Season 1 | Episode 4 | Good Fire Podcast
In this episode of the Good Fire Podcast, hosts Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff sit down with Oliver Costello to talk about re-invigorating the use of cultural burning by facilitating cultural learning pathways to fire and land management. For generations, since colonization, authority over the land and how to manage it has been held firmly by colonial governments, despite that land being sustainably managed for thousands of years prior to European contact by Indigenous peoples. Firesticks is an organization that aims to change the system and create more opportunities for Indigenous lead fire management. A more inclusive management system serves multiple purposes, benefiting all walks of life from indigenous to non-Indigenous peoples, as well as a more sustainable landscape.
Quotes
31.10 - 31.20: “You develop all these safety mechanisms for risk management, and risk management is important. Our people had risk management too - it was called knowledge and they used it”.
Takeaways
Cultural burning (01.24)
Oliver is a Bundjalung man from Northern New South Wales. He sits on the board of Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation, which began as a way to bring the community together using fire and building recognition around cultural fire management.
Right fire (06.00)
Oliver speaks about how Aboriginal fire knowledge was lost due to colonization, but that assets and values can be used to create possibilities for the future. He thinks of fire as a tool to understand what the land teaches and how to support the relationship with the land.
Teaching the right way to burn (12.38)
Oliver talks about the reach of Firesticks, with fire workshops being conducted in different parts of Australia. This helps to engage agencies to understand regulation and policies and engage with cultural burning. The response and outcomes have mostly been positive.
Build confidence and relationships (23.09)
Oliver acknowledges that there is some tension between the Aboriginal communities and the agencies. Indigenous community mentorship and recognition of Indigenous knowledge through the cultural connection to the land are the pillars of Firesticks’ approach.
Cultural Learning Pathways (29.01)
Oliver shares how ancestral knowledge has been lost over the years, but that there is an opportunity for Aboriginal youth to lead the way. Firesticks aims to work with people who are connected with their ancestors and are present and aware of ways to burn to manage risks.
Healthy country, healthy people (38.00)
Oliver emphasizes the relationship of people to the land - the more you engage with the land, the more you are rewarded - physically, mentally, spiritually, and culturally.
“You don’t take more than you give” (42.20)
Oliver urges listeners to tune into the land to do what is healthy for the land as well as for the people. He believes mismanagement of land is killing the land, and that resources are finite.
Fire teaches us patience and presence (51.56)
Oliver feels inspired meeting people through the increasing number of fire workshops, learning about the different languages and traditions of the other Nations.
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Sponsor
The Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science
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