Keepers of the Flame: Supporting the Revitalization of Indigenous Cultural Burning

Abstract

The revitalization of cultural burning is a priority for many Native American tribes and for agencies and organizations that recognize the cultural and ecological importance of this practice. Traditional fire practitioners are working to resist the impact of settler colonialism and reestablish cultural burning to promote traditional foods and materials, exercise their sovereignty in land management, and strengthen their communities’ cultural, physical and emotional wellbeing. Despite broad support for cultural burning, the needs of practitioners are often poorly understood by non-Native people, limiting the potential for productive cross-cultural partnerships and programs and services that serve Indigenous nations and communities. This article describes lessons learned from two Indigenous Fire Workshops that brought together cultural fire practitioners, researchers, agency and NGO representatives and members of the public to learn about the use and benefits of cultural burning in California.

MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS

• Through a community-based research project, we explore the practice of Native American cultural burning in two communities in California, its tangible and intangible benefits, and how it differs from non-Indigenous fire practices.

• We highlight specific cultural elements that are fundamental to these practices but are sometimes misunderstood by non-Native people.

• We describe the unique needs and challenges faced by practitioners and ways that different entities can support practitioners seeking to revitalize the use of cultural burning.

Keywords:

• Collaboration
• cultural burning
• wildland fire management
• participatory research
• traditional ecological knowledge
• Indigenous land management

Acknowledgements

We are deeply grateful to the elders and practitioners who made the Indigenous Fire Workshops possible, including Ardith Read, Dirk Charley, Jesse Valdez, and Danny Manning, and the many guests who contributed to this collective effort. We also thank the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation Endowed Chair in the Native American Studies Department at UC Davis, the John Muir Institute of the Environment at UC Davis, and the Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center for multifaceted support.