexicans, or the Americans entered the East Bay/Delta region of California, Native people lived in this beautiful place.

Mountain Harvest: The Use of Pinyon Nuts by the Paiute and Their Ancestors Near Sherwin Summit, California.

Stealing the Sun presents an overview of the prehistory of the central Sierra Nevada foothills by combining archaeology and traditional Me-Wuk stories.

Looking for Pieces of the Puzzle is a seven-minute video of archaeologists at work along State Route 49, in the Sierra Nevada foothills of western Tuolumne County, California.

Step Back in Time! Archaeology and Prehistory in Sierra Valley highlights work with the Washoe tribe to preserve one of the most important archaeological sites ever found in northern California.

Many Cultures, One Land, covers the prehistory and historical events that forever changed the lives of the Native peoples in the area.

View spectacular rock art found at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California.