Fire Archaeology

By Angie Johnson-Schmit

Protecting History in the Face of Wildland Fires.

Wildfires are a part of life in Arizona, and fire management teams are a vital line of defense for both personal and public property. Among the most precious treasures in our state are our national parks and monuments, most of which fall under the protection and management of the National Park Services (NPS). The list of NPS sites in Central and Northern Arizona includes places like Montezuma Castle, Tuzigoot, Sunset Crater Volcano, and the Grand Canyon. NPS works closely with a network of firefighting and fire management teams to protect and preserve these natural, historical, and cultural sites.

Fire management involves a wide array of team members representing several trained personnel. Perhaps one of the lesser-known elements of fire management teams are Fire Archaeologists. Hailing from Coal Mine Mesa, Dinetah, Grand Canyon NPS employee Jason Nez is one of these specialty archaeologists.

Photos courtesy of Jason Nez

A Northern Arizona University (NAU) graduate in environmental science, Nez said his degree allows him to look at archaeology from a slightly different perspective. “It really allows me to look at this big picture humans and environment (in the present), humans and the environment in the past, and then humans and environment into the future.” He also credits his experience as a Native American who has “lived out in this landscape, who understands our deep cultural connections to this landscape,” as an additional frame of reference he can call on when giving advice on fire management decisions.

After graduating from NAU, Nez’s first job with the NPS was as a seasonal back country ranger at Navajo National Monument. He spent much of his time “reading books, reading old survey reports, just learning the history of everything I could, because as a back country ranger there wasn’t anything to do at night.”

His next job was with the Navajo archaeology department, where he had the opportunity to learn hands-on excavation. “I learned lab work, I learned how to do interviews, I learned how to talk to people about history, and it was great,” said Nez. He also racked up experience excavating for infrastructure projects surveying power, water, and sewage lines.

As an NPS fire archaeologist, Nez has worked in California and Oregon, helping them with fire management and their specific cultural resource issues. In addition, he worked on the engine crew at the Grand Canyon as a regular firefighter for two years. He also worked the Doce Fire near Granite Mountain, west of Prescott, AZ. “I’ve been a firefighter, I’ve worked on fire lines, I’ve run crews,” said Nez. “And that experience also comes into the way I do my job and helps me make better decisions, both for the resources and the safety of the people responding.”

Specifically, Nez’s job is to work with fire management and the science division to coordinate preparation for fires where there are a lot of Native American cultural sites. He helps come up with a plan to protect those sites and to implement that protection plan, whether it is for a prescribed burn or a wildland fire. “We’ll cooperate and use all of our input,” said Nez. “I’ll be getting advice from the fire crew, and then from my archaeology experience, I’ll be thinking, okay, this is what we need to protect, and this is how we can do it.” The fire crews work together on fuel reduction and, during active fires, will use structure wrap, or set up a hose to protect a culturally sensitive area.

Nez points out that a significant part of his work happens well before there is an active fire situation. Part of his responsibilities include assisting in the training of other national resource advisors on how to work with fire management and how to work on an active fire line. Normally these trainings are done in person with approximately 20 to 30 people in class. During the pandemic, however, trainings have been conducted online, with attendance as high as 600 participants. “We’re training young scientists, federal scientists, biologists, archaeologists, hydrologists, anyone that normally works a science job, how to…use those science skills for specific tasks on the (fire) incident.”

A geographic information system (GIS) is used to show where important natural and cultural resources are, as well as community resources like power lines and water lines. This information helps fire fighters make better decisions about where they can and cannot dip water, as well as areas that cannot have retardant drops. “It’s a lot of on-the-ground work, but it’s also a lot of planning and pre-planning,” he said.

It’s common knowledge that fire season is starting earlier every year and that hotter fires are burning more aggressively. They are also burning in areas that previously didn’t burn. “Even in my lifetime, 10 years ago when I got into this type of work, we had different expectations of fires,” said Nez. “So, we’re adjusting the way we plan; we’re adjusting the way we react, and things are changing.” The GIS data collection helps with that planning.

In terms of archaeology, there are a lot of fire sensitive resources and cultural sites. “I work with the tribal liaison to consult with tribes and involve them,” said Nez. If there 59is a prescribed burn planned, the tribe is informed and “we let them know the sites that we’ve found in that area, the protection measures and potential impacts.” After a fire, whether prescribed or not, the tribe is informed if there is any damage.

On the occasion that a new cultural archaeological site is discovered, they will take notes and get it to the local unit so it can be recorded, and notify law enforcement and the other resource managers of the location. “That way, they are able to protect it,” said Nez. “Sites are very exposed after fire and that’s one of the unfortunate issues… there are people out there that want to take artifacts, they want to destroy them for whatever reason.”

During a large wildfire incident, fireline qualified archaeologists like Nez are often called in. They gather information about the presence of historic cabins, rock art panels and other fire sensitive and non-fire sensitive structures and help figure out how best to protect these resources. “Because of the specific laws and policies regarding cultural resources and consultation, the government-to-government relationship with native tribes who have deep cultural connection to these cultural resources, it requires someone who’s knowledgeable about that level,” said Nez.

In areas where they already know where these cultural resources are, fire archaeologists will try to get ahead of the fire and “work on protecting structures, wrapping them, marking them out for water drops, or digging line around them and burning off as a fire approaches,” said Nez. This happens in coordination with the fire management teams, including other resource managers. “We’re looking at maps, we’re looking at data, seeing what’s in those areas,” he said. These teams are also concerned about infrastructure like power lines, water lines and areas that are critical to local economies, and include these resources in their planning.

During an active fire emergency, it is very much an all hands on deck situation, with safety first as the primary rule. “There’s a time where on an active fire, especially during initial attack, where you just decide now’s not the time for science,” said Nez. “And then you grab your tool and you just start pitching in. You start digging, you start spotting people, you start pulling hose and running in engine pumps.”

We've evolved with fire since our earliest existence, we're fire people, we've just forgotten.

Maintaining team communication and cohesion is a major part of the success of a fire management team. Nez insists that he is “just a small part of this big machine,” and notes that when working an active fire, they are all firefighters. “We’re all wearing yellow on a fire. We’re all dirty, we’re all tired, and we’re working toward this common goal of either suppressing the fire, containing it, or managing it for resource benefit,” he said.

Nez’s perspective as a Diné man gives him a unique insight into the importance of protecting cultural sites. “They’re an important part of Native American identity,” he said. “There are tribes that are very closely associated with places out there, the pueblos on hilltops or certain mountains, that are a very important part of who they are…it impacts the mental health, the spiritual health of an entire population.” He takes his role seriously, noting that “how we manage those landscapes is how we manage and take care of ourselves.”

To continue to protect our national monuments and parks from increasingly aggressive fires, Nez believes part of the answer is for humans to remember how to live with and work with fire. “We’ve evolved with fire since our earliest existence,” said Nez. “We’re fire people, we’ve just forgotten.”