How Indigenous Cultural Burns Could Strengthen California's Wildfire Resilience

Strengthening California’s resilience to wildfires, actually requires more fire.

For thousands of years, Indigenous people ceremoniously lit low-intensity fires as a stewardship tool to manage landscapes, promote ecological diversity, and maintain wildlife habitats. When done well, it also helped build the land’s susceptibility to high intensity fires and wildfires.

But in the early 20th century, the United States spearheaded an era of fire suppression. They enacted policies to extinguish any and all wildland fires, and effectively outlawed Indigenous people’s use of fire.

Without these stewardship practices, lands essentially became more flammable. And this partially set the stage for the increased frequency and intensity of catastrophic wildfires.

After a record-breaking wildfire season in 2020, federal authorities have sought to utilize the same Indigenous practices that were prohibited for decades.

Now, Indigenous communities are working on reconnecting with, and revitalizing, their crucial cultural knowledge about "good fire"—one that was largely lost to U.S. colonialism and industrialization. It's a process that has been equal parts frustrating and cathartic, as they look to cultivate both land and culture by keeping their traditions, languages, and techniques alive for future generations.

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