[smcmurtry]

A similar thing happened in the last place I lived, a small town in the Northwest Territories, Canada. The indigenous people in the area (called the Tlicho) were able to take over some of the governance of their land from the Canadian government, including mineral rights. It is a pretty significant amount of land too, about 100km x 200km. To make the case they had to map which land was included in their territory and demonstrate that their use of it goes back a long time. So they sent out their elders and professional map makers on canoe trips along their traditional hunting routes. The map makers collected gps data and associated it with stories from the elders and artifacts they found along the way, which built a compelling case for the land claim.