Episode 4: The Gift of Fire

For millennia, wildfire was part of life in North America. Indigenous people used it for tradition and ceremony, to improve the health of ecosystems, and to assist with hunting and gathering. But the arrival of white settlers marked the beginning of an era in which that knowledge around fire and its role on the landscape was suppressed. Now, indigenous groups across the country are working to revive tribal relationships with fire. Today, one story of bringing fire back to the land on the Flathead Reservation in Northwest Montana.

 - Andy Bidwell is a fuels specialist for the U.S. Forest Service

 - Tony Incashola Jr. is the head of forestry for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

 - Tony Incashola Sr. is a Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes elder and the director of the Selis-Qispe Culture Committee

 - Germaine White is an educator and former cultural resource manager for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes