Managing Wildfires Using A Centuries-Old Indigenous Practice
A firefighter pulls a hose along the fireline on the Bacon Flat prescribed fire in September.
Credit: Murphy Woodhouse, Boise State Public Radio
This article is part of The State of Science, a series featuring science stories from public radio stations across the United States. This story, by Murphy Woodhouse, was originally published by Boise State Public Radio.
In late September, firefighters in flame-resistant Nomex were strung out along a fireline. It ran midslope through a pine and hardwood forest above the Klamath River and the small northern California town of Orleans.
Several members of the Karuk tribe were laying down strands of fire with drip torches.
Aja Conrad, who runs the tribal natural resource department’s environmental education field institute, was the firing boss trainee. She kept a close eye as the strips burned together and smoke filled the air.
“Can you just keep an eye on that and maybe not put too much fire below it?” she told one of her burners.
“Copy that.”
