By Nicole Wang
Indigenous People: Original Protectors of the Forest
It is important to realize that some fires can be healthy and beneficial. The idea that “fire is medicine” echoes through generations of native people. For 13,000 years, native tribes such as the Yurok, Karuk, Hupa, Miwok, and Chumash have been burning small intentional blazes in California and the rest of the world. In Northern California, a drip torch is used by trained experts to turn the green scenery into red and then black (Cagle). The black soot soon gives way to bear grass and huckleberries, once buried deep under layers of dry vegetation and tangled blackberry branches.
For generations, natives have supported the forest’s regenerative process with this method. As good fire spreads, new plants are coaxed to grow as the flames eat at older vegetation, thinning it out and creating an ecosystem less vulnerable to wildfires. If left alone, that dry material acts as fuel, making the blazes harder to control. Yet, indigenous people do not only use the methods for fire-prevention. The process of good fire renews local foods and medicines, removes harmful invasive plants, and gives animals new, nutrient-rich habitat. The practice is used all around the world by native tribes as a contribution to the symbiotic relationship between them and their surroundings. No matter the reason, it is evident that native people have a thorough understanding that fire is necessary to protect the wildlife in the forest and themselves. Their attentiveness to their surroundings has led to the development of fire-prevention methods that not only prevent damage before it starts but also leaves the land better than it was before.
The Effect of Colonization
In 1850, the U.S. government passed the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians, outlawing intentional burning methods in the Californian Area (Cagle). In replacement, government agencies (with very limited ecological understanding) adapted a sort of fear of fire, making sure to suppress every blaze found in forests. Their understanding was putting out small and big fires alike would end light burning and bring new, great forests. Yet, the opposite is true; suppressing fires allows dry vegetation to build and slows the regrowth of newer, healthier biodiversity.
“When you have colonization removing native people, disrupting that social structure around fire use, outlawing fire, and then actively using every construct in a militaristic way to suppress and exclude fires, then we have the conditions that we have now,” said Frank Lake, U.S. Forest research ecologist belonging to the Karuk and Yurok nations.
As the practice of good fire returns, honored traditions are brought back to native tribes. In an interview with the Guardian, Rick O’Rourke, Yurok fire and fuel manager, stated, “Our first agreement with our creator was to tend the land. It was taken away from us, and now we’re trying to reclaim it.” Before the Yurok art of basket-weaving was dying because the young bear grass shoots used to make them were covered with pine trees and blackberry branches. Weevils and Sudden Oak Death infected the dense conifer forest floor, making it susceptible to high-intensity burning. Now, the ancient art is regaining traction due to prescribed burning clearing out impurities in the land.
For 40 years, climate change has been increasing the number of extreme weather incidents. Wildfires, in particular, accelerate global warming even more by releasing plumes of CO₂ and heat. The good news is that government officials are moving toward more sustainable, long-term solutions. What is interesting is that this solution is not new, but very, very old. To understand how to properly suppress giant wildfires like the ones seen this summer, we must look to the roots of fire-prevention. We must understand the work of the native people, the effect of colonization, and the use of ‘good fire.’
The problem is good fire programs have a hard time getting enough funds to fully analyze the land. A lot of people still fear fire and report flames when they see it, no matter big or small. Others are concerned about carbon release from good fire burning. However, there is no reason to worry. In the past ten years of Trex burns, no one has had to fight a fire (Cagle). If the small fires grow a bit too big, then they are immediately hit with a shot of water. Additionally, carbon from the prescribed burning sequesters to the ground after burning. Unlike when large wildfires release the same carbon into the air in mass amounts.
The Californian Wildfires of 2020 should make us realize the importance of listening to the wisdom of the people native to the land. The land most affected by the fires belongs to and is home to these people. In order to combat climate change, we need to treat all humans as equals and work together to save our planet.
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