Fire Belongs Here.
Watch more:
“Learn about Prescribe Fire” Youtube Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVmvuH0x-4aheLDQDLXu4uwWrVqIXMfgC
“Revitalizing our Relationship With Fire”
https://youtu.be/SF3MNpuqzSg
“Catching Fire: Prescribed Burning in Northern California”
https://youtu.be/LWriDpfZnXQ
“Every Fire Tells A Story”
https://youtu.be/kpglLhmwPMc
Learn more:
Karuk Tribe Climate Change Projects
https://karuktribeclimatechangeprojects/fire-works
Eco-Cultural Endowment Facebook Page
Facebook.com/ecoculturalrevitalization/
Western Klamath Restoration Partnership Website
WKRP.network
Donate:
Eco-Cultural Revitalization Fund
https://connect.clickandpledge.com/Organization/karuk/
Karuk Tribe, Karuk Climate Adaptation Plan, Karuk Tribe, 2019
Excerpted, p. 42-45
The exceptional biological diversity of the mid-Klamath River region Northern California has emerged in conjunction with sophisticated Karuk land management practices, including the regulation of the forest and fisheries through ceremony and the use of fire. Karuk management practices have been interrupted by genocide and ongoing presence of non-Native land management practices. In particular the exclusion of fire has led to radical ecological changes including high fuel loads, decreased habitat for large game such as elk and deer, reduction in the quantity and quality of acorns, and alteration of growth patterns of basketry materials such as hazel and willow. Across California the increasing frequency of high severity fire points to the need to re-examine human relationships with fire.
Karuk People have historically used fire for millennia. While fire can be incredibly dangerous, it is an inevitable part of natural ecosystems, especially in lightning-prone forested areas such as the mid-Klamath. Forested areas in northern California have become adapted to frequent occurrence of relatively low intensity fire from human and natural ignitions for more than the past 1,000 years (Perry et al. 2011, Taylor et al 2016).
Karuk use of fire has been central to the evolution of the flora and fauna of the mid- Klamath (Anderson 2005, Lake 2007 and 2013, Lake et al. 2010, Skinner et al. 2006).
These fire adapted forests burned in smaller overall areas in mosaic patterns with patches of high intensity fire (Mohr et al. 2000, Skinner et al. 2006, Perry et al. 2011). Fire has long been an important tool to manipulate landscape to patch-scale fire necessary for Karuk cultural sustenance and well-being (Lake 2013). Indeed, Karuk culture is directly dependent on mixed fire severity regimes (Lake 2007, Norgaard 2014). Karuk fire management practices include burning at a specific season, frequency, and intensity at a variety of severities. This frequent, low-intensity fire is linked with various fire-adapted vegetation communities and it necessary for the maintenance of cultural resources. Fire is especially critical for restoring grasslands for elk, managing for food sources including tanoak and black oak acorns, maintaining quality basketry materials, producing smoke that shades the river for fish, and more.
The passage of the Weeks Act in 1911 following the Big Burn of 1910, made cultural uses of fire essentially illegal and for the many decades following, less and less burning occurred while more and more vegetation grew. Over a century of policies of fire suppression have created the conditions for the catastrophic, high-intensity wildfires we are seeing today. Warming temperatures and summer droughts further exacerbate these conditions.
In the context of climate change, Karuk tribal knowledge and management principles regarding the use of fire are being utilized to reduce the likelihood of high severity fires. Fortunately, in the face of the changing climate, many ecologists, fire scientists and policy makers, Native and non-Native alike have turned to indigenous knowledge and management practices with renewed interest and optimism in the hope that they may provide a much-needed path towards both adaptation and reducing emissions (Williams and Hardison 2013, Martinez 2011, Raygorodetsky 2011, Vinyeta and Lynn 2013, Whyte 2013, Wildcat 2009).
See Transcription at:
https://karuktribeclimatechangeprojects/fire-works
Video by: Jenny Staats, Bruno Seraphin, Kari Norgaard
Additional video: Deer Creek GIS, ABC News, Klamath-Salmon Media Collaborative, The Press Democrat, Karuk Tribe Deparment of Natural Resources Wildlife Department, Mid Klamath Watershed Council
Music: Brian Tripp
Featuring:
Leaf Hillman, Director of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy, Department of Natural Resources, Karuk Tribe
Analisa Tripp, Cultural Technician III, Department of Natural Resources, Karuk Tribe
Financial support provided by the U.S. Department of Energy.
See Work Cited at:
https://karuktribeclimatechangeprojects.com/fire-works/
