You are invited to our first Amah Mutsun Land Trust Fire Symposium, an online event that will bring together tribal leaders, fire researchers, archaeologists, and others for a discussion on coastal Central California’s fire history, prescribed burning, and Indigenous fire stewardship.

Register now for this Zoom-based event

(This event will be recorded and posted on the “Videos” section of our website. You can also sign up for our email list to receive the recording via email).

This year, we have seen catastrophic wildfires throughout California, including in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Diablo Range within Amah Mutsun Tribal Band territory. These fires are a symptom of an unhealthy relationship between people and the land. 

For countless generations, Native peoples of California used cultural burning/prescribed burning to maintain healthy and productive landscapes. Today, a long history of fire suppression in concert with climate change has resulted in an unsustainable relationship with wildfire, increasing risks to our lives and homes as time goes on. 

In this symposium, we will share traditional knowledge and results of research about how Native people used fire to steward landscapes and discuss how Tribes are working to revitalize cultural/prescribed burning as a land management tool. 

Speakers & topics:

• Amah Mutsun Tribal Band’s Land Stewardship Traditions
  Valentin Lopez, Chair, Amah Mutsun Tribal Band

• Eco-Archaeological Research on Indigenous Cultural Burning
  Kent G. Lightfoot, Ph.D., Professor, Anthropology Dept., UC Berkeley
  Rob Q. Cuthrell, Ph.D., Director of Archaeological Resource Management, Amah Mutsun Land Trust

• Long-term Fire History and New Research in the Santa Cruz Mountains
  Scott Stephens, Ph.D., Professor, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management Dept., UC Berkeley

• Indigenous Fire Stewardship in Central California
  Don Hankins, Ph.D., Professor, Geography & Planning Dept., CSU Chico 

• Amah Mutsun Land Trust’s Work to Revitalize Indigenous Fire Stewardship
  Sara French, Interim Executive Director, Amah Mutsun Land Trust

Event Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_g1S0DSTMT4eJhFI4tUlF9g