Traditional Ecological Knowledge

How Cultural Burning Can End Catastrophic Wildfires

By: Monica K. Robinson

It’s that time of year again! Springtime means fire prep time in Northern California. Perry Lincoln of the Wailaki Tribe in Southern Humboldt and founder of non-profit Native Health in Native Hands (NHNH) is in the process of training a new controlled burn crew at the Piercy Community Center. NHNH’s 2nd annual co-organized training is in collaboration with organizations like the Briceland Volunteer Fire Department and Southern Humboldt Prescribed Burn Association. Lincoln said he’s looking forward to another cultural burn this year and educating more Native youth.

The coastal residents of Humboldt and surrounding counties had a rude awakening the morning of Sept. 9, 2020 as the sky turned black with a dark orange glow for a whole day. Since then, summer wildfires were no longer just an issue for communities in the eastern regions of California, but an unavoidable crisis that arrived at the seashore’s door. According to Cal Fire, 11 out of the 20 largest wildfires ever recorded in California history occurred in the last 5 years. Approximately 2.5 million acres were burned in 2020 alone.

With climate change on the rise, extreme weather conditions are likely to worsen. The decline of Humboldt County’s infamous eight-month rain season started about 20 years ago. A. Park

William, Benjamin I. Cook and Jason E. Smerdon published a UCLA-led study in the journal Nature Climate Change titled “Rapid Intensification of the Emerging Southwestern North American Megadrought in 2020-2021.”

They discovered through tree rings and soil moisture deficit that the anthropogenic trends of the West’s 22-year mega drought were the worst in severity and length since 800 A.D. Luckily, government agencies such as the USDA Forest Service have been taking a closer look at a solution called Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), and it’s finally starting to stick.

TEK is an ever-evolving native science that has been shared and developed by Indigenous Peoples since time immemorial. The extensive knowledge of how nature works is constructed through millennia of observation, patience and experimentation. These long-term relationships of interacting with plants and animals explain how Natives have kept balance in their harvests and stewardship without causing destruction to the environment. Cultural burning is a key component of TEK in Northern California and other parts of the world. By reintroducing this indigenous practice, we can help safeguard against extreme wildfires which destroy lives, homes and lands.

What is Cultural Burning?

Cultural burning is the Native ceremonial practice of intentionally lighting small, controlled, low-heat fires on the ground through song and prayer. This includes grass and shrub sprouts, which are more nutritious than other vegetation, as well as flower and fruit production in certain species. These changes increase the quality of food sources for people, birds, bees, mammals and insects, as well as open space for predators to hunt prey.

At Mouralherwaqh, on Wiyot owned land, just south of the Humboldt Bay in King Salmon, two traditional redwood canoes are in the process of being carved out of redwood logs which were knocked down in a storm and donated by California State Parks. Lincoln of NHNH created the canoe project, amongst many other projects, to revitalize the Wailaki culture and bring communities together as a whole. Lincoln works there with family, friends and council members of the Wailaki and Wiyot Tribes. He emphasized with a morsel of concern that the fire pit was flooded with water from a storm and made sure to dig a new one. When asked why it was necessary to prescribed and cultural burn associations helps make the tools needed for burn more accessible for Native community use. have a fire going, he said, “Well, it’s a part of our culture. We always have a fire burning.”

Despite the benefits, Indigenous fire stewardship is often hampered by landuse planning regulations which prohibit burns on private lands without permits from municipal or provincial governments. As a result, many tribes do not have access to the resources and expertise needed to implement Indigenous fire practices. The Hoopa Fire Chief, Greg Moon, bridges the gap between contemporary and traditional fire management with his government qualifications in combination with his understanding of the traditional purposes of fire, both spiritual and natural. Moon described prescribed burning as a legal prescription of fire with a designated firing boss or burn boss who trains and gets certified at a state and or federal level.

The importance of connection and community observed by Indigenous Peoples’ culture has dwindled throughout colonized societies across the world. Capitalist agendas and globalization have secluded and trapped societies into vicious cycles causing loneliness, depression and anxiety which can manifest into many illnesses. Lincoln said his goal with NHNH is to, “bring the people back together again”, by reviving their connection spiritually, mentally and physically to live a holistic way of life. NHNH also co-organizes training for Indigenous youths for controlled burn crews in Southern Humboldt. Their momentum of collaborations with local fire departments, the US Forest Service, as well as

“When I used to prescribe burn, I would just grab a horse and torch and go for it. I was a young firefighter and I just loved it, but then I started learning it’s more about respect and intention, which makes you feel better with better results,” said Moon.

A brief history: fire suppression and its results

In western North America, Indigenous fire regimes dominated the landscape for millennia before European colonization disrupted these traditions. Displacement and appropriation of Indigenous Peoples immediately spawned fire suppression because they could no longer tend to the land and culturally burn. Margo Robbins of the Yurok Tribe and co-founder/executive director of the Cultural Fire Management Council said, “Our landscapes evolved with fire since the beginning of time. We have been using fire to keep the ecosystems healthy and they are fire dependent ecosystems. In the absence of fire, the systems become very unbalanced and practically non-functional.”

During the Gold Rush in the 1850s, European settlers began enforcing fire suppression. It wasn’t until the 1911 Weeks Act when fire policy officially became federal law. This made it illegal to culturally burn according to Dr. Lincoln Bramwell in his article, “1911 Weeks Act: the Legislation that Nationalised the US Forest Service.” Moon explained, “Before the Gold Rush everything was oak woodland because we were able to burn, but after [colonization], different trees were planted.” As a result, the forests have become fuel dense with invasive species and vegetation which create these high-intensity crown fires we see today. “We have a fuels crisis, not a fire crisis,” concluded Robbins.

European colonization and government agencies replaced stewardship with clearcutting, monoculture plantations and used Smokey the Bear as a pitchman for aggressive fire suppression pol- system where individuals were trained and certified but did not reside within the geographical region. icies, destroying millennia of Indigenous cultural fire practices. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, Moon said fires would cost under a million dollars because the district rangers had authority and directive to put them out. In 1987, the government took authority away and built a national fire

Currently, Moon quotes fires at $7 million per day. Partly due to the first 24 hours spent ordering helicopters and air tankers, while teams from the east, south and west coasts, travel and set up camps. “We are never really preventing the fire or putting it out, we’re just keeping it smaller,” Moon added. Adjustments are finally happening to the National Fire Plan because the government is finally starting a conversation with Natives working at ground level. California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, in 2021, is a positive reflection of this “conversation” between Cal Fire and the United States Forest Service, in pursuit of supporting Cultural Burning for California Tribes.

The plethora of chemicals sprayed on food in the United States is directly linked to monoculture which creates an unnatural environment and weakens the plants genetic makeup. This leaves mono crops vulnerable to pests and disease which then easily adapt and thrive. One way cultural burning provides aid to pest and pathogen control is by creating diverse habitats within ecosystems. A devas- tating example of disease rampaging along the northern west coast is a water mold found in rivers called Sudden Oak Death. The tanoaks in southern Humboldt are at the epicenter of this devastating plague because their susceptibility is so high. While acorns are a staple food in many Tribes, oak woodland is also crucial to the structure of the forest. Moon said, during a burn they blacken the bottoms of tanoak and black oak trees to kill bugs and prevent acorn infection.

Traditional food and culture

A large portion of traditional food is collected from native vegetation such as tarweed, sunflowers, and oak trees. Lincoln said native seeds and acorns are increasingly becoming harder to find. With no room to expand, the productivity of certain native plants and trees are very low when compared to their productivity on culturally burned land.

Native Health in Native Hands Development Director, Brian Dykstra, an avid farmer, botanist and native bee educator gave a presentation about fire ecology at the 2nd N-Shong Konk’

(Wailaki for “Good Fire”) conference, co-sponsored by NHNH, Eel River Wailaki and Trees Foundation at the Mateel Community Center in Redway, Jan 2023.

Dykstra told the story of Carl Purdy’s life, who started shipping bulbs to the east coast for a profit in the late 1800s. This abundance of bulbs was a result of previously diverse and culturally burned land. His nickname was the “Lily Man of Ukiah,” and his team would pick an average of 4,000 bulbs per ten-hour day, with 400 bulbs per hour, at 6 per minute. Purdy himself noted that the abundance was because of purposeful burning by native communities. Today this level of bounty is unheard of.

Hazel sticks are another endangered resource used for basket weaving which is another core aspect to Native culture. Since cultural burning is often limited to small areas at a time due to government constraints, there’s not enough acreage to produce an adequate supply of hazel. Moon explained that old hazel sticks are basically unusable because the plant tissue becomes dry, hard and wiggly instead of soft and straight like a fresh hazel shoot. Tribal practitioners would like to burn more widely and frequently on their lands to promote resilience to wildfire and drought, con- serve biodiversity, maintain traditional knowledge, spiritual values, and provide abundant materials and goods.

The science of vegetative smoke

Dykstra displayed the findings of an emerging field relating the correlation of molecular constituents in plant-derived smoke with facilitation of seed germination and plant growth.

In southwest Australia the Noongar aboriginals also use fire to promote plant diversity and abundance. Only 10 years ago an Australian research group studying molecules in burning plant material found a plant growth regulator in the smoke. The researchers named it Karrikin after the Noongar word for smoke, karrik. Dykstra emphasized they wanted to reflect the importance of fire and smoke to plant ecology and to Aboriginal culture.

Karrikins are biologically active mole- cules which promote plant growth, stimulate seed germination, increase seedling heartiness and encourage underground and above ground branching in certain types of vegetation that normally pursue fire. He said, “There’s even seeds out there that tell you to bake them in a oven at 300 degrees, for 10 minutes before you plant because it’s a plant that would normally come after fire and sprout once the seeds are exposed.” In relation, about 80% of the world’s plant species develop relationships with subterranean fungi. An aspect of these connections between plants and fungal networks is a form of communication where they tap into each other’s networks to share resources. Dykstra concluded that some fungi are aware of a plant’s intention to connect through a molecular signaling pathway which Karrikin can emulate.

A hand and a burn plan

As the climate rapidly changes, educating ourselves and our youth with this advanced Native Science of Traditional Ecological Knowledge can not only heal the environment but heal our relationship with it. Humboldt and surrounding Counties have many opportunities for Native and non-native people interested in cultural or prescribed burning. Including The Cultural Fire Management Council, Humboldt County Prescribed Burn Association, Humboldt Fire Safe Council, Southern Humboldt Fire Safe Council and Prescribed Fire for Foresters.

Robbins shared a roadmap on hothe Yurok Tribe obtained a legal burn plan to return Cultural Burning back to their land. Starting out as a community group, they identified fire as their number one priority. First, they researched who had authority over fire, which were Cal Fire and The Bureau of Indian Affairs. Minimum entry-level firefighter qualifications and some upper-level firefighter qualifications were required including a burn boss, fire boss, engine boss and a holding boss. The Nature Conservancy, a global non-profit, contracted those higher-level positions while the commu- nity group held classes for members to obtain the entry-level qualifications. Once the firefighter qualifications were met, a burn plan was required entitling outlines of weather patterns approximating hot days, wind and moisture.

As well as the number of south facing slopes, people with qualifications, fire engines and types of vegetation. Robbins concluded.