{"id":114430,"date":"2024-09-17T11:04:42","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T18:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/?p=114430"},"modified":"2025-03-25T16:57:45","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T23:57:45","slug":"banned-for-100-years-cultural-burns-could-save-sequoias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/redwoods-magazine\/autumn-winter-2024\/banned-for-100-years-cultural-burns-could-save-sequoias\/","title":{"rendered":"Banned for 100 years, cultural burns could save sequoias\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"video-container\"><iframe title=\"Alder Creek Grove cultural burn\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kVCdMBcMVK8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Orange flames crackled to life as T\u00fcbatulabal Tribal Chairman Robert Gomez bent to light a pile of dry brush. Wisps of smoke drifted upwards, framed by the tawny bark of the giant sequoias standing watch. On this cloudless June day in California\u2019s Sierra Nevada, the <a href=\"https:\/\/tulerivertribe-nsn.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tule River Indian<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NorthForkMonoTribe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">North Fork Mono<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tubatulabal.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">T\u00fcbatulabal<\/a> Tribes had gathered to lead a small cultural burning demonstration in the Alder Creek Grove. It would be the first-ever cultural burn on land managed by Save the Redwoods League.<\/p>\n<p>California banned cultural burning back in 1850 as part of legislation designed to forcibly remove Indigenous people from their ancestral lands. For millennia, tribes had used fire to help manage the ancient sequoia groves. The practice typically involved lighting small, controlled fires to clear overgrown shrubs, small trees, and dead leaves.\u00a0These low-intensity fires promoted the growth of plants for food, materials, and medicinal purposes. They also helped manage habitat for wildlife and maintained the health of the giant sequoias, which were adapted to thrive in a fire-prone environment.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_115330\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-feature wp-image-115330 img-responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20240617_105839-700x430.jpg\" alt=\"A group of men, some wearing hard hats and safety vests gather around a pile of brush. a man wearing a straw hat kneels toward the pile.\" width=\"700\" height=\"430\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20240617_105839-700x430.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20240617_105839-1140x700.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20240617_105839-768x472.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20240617_105839-1536x943.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20240617_105839-scaled.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20240617_105839-31x19.jpg 31w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Chairman Robert Gomez of the T\u00fcbatulabal Tribe bends to light the first cultural burn on League-managed lands. Photo by Kyle Cooper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_115118\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-feature wp-image-115118 img-responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/AlderCreekBurn_KC-700x418.jpg\" alt=\"A wide shot of people spread out across green undergrowth with a small fire and wisps of white smoke. Several large sequoia trees stand in the background.\" width=\"700\" height=\"418\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/AlderCreekBurn_KC-700x418.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/AlderCreekBurn_KC-1140x682.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/AlderCreekBurn_KC-768x459.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/AlderCreekBurn_KC-1536x918.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/AlderCreekBurn_KC-scaled.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/AlderCreekBurn_KC-31x19.jpg 31w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">By reducing fire fuels, cultural burning can positively change the behavior of future wildfires, slowing their spread, lowering their intensity, and reducing smoke. Photo by Kyle Cooper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Though the positive outcomes may be similar to the impact of prescribed burns, cultural burning is often tied to spiritual beliefs and cultural rituals. &#8220;Yes, we&#8217;re restoring the landscape and restoring our resources,&#8221; said Chairman Ron Goode of the North Fork Mono Tribe. &#8220;But when we do that, we&#8217;re restoring our culture.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Cultural burning is also firmly rooted in traditional ecological knowledge\u2014a deep connection to the land, developed over generations. \u201cThe cultural burn works because our people have been doing it for centuries and centuries,\u201d said Shine Nieto, vice chairman of the Tule River Indian Tribe. Nieto described the protection of the giant sequoias as a way of life for his people. \u201cThose trees mean a lot to us. They\u2019re actually our ancestors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At Alder Creek Grove, tribal leaders generously invited non-Native participants in an effort to share essential ecological knowledge and demonstrate the importance of cultural burning in forests that face existential threats. \u201cOur tribe and our culture, we keep it to ourselves\u2014we don\u2019t usually give it away,\u201d says Nieto. \u201cThis is one of the only things we\u2019re giving up, to help save the land.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_115117\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-feature wp-image-115117 img-responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/AlderCreekBurn_LuisVidal-700x417.jpg\" alt=\"Firefighters in yellow safety gear work in a meadow near a light green firetruck. Tall sequoia trees stand in the background.\" width=\"700\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/AlderCreekBurn_LuisVidal-700x417.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/AlderCreekBurn_LuisVidal-1140x679.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/AlderCreekBurn_LuisVidal-768x458.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/AlderCreekBurn_LuisVidal-1536x915.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/AlderCreekBurn_LuisVidal-scaled.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/AlderCreekBurn_LuisVidal-31x18.jpg 31w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">The demonstration burn was closely monitored by fire suppression experts and staff from the Tule River Fire Department, Cal Fire, and USDA Forest Service. Photo by Luis Vidal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_115121\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-feature wp-image-115121 img-responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/CulturalDemonstrationBurn-700x394.png\" alt=\"Overhead view of a few firefighters watching smoldering burn piles in green scrub in the shadow of tall trees. \" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/CulturalDemonstrationBurn-700x394.png 700w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/CulturalDemonstrationBurn-1140x641.png 1140w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/CulturalDemonstrationBurn-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/CulturalDemonstrationBurn-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/CulturalDemonstrationBurn.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/CulturalDemonstrationBurn-31x17.png 31w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Small, controlled fires burn piles of brush at the Alder Creek Grove of giant sequoias. Photo by Smith Robinson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the past decade, up to 20 percent of the world\u2019s mature giant sequoias died in extreme wildfires, most during the catastrophic fires of 2020 and 2021. These infernos were fueled by an unnatural buildup of dried vegetation, caused by prolonged drought, rising temperatures, and more than a century of fire suppression. The resulting \u201cladder fuels\u201d caused wildfires to burn at unprecedented intensity and to climb into the canopies of mature sequoias. Ancient trees that had survived for millennia were left as blackened husks, unable to reseed the next generation.<\/p>\n<p>Cultural burns are part of the solution. By reducing fuels, they can positively change the behavior of future wildfires, slowing their spread, lowering their intensity, and reducing smoke. \u201cBeneficial fire has the power to restore balance and resilience to the giant sequoias in an era of climate change,\u201d said Ben Blom, League director of stewardship and restoration. \u201cAs we work to undo a century of misguided fire suppression, we fully support our tribal partners in reviving cultural fire on ancestral lands.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_115122\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-feature wp-image-115122 img-responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OpeningCircle-700x360.png\" alt=\"A group of people gather in a large circle with sequoia trees in the background.\" width=\"700\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OpeningCircle-700x360.png 700w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OpeningCircle-1140x586.png 1140w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OpeningCircle-768x395.png 768w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OpeningCircle-1536x789.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OpeningCircle.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OpeningCircle-31x16.png 31w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Tribes and their partners hope to build widespread support for cultural burning, an essential practice that has been missing from this landscape for more than a century. Photo by Smith Robinson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_115343\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-feature wp-image-115343 img-responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20240617_070003-700x323.jpg\" alt=\"Golden sunbeams slant through tall sequoia trees, illuminating a green meadow with wildflowers\" width=\"700\" height=\"323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20240617_070003-700x323.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20240617_070003-1140x527.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20240617_070003-768x355.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20240617_070003-1536x710.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20240617_070003-scaled.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20240617_070003-31x14.jpg 31w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Cultural burning is firmly rooted in a deep connection to the land, developed over generations. Photo\u00a0by Kyle Cooper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Since the California ban was lifted in 2022, only two off-reservation cultural burns have taken place in the giant sequoia range: The demonstration at Alder Creek Grove and an earlier burn led by the Tule River Indian Tribe on Forest Service land. But the tribes and their partners are hopeful that these first steps will build widespread support for cultural burning. After more than 100 years without this healing practice, the threatened sequoias stand ready.<\/p>\n<p><i>The demonstration burn at Alder Creek Grove was closely monitored by fire suppression experts and staff from the Tule River Fire Department, Cal Fire, and USDA Forest Service. Funding was provided by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy. Both the Tule River Indian Tribe and Save the Redwoods League are members of the <a href=\"https:\/\/giantsequoias.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition<\/a>, a multi-partner collaboration dedicated to the preservation and stewardship of giant sequoias.<\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"panel well bgbox_b feedback\">\n<p>This feature appears in the beautiful printed edition of <em>Redwoods<\/em> magazine, a showcase of redwoods conservation stories by leading scientists and writers, as well as breathtaking photos, and ways you can help the forest. Only a selection of these stories are available online.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/secure.savetheredwoods.org\/a\/donate?source=redwoods-mag-200%20C%2024-25\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Join our thousands of members today<\/a><\/strong> for only $25, and you\u2019ll get future editions of our <em>Redwoods<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"well\">Read more highlights from the <a href=\"\/about-us\/publications\/redwoods-magazine\/autumn-winter-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Autumn-Winter 2024 Edition<\/a> online.<\/div>\n<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/ .panel.feedback {margin-bottom: 25px; background-image: url(\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine-join-bg4-fw24.jpg); background-size: contain; background-repeat: no-repeat; padding: 20px 50px 20px 320px; min-height: 280px; display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle; height: 220px;} .bgbox_b {background-color: #e6f0e1!important;border:none;} @media only screen and (max-width : 769px) {.panel.feedback { background-image: none; padding: 20px 20px 20px 20px;}} \/* ]]> *\/<br \/><\/style>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On a cloudless day in California\u2019s Sierra Nevada, the Tule River Indian, North Fork Mono, and T\u00fcbatulabal Tribes gathered to lead a small cultural burning demonstration in the Alder Creek Grove. Since the California ban was lifted in 2022, only two off-reservation cultural burns have taken place in the giant sequoia range: The demonstration at Alder Creek Grove and an earlier burn led by the Tule River Indian Tribe on Forest Service land. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":115121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15694,1515,2885],"tags":[15634,15406,15674,1499,460,15366,521,590,739,3216],"class_list":["post-114430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-autumn-winter-2024","category-blog","category-redwoods-magazine","tag-15634","tag-alder-creek-grove","tag-cultural-burning","tag-demonstration","tag-fire-suppression","tag-giant-sequoia-and-fire","tag-giant-sequoias-2","tag-indigenous-people","tag-native-people","tag-redwoods-magazine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Banned for 100 years, cultural burns could save sequoias\u00a0 | Save the Redwoods League<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On a cloudless day in California\u2019s Sierra Nevada, the Tule River Indian, North Fork Mono, and T\u00fcbatulabal Tribes gathered to lead a small cultural burning demonstration in the Alder Creek Grove.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/redwoods-magazine\/autumn-winter-2024\/banned-for-100-years-cultural-burns-could-save-sequoias\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Banned for 100 years, cultural burns could save sequoias\u00a0 | Save the Redwoods League\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On a cloudless day in California\u2019s Sierra Nevada, the Tule River Indian, North Fork Mono, and T\u00fcbatulabal Tribes gathered to lead a small cultural burning demonstration in the Alder Creek Grove. Since the California ban was lifted in 2022, only two off-reservation cultural burns have taken place in the giant sequoia range: The demonstration at Alder Creek Grove and an earlier burn led by the Tule River Indian Tribe on Forest Service land.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/redwoods-magazine\/autumn-winter-2024\/banned-for-100-years-cultural-burns-could-save-sequoias\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Save the Redwoods League\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SaveTheRedwoodsLeague\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-17T18:04:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-25T23:57:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.savetheredwoods.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/CulturalDemonstrationBurn-1140x641.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1140\" \/>\n\t<meta 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