How indigenous knowledge can help control wildfires

We’ve spent 100 years growing a tinderbox across the West. Now it’s wildfire season. Controlled burning – an indigenous tradition that’s been used for millennia – might be a solution.

Sources and resources:

Emily Washines
Frank Kanawha Lake
Reese Lolley
Hilary Franz
Dina Gilio-Whitaker

Washington Nature Conservancy

Indigenous People’s Burning Network
Fire as Medicine: Fire Dependent Cultures and Re-Empowering American Indian Tribes
Frank Kanawha Lake

Washington State 20 Year Forest Plan

NOAA

Washington Prescribed Fire Council

“Tending the Wild”
M. Kat Anderson

“As Long as Grass Grows”
Dina Gilio-Whitaker

Yakama Nation

“Discovery of the Yosemite”
Lafayette Houghton Bunnell

Yosemite; Acting Superintendent Report, 1903

“’Piute Forestry’ or the Fallacy of Light Burning”
W.B. Greeley; The Timberman, March 1920

Letter to Forest Supervisor from Orleans District Ranger, 1918
F.W. Harley
Available in Stories of the Klamath National Forest: The first 50 years: 1905 - 1955.

“Danger of Wildfires Reduced by Prescribed Burning in Ponderosa Pine”
Harold Biswell

Yakima Memory

Thumbnail photo: RINGO CHIU/AFP via Getty Images

#wildfires #climatechange #indigenousknowledge #nativeamericans #firemanagement #controlledburns

[LisaBeergutHolst]

"Only to the white man was nature a 'wilderness'." --Chief [Luther] Standing Bear

[DougGrinbergs]

Interesting timelapses and drone shots.

[simonbakke]

One of my favorites so far visually -- and you do an awesome job showing that worsening wildfires are both a climate change problem *and* a management problem. People on the internet like to pick sides instead of looking at it all.

[beatvox]

Most Forests in the United States were completely clearcut by logging corporations, leaving only a few seed trees to reseed many acres. If the forest solely reseeded itself or if it had additional seedlings from the seedling tree farms, it regrew an unnatural forest situation of same age, same species trees, in areas that may have had up to a dozen different species of different ages & heights. The Global Logging Corporations have since then clearcut most of these second growth forests trees, in addition to burning out & removing remaining old growth stumps, then replanted with with trees started in seedling tree farms. It is this type of forests typically now being managed with control burning practices. However, some Old Growth Areas are also getting control burned in the PNW, as is the case here in Oregon. Ancient old-growth trees on the ground should not be removed or burned, because they are the opposite of fuel. In late August, these logs are still full of moisture & mycelium that are producing conk & other mushrooms. They are actually holding moisture on the ground & you can feel the moisture on the bottom edges after 4 months of no rain, which assist in keeping the water table higher, maintaining habitats for animals, insects, mushrooms & more. I have documented an Old Growth area were controlled burning was done just a few years before a fire happened to start there (in 2018). In October 2019 I was in the Oregon mountains on the Lower Western part of the Cascades, driving to a posted Old Growth area. As I was driving up a road I saw some guys locking a gate ahead, so I backed my car up and parked in a wider passable area. As they were driving by I waved to them, signaling I had a question. They pulled over & turned off their truck. These loggers said they were cutting down trees as a safety precaution, further up that road, because a fire passed through it last year in 2018, and that was the reason they were locking the gate. They explained many things to me. I asked if the 7 foot diameter old growth Fir trees can survive a fire & they said yes, they usually do. I told what I was doing, looking for old growth trees & mushrooms. After 10 minutes of friendly conversation, with me mostly listening, & them explaining their positions on forest management, they states that the older growth trees are often each worth 8, 000 to 10, 000 dollars wholesale. They suggested I go look down a nearby road and see the big trees they had recently cut down. I drove down, found the BLM area they had mentioned, got out to look at the trees that had been approved to be clearcut. There were about 40 or more 6 foot wide or wider Douglas fir trees stacked up by the road. I looked them over and saw that the only the outer bark was badly burned. Viewing the stump or cut end of the Trees, the bark was burned a quarter of an inch to an inch at the most into the outer bark that was between 2 to 5 inches. I drove back up & continued on my search, since I only had a few hours of daylight remaining. Wishing I had taken pictures I returned 4 weeks later with a camera. All of the Logs were gone, so I explored the stumps again and took many pictures & a few videos of the stumps. Youtube does allow photo upload to comments, but I'll soon upload a video I filmed of one of the stumps.

[nebulouskoala]

Holy smokes! (excuse the pun!) What an aweosme & informative video :) Thanks !!

[mjordanpayne]

Not sure why i’m a film about Indigenous knowledge you made the decision to center mostly white and non-native voices.

[groundhopeunder]

a better solution and could give people jobs is to clean the forest floor then. this is like the lazy way of doing it no? and they could gather all those said kindling and either make it free for people to have for winter season

[vincewhite]

It was the progressive back in the day that didn’t want forests touched.

[billyrocker]

Get your facts in order before you get your mouth in gear.is one his sayings he was a no noncents guy rip.