Indigenous Peoples Burning Network

The mission of the Yurok-Hupa-Karuk IPBN is to revitalize the implementation of cultural burns in native communities through the cultivation of an intertribal support system in which traditional ecological knowledge is shared and our rights are protected.

Native American people walk in two with this method in June, Margo “In Healthy Country Planning, Mary After the workshop, Margo and Mary worlds: their ancestral tribal world and Robbins of the Cultural Fire Manage- observed, “nobody has to ignore joined two staff members from the the contemporary world, which is led ment Council and Mary Huffman of the important spiritual relationships and Conservancy’s Northern Australia pro- by other people. When we first started Fire Learning Network staff traveled nobody has to put on somebody else’s gram for a 3-day driving tour of south- creating a network centered on fire to Darwin, Australia for 10 days of eastern Cape York. Spending time in the management from an indigenous training to learn more. planning jacket that doesn’t fit their peoples’ perspective, we laid out some “Two things really hit us,” said Margo, of thinking, a plan can incorporate the partners who are advancing cultural way of being.” To emphasize local ways field with indigenous ranger groups and principles for how this would be different “Aboriginal people there have rights to local indigenous language(s), and be burning showed us how Healthy from other fire-related partnerships. translated later for a broader audience. Country Planning is being put into Some principles, like self-determination their plans talk a lot about sustaining We anticipate that our Yurok-Hoopa- action. We learned that elders in that are universal to indigenous peoples cultureuse fire intothat the aren’t future.” recognized Healthy here Country and Karuk Healthy Country Plan will inform part of Cape York are teaching younger around the world; others, like preparing Plans put the culture of Native people other land management plans with the next generation of cultural fire and their homelands as a top priority. indigenous perspectives. These plans before the hot, dry season or just before generations to light cool fires either practitioners are specific to the local include federal forest management the arrival of rain storms, a practice landscape. For the IPBN, these principles plans, and the Community Health and called “storm burning.” We learned mean operating our network from the that ordinary people can take care of indigenous perspective first, and design- ancestral territory. ing connections with partners where Wildfire Protection Plan for Yurok there is synergy for reaching our vision. the land with cool, patchy fires. Cool

Healthy Country Planning Earlier in 2016, Blane Heumann, The Nature Conservancy’s Director of Fire Management, introduced us to an indigenous conservation plan from Balanggarra, Australia. The plan was A culturally-based goal for Kakadu National Park, developed using Healthy Country developed during training in Healthy Country Planning, a culturally-based planning At first Healthy Country Planning looks like ordi- Planning in Australia. The goal recognizes the approach adapted from other formats nary adaptive management planning, but anybody importance of native foods (tucker), future genera- who opens up a Healthy Country Plan will feel right tions living on the land, and evaluation of progress During training in Healthy Country Planning, Margo by Aboriginal peoples in Australia. away that it is something different. The focus is on by elders of local Aboriginal clans. In contrast, a Robbins of the Yurok Tribe (center) participates in There, local people have been “caring living culture, revealing different ways of thinking typical management plan crafted in the U.S. might the fire management work group, together with a and speaking through the words of indigenous read something like, “By 2025, 85 percent of the coach (right) and Aboriginal people from two clans peoples who have deep connections to their historical resources in the park are documented in Northern Australia. plays a big part. After a work session homelands. and protected.” © Conservation Management (Stuart Cowell) for country” for 40,000 years, and fire If Native people choose, their Healthy Country Plans can be a tool for elevating the strength and clarity of their voices in shaping the management of large ancestral territories. For example, in the Yurok-Hoopa-Karuk landscape, reservation lands encompass roughly 155,000 acres, while the Forest Service manages most of the 1.8 million acres of combined ancestral territory. Planning meetings usually include discussions of sacred places, practices and knowledge, but to protect intellectual property rights, participants decide what is appropriate to share in the final document. In this way, Healthy Country Plans can bridge to other management plans, such as USFS Forest Land Management Plans.

The second session of Healthy Country years. To this end, the Cultural Fire plants for wallabies, kangaroos and Planning in the Yurok-Hoopa-Karuk otherfires are native necessary animals. to Cool maintain burns native reduce landscape will take place over three training in November, where 10 people the “rubbish” but don’t affect the cano- receivedManagement training. Council Network hosted advisors a fire pies of the trees which are important draft plan will then be reviewed in a are also in dialogue with the California to shade both animals and understory largedays inworkshop the first monthsthat community of 2017. The Air Resources Board to discuss how air plants in this hot climate. What’s more, members from all three tribes will be quality plans could support traditional encouraged to take part in. burning practices. species of grass will burn, leaving un- In November the Warrior Institute held a field the elders light the fire when only some Family-Based Burning Legal Framework learning day for youth, providing occupational burned plants for food and cover for training in fire. © Margo Robbins animals. Later after the burned grasses The most important outcome of the A review this fall of policy and key have greened up, the elders return to June Healthy Country Planning work- legal cases involving treaty rights for burn the remaining unburned plants. shop was an increased emphasis on natural resource management suggests Expanding the Network A hot burn that consumes the entire family-based burning. In the ancestral that they typically address Native In a series of meetings in New Mexico in understory and damages tree canopies territories of the Yurok, Hoopa and December, the IPBN staff lead explored is considered very bad practice. Karuk Tribes, controlled burning was gather in their ancestral territories. At the possibility of expanding the IPBN Americans’ rights to hunt, fish and Staff from Cape York Natural Resource traditionally done according to family to one or more landscapes in the state. Management, Ltd. showed us how they lines. Participants in the workshop actively manage habitat (such as con- There is high potential for working this first level of investigation, rights to are connecting indigenous people who trolled burning to perpetuate resources) with two tribes to advance controlled want to advance their ability to “care for areas that are within ancestral burning in an indigenous context. identified a goal of building the capacity for country,” including cultural burning. controlled burns in the coming three territories, but off reservations, do not Work with these tribes would dovetail for 40 families to do cool- fire Partners are making extensive use of appear to be well-explored. with the large multi-party watershed video and websites to enable local The Presidential and Secretarial project, the Rio Grande Water Fund. Orders of 2009 and 2016, which direct document Healthy Country Plans and federal agencies to consult with tribes, connectpeople to people tell their working story of on fire similar recovery, efforts across Australia. We will government-to-government continue our relationships with these emphasize the need for meaningful The Indigenous Peoples Burning Network is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and practitioners, who will continue to and management. It appears that Fire Adapted Communities Together (PERFACT), provide inspiration and guidance Low-intensity controlled burns conducted under itconsultation, would be helpful including to have fire aplanning small a cooperative agreement between The Nature for the expansion of our Indigenous the Six Rivers National Forest’s Roots and Shoots project that enabled tribes in the IPBN Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of Program combine mainstream fuel reduction with the Department of the Interior. For more informa- Peoples’ TREX and the Indigenous improving conditions for culturally significant tion, contact Lynn Decker ([email protected]). Peoples Burning Network. species. Photo: USFS related consultation to be conducted. An equal opportunity provider. to describe how they would like fire- v. 13 Feb 17