This thesis combined GIS analysis, archival research, and dendrochronological methods to provide a means for interpreting how the Mvs-yee-se’-ne cultural landscape has changed since the period of European contact circa 1850. By employing dendrochronological methods, a unique stand of Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana) was found to be present at Mvs-yee-se’-ne by at least 1809. Since 1850, factors such as American colonization, homesteading, mining, fire suppression, and logging have had an effect on cultural landscapes such as Mvs-yee-se’-ne regionally, but this research localized such effects in a site-specific context. Aerial imagery analysis conducted for this thesis documented extractive activities, such as logging, occurring on the parcel. The effect being that in some areas of Mvs-yee-se’-ne, nearly 50% of open grassland spaces were lost to encroaching conifers. This type of environmental reconstruction can assist land managers and Tribal governments in visualizing ecological restoration goals they hope to accomplish at Mvs-yee-se’-ne and provide an informative baseline from which a site management plan for Mvs-yee-se’-ne can be developed in the near future
