Principles to consider before partnering with a Tribe or Indigenous Community

Are you interested in working with Indigenous fire practitioners, researchers, and Tribal communities? The principles below provide guidance for how to develop meaningful relationships and ensure projects are co-developed, while respecting sovereignty and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. 

This content summarizes a webinar by Dr. Frank K. Lake titled “Cultural Burning and Collaborative Fire Research and Management: Approaches for Respectfully Partnering with Tribes.” We are grateful to Dr. Lake and to reviewers, (names), who shared their time, experience, and knowledge. 

Indigenous peoples have stewarded the land and used fire on landscapes around the world since time immemorial and are active stewards of the land today. This page provides several resources for learning more about cultural fire and how to develop respectful and equitable relationships with Indigenous fire practitioners, researchers, and tribal communities.

Below the following principles is a list of resources on cultural fire and collaborative fire research and management.

• Consider who should be included in early discussions. Learn about Tribal governance, collaborations, potential partners, and past and current work with fire management and research. Whose voices are present, and whose are missing?

• Orient yourself. Take time to better understand Tribes and Indigenous communities in the area, including federally unrecognized Tribes. It is important to better your understanding of the community’s history, ancestral and contemporary lands, sovereignty, customs, and terminology.

• Learn about cultural fire use, regimes, and effects. Indigenous peoples have stewarded the land with fire around the world since time immemorial and are active stewards of the land today. Cultural fire regimes are sacred and purposeful, and fire use and effects will differ across geographies.

• Learn about research needs and questions. Go beyond your questions and learn about the researchable questions of Indigenous communities. Reach out to Tribal natural resources departments to learn what their needs are.

• Ensure the project is mutually beneficial. Consider your project goals, the goals of the Tribe or Indigenous community, and where overlap exists. The scale and metrics of the research should reflect community needs, priorities, and values.

• Understand ethnobotanical contexts. Learn about the cultural history of the plants and animals you are interested in studying. Consider relationships with the landscape, water quality, climate, and influences of climate change, energy access, and more.

• Know your approach. Gain knowledge and skills in the collaborative research approach you plan to implement. Ground respectful engagement in co-creation, co-development, and co-production.

• Consider funding sources. Leverage institutional funding and privileges to answer mutually-defined questions in a way that centers Tribal needs, priorities, and community values. Engage with Tribes early in funding processes.

• Define the process together. Formalize agreements around information and data sharing and sovereignty early. Work together to establish clear guidelines for how Tribal and Indigenous input, participation, oversight, and review will be centered when it comes to research methods, analysis, and sharing results.

• Honor Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Integrate knowledge systems and methodologies into research and management respectfully and with expressed consent. Create the best available science with Tribes and Indigenous communities while working towards the decolonization of wildland fire research.

To explore the list of cultural fire resources in a new tab where you can filter by category or format, click here. You can either create a copy, or click Data then click create filter view - you will be able to filter and sort.

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