Fire and Water in California, USA with Don Hankins

Good Fire

Cultural burning is important for many reasons, from berry production to habitat creation it promotes sustainable ecosystems and communities. Water is one giant part of that equation. What is the connection between fire and water? How can burning more or less often, higher or lower intensities, affect water quality and fish habitat? Don Hankins has studied these questions and has answers for us.

Episode highlight

In this podcast, Don Hankins, President of the California Indian Water Commission, talks about the connection between fire and water and its impacts on creating sustainable ecosystems and communities.

Resources

California Indian Water Commission: https://ciwcwater.org/

Fires as Agents of Biodiversity: https://www.sierraforestlegacy.org/Resources/Conservation/FireForestEcology/FireScienceResearch/FireEcology/FireEcology-Martin91.pdf

Ecological grief as a mental health response to climate change-related loss: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0092-2

Sponsors

The Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science

Support from:

● California Indian Water Commission

● Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation

Quotes

20.03 - 20.14: “In Indigenous ways of thinking, we’re not just thinking about ourselves; we’re connecting to our ancestors and we are connecting down to generations unborn.”

48.58 - 49.02: “Just because you give an… Indigenous person a drip torch, doesn’t make it a cultural burn.”

58.42 - 59.00: “If you want to create or achieve reconciliation, this is one way to do it… go out and recognize the rights of Indigenous people to burn. But not only that… reconcile that through fire, reconcile it within the landscape, with people, together.”

Takeaways

Time-tested Indigenous knowledge (01.22)

Don is Plains Miwok from the Delta area of east San Francisco, and a traditional fire practitioner. He is a Professor of Geography and Planning at California State University Chico. He has been involved in fire restoration and research for more than 20 years, informed by his understanding of community needs. Don narrates the story of how he came to be involved with the restoration of cultural burning, which he regards as the culmination of the knowledge he has gained from his Elders and his academic background.

Relationship with the land helps biodiversity (06.33)

Don speaks about how they have been bringing local tribes to re-engage with fire and regenerate interest by creating a learning lab. Bringing fire back in different intensities and frequencies is also facilitating biodiversity, continuity of fuel and reduction of invasive species. The diversity of land ownership in California makes it challenging to study fire behaviour in confined landscapes, Don shares.

Reliving the fire story (14.18)

Don laments that while it is recognized that fire must be a part of the landscape, agencies are reluctant to understand how Indigenous peoples can contribute to that. Many laws passed by the government go against laws of nature, he says. He highlights the importance of the fire stories he was taught, since they teach about tools to start and tend a fire and Indigenous fire laws, and disobeying them has severe consequences.

Safety first (19.35)

Don has been taught that fire-keeping is an obligation handed down to Indigenous peoples at the time of creation, “to care for and tend to our landscape”, including the health, safety and wellbeing of the non-Indigenous people that inhabit it now. He views his duty as a fire-keeper as considerate of all the assets at risk in a burn, and that his deep connection with the landscape qualifies him to conduct the burn while keeping everything and everyone safe.

“Scale of fire changes with the relationship to water” (22.51)

“Within Indigenous knowledge systems, there is an inherent relationship between water and fire”, Don states. An important aspect of his knowledge system is the ability of a burn to bring rain. He explains how burning changes the water availability of a landscape, thus positively impacting the species diversity and cultural protection, and the research he is doing in this regard.

Risk mitigation (31.47)

Don points out that the context of the knowledge base, the seasons chosen for burning, the objectives of a burn and fire laws distinguish Indigenous burning from agency burning. The displacement of Indigenous peoples from their landscapes compelled them to learn the ways of burning of the new areas from those locals. “If you think about the landscape and you know you are working within that law of the land”, you can mitigate risks, Don observes.

Inter-generational ecological grief (35.48)

Don describes the ecological grief that countless generations of Indigenous peoples experience, in the loss of their story places, in the urbanization of traditional homelands or when they are deforested for agriculture, in climate change, and in losing familiarity with the environment and its members. He recounts instances where people he knew grieve the loss of trees of cultural significance.

This land is our land (43.12)

Don outlines positive steps that are being taken - funding for fire has been increasing in an orderly fashion, and congressional acts are matching the Indigenous laws that recognize the sovereignty of tribes beyond their reserve lands to encompass ancestral territories. Don believes that agencies have a responsibility to uphold Indigenous peoples’ rights to steward their lands, and shares how tribes are reclaiming their rights to the land.

“For agencies, this is a job. For us, it’s our livelihoods” (45.47)

Don shares that caring for the land is a cultural obligation for Indigenous peoples. “It’s a livelihood for us and we are connected to it and we can’t get away from it unless we walk away from our culture and who we are”, he says. He is of the opinion that any funding should first be designated to the Indigenous peoples, who can then decide the allocation of funds. Following Indigenous laws is important to live sustainably on the land, he believes.

“There is a therapeutic aspect of burning” (47.27)

Don talks about the difficulties in Indigenous peoples having to adhere to agency rules in burning. A cultural burn involves knowing one’s landscape, its risks, its members, and the objective of the burn. As a fire/burn boss, Don says his knowledge is not acknowledged by agencies. When he takes any group of people to burn, he shares his knowledge of techniques and tools so they overcome their fear of fire and learn the healing powers of fire in ceremony.

Creating a universal cultural fire (59.15)

Don discusses how Indigenous groups, like in Australia, are working towards rekindling fire practice by having Indigenous peoples train others on fire knowledge. He believes in the power of Indigenous peoples developing their own standards and qualifications for fire practice that champion Indigenous sovereignty and create a culture of safety training and mindsets. He disagrees with the standard firefighter training which views fire as the enemy.

“It’s not dangerous when you’ve been doing it for 60000 years” (1.03.48)

Don has completed the conventional wildland firefighter training as well as numerous prescribed fire workshops, across continents and habitats. He is also a certified burn boss. He recalls instances that delineate the difference between the way Indigenous peoples perceive fire and how agencies look at it. His hope is to pass on the responsibilities of cultural burning to the next generation.

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