The Bears Ears Digital Cultural Heritage Initiative (BEDCHI) brings together Tribal representatives, federal land managers, museum professionals, archaeologists, ethnographers, and students to document culturally significant sites within Bears Ears National Monument on Thursday July 16th at 6:00 p.m. in the Moab Information Center.

By combining emerging technologies with Indigenous perspectives, the project is developing augmented and virtual reality experiences for Tribal communities and the public.

This presentation highlights two years of CNHA-funded workshops conducted in partnership with the Navajo Nation and the Pueblo of Zuni. Through training in photogrammetry and ethnographic interviewing, students gained hands-on experience documenting cultural landscapes while learning collaborative approaches to heritage preservation. Attendees will learn how the project helps share Indigenous connections to Bears Ears, supports Tribal engagement with ancestral homelands, contributes to cultural landscape protection, and provides interdisciplinary training for the next generation of cultural heritage professionals. The project is supported in part through CNHA’s Discovery Pool research grant program.