Summer 2020 Newsletter  

Revitalizing Indigenous Stewardship with Cultural Burning

By Lawrence Atencio, Native Stewardship Corps Field Manager

Wildland fire is once again in the state and nation’s headlines. Many of today's fires are catastrophic, impacting watersheds, water and air quality, rangelands, wildlife, culturally significant sites, infrastructure, croplands, and of course people’s way of life. These fires are intense due in part to unmanaged fuel loads. The recent CZU Complex lightning-started fire is an example of how rapidly wildfire can consume anything within its path. At Amah Mutsun Land Trust, we have hope that fire can be managed more effectively if Indigenous stewardship and cultural knowledge around fire is more widely accepted and implemented by land managers.

Indigenous stewardship is currently being demonstrated in Quiroste Valley where your Native Stewardship Corps (NSC) are working to make a difference. The uplands above the meadow and riparian valley contain dense stands of Douglas fir and coyote brush with little to no understory. These stands have encroached upon the open coastal prairie grassland. Due to the dense canopy cover, little sunlight reaches the forest floor, thus allowing little to no presence of grasses and forbs. This reduces biodiversity, and threatens the coastal prairie, which was once much more widespread.

The ancestors of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band regularly practiced cultural burning to provide many beneficial effects. Cultural burning is prescribed fire performed by Indigenous people that promotes ecological and cultural resources, builds wildfire resilience, and is informed by traditional ecological knowledge. Cultural burns, which are typically scheduled every 5-8 years, are properly-timed, low-intensity fires that move slowly through a segmented management unit of land, and promote the abundance and health of many culturally significant native plants.

The Amah Mutsun have great respect for fire as a land stewardship tool. As Chairman Valentin Lopez explains: “We see fire as a gift from Creator. Like all gifts, it is important to respect and recognize it in that way. Fire is sacred and used as a prayer. A spiritual fire is placed in the middle during ceremonial dances, and carries our prayers up to Creator. Fire is used as a light, and used as a land management tool. Our ancestors divided the land into management units, they then burned segments when needed, on a rotating cycle, until the cycle was complete. This allowed for consumption and reduction of fuel loads and control of encroaching brush, aiding the ecosystem. Coastal prairie grasslands have diminished due to outlawing the practice of Indigenous burns. Fire has a critical role in maintaining the coastal grassland prairie. The coastal prairie grassland was one of the most viable landscapes and rich in biodiversity in North America before Europeans arrived.”

A section of land is segmented into burn units and planned to burn when conditions provide for a low-intensity burn. Cultural burns generally occurred in the late fall and or early spring. Up to ten sections each, varying in size from a few acres to a whole mountain side, composed a cultural burn management area.

“Cultural burns help control pests, reduce buildup of heavy fuels, and aid native plants that require fire to germinate. We have a responsibility of taking care of plants, birds, and feeding the animals by taking care of native seeds. The first year of the burn cycle aids in seed and seed bed preparation. The second year after the burn, plants strengthen reproduction, and shoots are soft and nutritional for grazing wildlife. The third year, there is increased fruit productivity. The fourth year yields strong plant fibers which are utilized for crafts and housing materials. A special ceremony is held when cultural burning in oak woodlands. Smoke helps purify the trees. Smoke chokes out pests in trees, and therefore aids in production of acorns. Insects are choked out and fall down, and then are consumed in fire. Therefore, fire and smoke aid with insect infestation in trees and killing of pests such as ticks in grasses (Valentin Lopez).”

Today the concept of revitalizing Indigenous stewardship, particularly the use of cultural burning, is spreading amongst natural resource land managers. AMLT is actively partaking in an Inter-Tribal Fire Network to better relationships with federal and state land management agencies and with other tribes throughout California. AMLT has also received a grant from the California State Coastal Conservancy  (with cap and trade funding from California Climate Investments) which will aid in the development of a Cultural Burns program, where we can strive to best steward ancestral lands. Native Stewards are currently certified as Type-II Wildland Firefighters, and are gaining experience with prescribed fire, particularly through Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (TREXs) hosted by the Karuk and Yurok tribes. These trainings emphasize the stewardship of cultural resources and build key working relationships and coordination with many land management organizations. Wildland fire knows no boundary and taking care of Mother Earth requires a coordinated effort, and as Honorable Chairman Valentin Lopez says, “Indigenous stewardship must lead the way.”

I am Lawrence Atencio of Ohkay Owingeh and Santa Clara Tewa-speaking tribes located in northern New Mexico. My first job right out of high school was joining the Black Mesa Wildland Fire Crew which is an all Native Wildland Fire Crew composed from eight northern Pueblos. I gained valuable experiences and unforgettable memories. I also worked for the US Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management as a Rangeland Management Specialist, I aided the Pueblo of Picuris in the development of a Forestry and Wildland Fire Program. More recently I worked for my tribe as a Cultural and Language Preservation Program Coordinator. I am excited and blessed to be here in California working for the Amah Mutsun. I am truly living a dream. The coastal prairie grassland restoration is unique, critical, and culturally significant.

The future of AMLT and the Native Stewardship Corps is ever-evolving. Amah Mutsun Tribal Council, AMLT Staff, Stewards, Interns, and all involved have a strong passion for Indigenous stewardship that resonates in our hearts as we are restoring Indigenous lands. I look forward to our best work to come and to developing  a sustainable program that provides meaningful work, plus an educational and rewarding experience for the Native Stewards. Giving back to Mother Earth is why we are here.