The Good Fire Podcast
Join as we explore the concept of fire as a tool for ecological health and cultural empowerment by indigenous people around the globe. Good Fire is a term used to describe fire that is lit intentionally to achieve specific ecological and cultural goals. Good fire is about balance.
Season 3 | 🔥Special Live Episode | Good Fire Podcast
This Special Live Episode of Good Fire was recorded in front of a live audience of 300 people at the Fire and Ice Symposium during the 2025 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival, on Treaty 7 territory. Host Dr. Amy Cardinal Christianson (Métis, Treaty 8) is joined by Alvin First Rider of the Blood Tribe (Blackfoot Confederacy), along with visual storyteller Jordan Melograna from the Indigenous Leadership Initiative. Together, they reflect on Indigenous fire stewardship as a living practice—one rooted in sovereignty, cultural continuity, and care for future generations. What unfolds is not just a conversation about fire, but a gathering of stories—about land, memory, responsibility, and the work of rebuilding relationships that were deliberately broken.
Season 3 | Episode 9 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Elizabeth Azzuz and Margo Robbins to talk about restoring cultural fire in their tribal territory and across the world.
Season 3 | Episode 8 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Lisa Shepherd and Paul Courtoreille who share personal memories and cultural insights into fire’s role within Métis traditions. From childhood experiences to modern applications, they discuss fire's ability to connect communities, heal the land, and preserve Métis heritage.
Season 3 | Episode 7 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Ryan Reed to talk about how the younger generations are leading the way into the future with a move away from fire suppression and into fire generation to protect the environment.
Season 3 | Episode 6 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Rachael Cavanagh and Melinda Adams to talk about the role of Indigenous fire stewards in managing climate change.
Season 3 | Episode 5 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Alex Zahara to talk about how a non-Indigenous person can be a good ally and accomplice to Indigenous peoples in Canada.
Season 3 | Episode 4 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Tiffany Joseph to talk about native Indigenous plants and their ability to heal the ecosystem.
Season 3 | Episode 3 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Vanessa Luna-Celino to talk about how community-based fire management is the way to sustaining forests.
Season 3 | Episode 2 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, Jessica Angel talks to Amy Cardinal Christianson and Vikki Preston about being an Indigenous trans woman bringing back fire to her Nation.
Season 3 | Episode 1 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Vikki Preston and Monique Wynecoop to talk about the role of Indigenous women in fire and the path to bringing fire back on the land.
Season 3 Teaser 2 | Good Fire Podcast
We’re Back! Good Fire Season 3 is officially coming your way! This is a short teaser episode to let you all know we have finally finished recording.
Charity Battise is a young Indigenous Fire Steward learning their craft. Amy and Charity met at the Indigenous Peoples Burning Network Event and they talked about Charity’s work with her Nation. Charity is a part of the Alabama Coushatta Tribe of Texas and part of the Nature Conservancies Indigenous Peoples Burning Network.
Season 3 Teaser 1 | Good Fire Podcast
Join Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff as they give a sneak peek at what to expect in Good Fire’s third season.
Season 2 | Episode 10 | Good Fire Podcast
In this final episode of Season 2 of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Victor Steffensen and Ado Webster as they reflect on their experiences as Indigenous fire-keepers.
Season 2 | Episode 9 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Victor Steffensen and Ado Webster talk about cultural burning in Australia and the work Firesticks is doing to promote it.
Season 2 | Episode 8 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Kayla de Freitas and Nicholas Cyril to talk about the cultural burning practices in Guyana.
Season 2 | Episode 7 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down at the International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF) Fire & Climate Conference in Pasadena CA, featuring early career researchers who are re-kindling cultural burning.
Season 2 | Episode 6 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Don Hankins, Plains Miwok from the central valley of California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, to talk about new developments around cultural burning in California and his hopes for the future.
Season 2 | Episode 5 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Ntando Nondo to talk about Indigenous land stewardship and fire management practices in Zimbabwe.
Season 2 | Episode 4 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Joe Gilchrist and Natasha Caverley to talk about how Indigenous and Western ways of knowing can come together to bring cultural burning back on the land: a study exploring cultural safety of Indigenous wildland firefighters in Canada.
Season 2 | Episode 3 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Russell Myers Ross and William Nikolakis to speak about the work of the Gathering Voices Society on revitalizing traditional fire management in Tsilhqot’in Territory and the potential around carbon offsets.

