California Wildfires and the Importance of Cultural Fire Management

In this episode, we explore California’s history of and relationship to fire, in particular how native populations worked with fire, and how colonizers from Europe suppressed and prohibited cultural fire management with what we now know are devastating consequences.

Over the past four years, the Golden State has battled ever more massive and destructive wildfires, prompting many to call out the importance of managing the land in a different way, and looking to native tribes for answers.

 

My guests are:

Rick O’Rourke - Member of the Yurok Tribe, traditional fire practitioner, and Fire & Fuels Coordinator and Project Coordinator for the Cultural Fire Management Council

Lenya Quinn-Davidson - Area Fire Advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension, and Director of the Northern California Prescribed Fire Council

Steve Pyne - Emeritus Professor at Arizona State University, author, and fire historian

Photo Courtesy: Ken-ichi Ueda (CC BY-NC 2.0)