Good Fire: The Karuk Nation and the Original Prescribed Burns of Turtle Island

Indigenous People of Turtle Island (ala North America) have been intentionally burning the landscape for millennia with low intensity burns. This cycles the nutrients of dead grasses in the fall into mineral rush ash, that nourishes the seeds and shoots for the coming spring. It also curtails incoming vegetation that may compete with old growth or other highly selected trees. It helps to keep the trees in the forest spaced widely apart to prevent crowding which results in many dehydrated, nutrient poor, shaded trees, instead of a few healthy trees with plenty of nutrients, sunlight and water. In this episode we talk with three members of the Karuk Tribe, Vikki Preston, Frankie Tripp and Leece Larue. We discuss the tribe's proactive, cultural use of prescribed fires. These prescribed burns are important to wildland systems in the Klamath River region, bringing new life, growth and protection from larger, more rapidly burning wild fires.  While working with local departments, the Karuk peoples are able to put fire on the ground and educate those in their area why and how these practices should be done to ensure a safe, purposeful burning, that may not happen when left up to official departments alone controlling these prescribed burnings. Join along as they share their stories and what this work means to then


To learn more about the Karuk Tribe, visit their website.

To learn more about Vikki Preston, visit her Instagram.

To learn more about Leece Larue, visit their Linkedin or Instagram.