In an effort to reduce the severity of future wildfires, the Six Rivers National Forest and Redwood National Park interagency fire program burned hundreds of acres of land in several prescribed fires.
The prescribed fires burned on Karuk aboriginal territory, the Bald Hills area in Redwood National and State Parks and Hoopa and Tsnungwe aboriginal peoples land along Waterman Ridge.
California is a fire-adapted ecosystem, meaning that centuries of human and natural fires have turned the blazes into a necessity to maintain the state’s ecological health, and prescribed fires aim to burn likely fuel sources for wildfires.
“We, like a sports team, need to be able to play offense and defense when it comes to managing public lands, creating resilient communities and allowing for that natural ecosystem function. So prescribed fire is one of the best tools we have in our offense,” Josh Eichamer, a forest fire chief with the U.S. Forest Service, said.
Due to the rains, the burn teams are focused on pile burning, which is collecting piles of potential fuel for wildfires such as stray foliage, stacking it together and lighting it on fire.
California’s annual wildfires have been turning up the heat, with each year containing a record-setting fire, destroying hundreds of thousands of acres and endangering human life. Experts largely point to climate change as a significant contributor to California’s worsening wildfires.
“As somebody who’s been working in fire and aviation management for 22 years, I can share very roughly that the things we’re experiencing on the ground are changing, and they’re becoming much more severe. So you can have 40, 60, 80 years of fire experience, and have not seen what we’re facing in our environment,” Eichamer said.
Prescribed fires also allow firefighters to use the land a prescribed burn took place on as operation centers in the event of an uncontrolled wildfire, according to Eichamer.
The prescribed fires on Karuk land are done in collaboration with the tribe, and some of their cultural practices involve a controlled burn, such as the plethora of plants and fibers strengthened by fire that hich can be used in basket-weaving.
The Karuk Tribe, which has used cultural burns for millennia, would like more power over independent burning for cultural purposes, according to Bill Tripp, the tribe’s deputy director of eco-cultural revitalization.
“Fire from a cultural perspective renews life. Humans are the only animal in this environment that’s capable of manipulating fire,” Tripp said. “We view our cultural burning as part of our cultural responsibility to a place.”
Eichamer encouraged the public to get involved in their local fire safety council, or create them should they not exist, to learn more about what they can do for the state’s ecosystem.
