Exploring how computer models can be used to examine how tribes utilize fire for maintaining ecosystem health

The Karuk Tribe has a long history of conducting controlled burns in the fire-prone Klamath Mountains. Researchers are now using modern technology to better understand these traditional practices of fire stewardship. By partnering with the Karuk Tribe, researchers from Oregon State University have utilized a computer simulation model to gain insight into how the Tribe historically used fire to maintain ecosystem health.

Published in Ecological Applications, the research findings reveal that prior to the arrival of European colonizers, cultural burning was widespread across the landscape. It is estimated that there were approximately 6,972 cultural ignitions annually, with an average of 6.5 ignitions per year for each Indigenous fire steward. The study focused on 1,000 square miles of Karuk Aboriginal Territory in the western Klamath Mountains of northern California, an area characterized by a fire-prone ecosystem that historically experienced frequent fires of low or moderate severity.

Working closely with the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources, OSU scientists developed historical estimates for cultural ignition locations, frequency, and timing. Statistical parameters were collaboratively developed with Tribal members and knowledge holders using interviews, historical and contemporary maps, ethnographies, and generational knowledge. This collaborative approach allowed for a more comprehensive understanding of the extent of Indigenous cultural stewardship across the landscape.

Skye Greenler, who led the partnership as a graduate research fellow in the OSU College of Forestry, emphasizes that the information used in the model has been held by Karuk Tribal members for centuries. The new methods developed by the researchers aim to showcase the importance of Indigenous cultural stewardship in maintaining ecosystem health in the Klamath Mountains.