Reclaiming Fire: Fire Management as a Form of Autonomy and Self-Determination for the Karuk Tribe of California

Oliver, Micheli L.

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Reclaiming Fire: Fire Management as a Form of Autonomy and Self-Determination for the Karuk Tribe of California

Public Deposited

Citations

Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/sq87bv440

Abstract

In the uppermost Northern corner of California the Karuk Tribe lives in symbiosis with the environment around them. For thousands of years, the Karuk Tribe has called, what is know today as the Klamath Mountains, home. Central to their home and their culture is the stewardship of lands through small fires. The Karuk people started fires to promote food security, safety in their home and exhibit cultural traditions. Their cultural practice, food security, and safety, however, was taken when European settlers made their way northwest. The Karuk Tribe was restricted from their lands and their practice on those lands. This restriction meant a complete removal of Karuk fire from landscape, even on privately Karuk owned lands, fire was removed. Simultaneous to the removal of Karuk fire from landscape, the general fear of fire raged throughout the United States. The federal government created institutions to enforce complete fire suppression on public and private lands without fully understanding the well-established benefits of prescribed fires. As a result of over 100 years of fire suppression, the fire danger in the Klamath is now heightened. To protect their lands and their people, the Karuk Tribe has begun to lead and create innovative fire management agencies that reintroduce successful fire management. To demonstrate how these agencies have benefitted the Karuk Tribe, this project aims to highlight the benefits of these management projects. The historical context to fire will add to a Karuk perspective of fire as good fire and toward reclaiming land. I intend to show how the Karuk has reclaimed fire for their aboriginal territory and with access to traditional practice on federally restricted public lands.

Creator