Season 1 | Episode 8 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Frank Lake who talks about how fire management should be done in consultation with Indigenous peoples and how it can benefit the land and the community. Frank Lake has spent a great deal of time contemplating the role of Indigenous people in fire management, and he has some great insight into how we can begin to change fire management for the benefit of all people. Wildfire management has long been the domain of colonial governments. Despite a rich history of living with, managing, and using fire as a tool since time immemorial, Indigenous people were not permitted to practice cultural fire and their knowledge was largely ignored. As a result, total fire suppression became the prominent policy. With the most active force of natural succession abruptly halted, Indigenous communities suffered as the land changed. Today, western society has recognized the ecological problem a lack of fire has created, however, the cultural impact has been largely ignored. In this episode,
Quotes
12.44 - 12.59: “[There is] the myth of the pristine wilderness and that this ecological diversity was just inherently there when really a lot of our forests and our fire-prone ecosystems, where there are Indigenous peoples, are the legacy of that complex Indigenous fire stewardship.”
Takeaways
Frank finding fire (1.19)
Frank’s mixed Native American and white background influences and informs his work with Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in California.
Fire-dependent culture (7.22)
Frank combines his cultural knowledge with his academic training to bring a more effective understanding and awareness of benefits, issues and policies in fire management.
Indigenous fire sovereignty (12.42)
Frank contemplates how Indigenous peoples can have an equal voice to share Indigenous knowledge as a remedy to the vulnerabilities or stressors of environmental processes.
Consultation in cultural burning (17.53)
Fire management agreements can mandate the consultation and coordination of Indigenous and Tribal peoples in firefighting and controlled burning.
Stakeholder management (21.07)
Frank underscores the importance of Indigenous and Tribal peoples having a direct relationship with the government to provide consultation in partnership.
Fire is medicine (25.29)
Frank’s research has shown how cultural burning reduces evaporation, increases spring flow and rejuvenates materials for habitats.
Corrective or maintenance fire (32.50)
Frank speaks about corrective fires addressing the absence of cultural burning using maps to show the difference Indigenous fire stewardship can make on different landscapes.
Fire-adapted communities (40.49)
“Having Indigenous people share the importance of fire increases our public’s awareness”, Frank says.
Consultation, communication, and coordination (48.30)
Frank discusses the Tribes he works with and the Tribal governments through National Forest Agreements, who appoint a representative to work with the management team in a wildfire.
The agroforestry perspective (55.03)
Frank outlines how active fire management agreements facilitate joint prescribed burns between agencies, organizations and Tribes using the example of oak in California.
Curating knowledge (59.03)
Frank believes that he has a responsibility to honour the knowledge that his Elders have gifted him with time and care, which includes thought around bringing fire back onto the landscape.
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Resources
Maintaining the Mosaic: The Role of Indigenous Burning in Land Management
Sponsor
The Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science
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