Research shows the role of indigenous stewardship in forest ecosystem resilience

Researchers from Oregon State University have collaborated with the Karuk Tribe to create a new computer simulation model that shows the role of indigenous firefighting in the health of forest ecosystems.

Western scientists and land managers have become increasingly aware of cultural burning, but its scope and purpose are typically missing from fire modeling research, says Skye Greenler, who led the partnership when she was a graduate research fellow at the OSU College of Forestry .

“We developed this project in collaboration with the Karuk Tribe to investigate the impact of cultural burning at the landscape scale in a completely new way,” she said. “The information put into this model is not new at all – it has been held by members of the Karuk tribe for thousands of years – but we have developed new methods to bring the knowledge together and display it in a way that extent of Indigenous cultural stewardship in this model. landscape.”

Greenler and collaborators, including Chris Dunn and John Bailey of Oregon State, say understanding the interactions between people, fire processes and pathways to wildfire coexistence has become increasingly urgent as the social, environmental and economic impacts of fire have increased in recent years .

The study focused on 1,000 square kilometers of Karuk Aboriginal Territory in the western Klamath Mountains of Northern California. Working with the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources, OSU scientists developed historical estimates for cultural ignition locations, frequency and timing. Statistical parameters were developed and refined in collaboration with tribe members and knowledge holders using interviews, historical and contemporary maps, ethnographies, recent ecological studies and generational knowledge.

Published in Ecological applications, The findings show that before the arrival of European settlers, cultural fires were widespread across the landscape, with an estimated 6,972 cultural ignitions per year, which equates to approximately 6.5 ignitions per year for each Indigenous firefighter.

The researchers, which included scientists from the University of Washington, the Mid-Klamath Watershed Council and the US Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest and Pacific Southwest research stations, found that the timing and location of burning was often determined by the ecology of specific cultural resources. , nourish receptivity, seasonal movement patterns and spiritual practices.

“The ignition characteristics we document correspond closely with data on historical fire regimes and vegetation, but differ significantly from the location and timing of ignitions occurring today,” Greenler said. “This work demonstrates the importance of cultural burning for developing and maintaining the ecosystems present at the time of colonization and underlines the need to work with indigenous communities to restore ecocultural processes.”

Northern California’s Western Klamath Mountains are a diverse and highly fire-prone ecosystem that historically burned frequently at low or moderate severity, but has recently experienced many extensive or severe wildfires, the researchers point out.

“Collaboratively integrating Western and Indigenous fire science and knowledge systems into this research will help restore fire to this landscape to achieve social-ecological resource values ​​with benefits to both tribes and the public,” said Frank Lake of the Forest Service , a descendant of the Karuk tribe who earned a distinction. doctorate from the OSU College of Forestry.

The study area is one of several fire-prone landscapes in the western United States with a long history of cultural burning, defined as the deliberate use of fire by an indigenous group to promote food, medicine, and material resources. Cultural burning also changes wildfire risk and the way fires spread.

“It would be incredible to go back in time and experience the study landscape with open oak forests, high-quality hills and abundant first food, frequent, small cultural burns in the morning or late afternoon, and little fear of large forest fires in dry conditions.” lightning storms swept across the mountains in August,” Greenler said. “A recent shift within Western scientific and management communities is toward greater interest in supporting indigenous fire practices that better balance relationships between people and fire.”

The increased interest follows decades of work by Indigenous communities to assert sovereign rights to land management, emphasize the importance of cultural burning and build collaborative relationships and policies that integrate cultural burning into research, management and restoration practices, the scientists say .

“The lens through which scientists view data in observational scientific studies influences their interpretation of the results,” Dunn said. “As our acceptance of Indigenous knowledge grows, we are experiencing a shift in our interpretation of fire regimes, ecological outcomes and people in these systems. This does not invalidate previous studies, but builds on them for a more accurate understanding of history, and therefore, where we go in the future.”

Indigenous fire management is highly place-based, Greenler said, meaning the collaborators’ findings are not directly transferable to other landscapes, but the process used to develop and model cultural ignition estimates could “absolutely be applied” in other landscapes to function better. understand the impact and patterns of cultural burning.

“It has been a real pleasure working on this project,” said Bill Tripp, director of natural resources and environmental policy for the Karuk Tribe. “It is essential that we are able to integrate Karuk Indigenous knowledge, practices and belief systems into a product that can help assess historical fire regimes in a way that protects our proprietary information and location data related to the site-specific resources we seek to improve. importance to our eco-cultural revitalization efforts.”

Greenler emphasizes that it is important to remember that cultural burning is still an important practice in many landscapes today, including Northern California. She would like the collaboration with the Karuk tribe to yield information that society can use in restoring balanced human-fire relationships — which in some ways may mimic historical practices and in others may not, she said.

“My hope for all of us is that we can continue to learn from Indigenous communities, advance Indigenous knowledge and sovereignty, and work toward a future where we can better coexist with fire on our landscapes,” Greenler said.