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The Northern Rockies Fire Science Network (NRFSN) works in the ancestral territories of Tribal Nations in the Rocky Mountains, where lands far beyond reservation boundaries are important for cultural practices and ceremonies. Since time immemorial, Tribal communities have used fire to enhance valued resources and ecosystems. However, there are many challenges to managing fire for tribal resources, especially across jurisdictions. The resources on this page address the various aspects of integrating traditional and western knowledge to manage wildland fire and fuels.

The NRFSN strives to promote communication, collaboration, and shared learning in the larger wildland fire community to support tribal land managers in co-managing these ecosystems for generations to come. We urge those interested in the Northern Rockies to take time to learn about the history, treaties, and culture of the Tribes within the area where you live, work, or visit.

This hot topic was developed in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Research Station, the Pacific Southwest Research Station, and the Pacific Northwest Region of the USDA Forest Service.

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Recorded Webinars

Publications

2024

How bureaucracies interact with Indigenous Fire Stewardship (IFS): a conceptual framework
William Nikolakis et al.
Untrammeling the wilderness: Restoring natural conditions through the return of human‑ignited fire
Clare E. Boerigter et al.
Centering socioecological connections to collaboratively manage post-fire vegetation shifts
Kimberly T. Davis et al.
How bureaucracies interact with Indigenous Fire Stewardship (IFS): a conceptual framework
William Nikolakis et al.
Realignment of federal environmental policies to recognize fire’s role
Sara A. Clark et al.
Indigenous Fire Data Sovereignty: Applying Indigenous Data Sovereignty Principles to Fire Research
Melinda M. Adams

2023

Reconnecting fire culture of aboriginal communities with contemporary wildfire risk management
Amos Atkinson et al.
Expert knowledge, collaborative concepts, and universal nature: naming the place of Indigenous knowledge within a public-sector cultural burning program
Jessica K. Weir

2022

An Assessment of American Indian Forestry Research, Information Needs, and Priorities
Michael J. Dockry et al.
Keepers of the flame: supporting the revitalization of Indigenous cultural burning
Chris Adlam et al.

2021

Wildfire and climate change adaptation of western North American forests: a case for intentional management
Paul F. Hessburg et al.
Persuasion without policies: the work of reviving Indigenous peoples’ fire management in southern Australia
Will Smith et al.
Indigenous fire stewardship: Federal/Tribal partnerships for wildland fire research and management
Frank K. Lake
Native American fire management at an ancient wildland-urban interface in the Southwest United States
Christopher I. Roos et al.
The importance of Indigenous cultural burning in forested regions of the Pacific West, USA
Jonathan Long et al.
Conservation of Earth’s biodiversity is embedded in Indigenous fire stewardship
Kira M. Hoffman et al.

2020

Indigenous and local knowledge in sustainability transformations research: a literature review
David P. M. Lam et al.
Indigenous fire management: a conceptual model from literature
William Nikolakis et al.
Indigenous knowledge and seasonal calendar inform adaptive savanna burning in northern Australia
Michelle McKemey et al.
Integrating tribes and culture into public land management [Chapter 5.5]
David Flores et al.
A review of Indigenous knowledge and participation in environmental monitoring
Kim-Ly Thompson et al.
Goal setting and Indigenous fire management: a holistic perspective
William Nikolakis et al.

2019

Getting back to fire suméŝ: exploring a multi-disciplinary approach to incorporating traditional knowledge into fuels treatments
Monique D. Wynecoop et al.
Sharing Multiple Perspectives on Burning: Towards a Participatory and Intercultural Fire Management Policy in Venezuela, Brazil, and Guyana
Bibiana A. Bilbao et al.
Spatiotemporal variability of human-fire interactions on the Navajo Nation
Christopher H. Guiterman et al.
Traditional knowledge of fire use by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in the eastside Cascades of Oregon
Michelle M. Steen-Adams et al.
We’re Not Doing Enough Prescribed Fire in the Western United States to Mitigate Wildfire Risk
Crystal A. Kolden
Out of the Ashes: Ecological Resilience to Extreme Wildfire, Prescribed Burns, and Indigenous Burning in Ecosystems
Cristina Eisenberg et al.
Indigenous fire stewardship
Frank K. Lake et al.

2018

When Scientists “Discover” What Indigenous People Have Known For Centuries
George Nicholas
A Global Analysis of Hunter-Gatherers, Broadcast Fire Use, and Lightning-Fire-Prone Landscapes
Michael R. Coughlan et al.
Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium
Christopher I. Roos et al.

2017

Participatory geographic information systems as an organizational platform for the integration of traditional and scientific knowledge in contemporary fire and fuels management
Brooke Baldauf McBride et al.
A Special Issue of the Journal of Forestry—Tribal Forest Management: Innovations for Sustainable Forest Management
Michael J. Dockry et al.
Returning fire to the land - Celebrating traditional knowledge and fire
Frank K. Lake et al.

2016

Taking Fire: Understandings of Indigenous Burning and Environmental Politics in Australia and the United States, 1910-2015
Daniel May
Weaving Indigenous and sustainability sciences to diversify our methods
Jay T. Johnson et al.
Opportunities to utilize traditional phenological knowledge to support adaptive management of social-ecological systems vulnerable to changes in climate and fire regimes
Christopher A. Armatas et al.

2015

Traditional fire-use, landscape transition, and the legacies of social theory past
Michael R. Coughlan
Forest site classification for cultural plant harvest by tribal weavers can inform management
Susan S. Hummel et al.
Social science research on Indigenous wildfire management in the 21st century and future research needs
Amy Christianson

2014

Fire and tribal cultural resources
Frank K. Lake et al.
Spraycan: A PPGIS for capturing imprecise notions of place
J. J. Huck et al.

2013

Cultural impacts to tribes from climate change influences on forests
Garrett Voggesser et al.
The many elements of traditional fire knowledge: synthesis, classification, and aids to cross-cultural problem solving in fire-dependent systems around the world
Mary R. Huffman
Rethinking the study of landscape management practices among hunter–gatherers in North America
Kent G. Lightfoot et al.
Historical and cultural fires, tribal management and research issues in Northern California: trails, fires and tribulations
Frank K. Lake
Culture, law, risk and governance: contexts of traditional knowledge in climate change adaptation
Terry Williams et al.
Aboriginal precedent for active management of sagebrush-perennial grass communities in the Great Basin
Kent J. McAdoo et al.

2012

Listening and learning from traditional knowledge and western science: a dialogue on contemporary challenges of forest health and wildfire
Larry Mason et al.
A case for developing place-based fire management strategies from traditional ecological knowledge
Lily A. Ray et al.

2011

Working with American Indian tribes on wildland fires: protecting cultural heritage sites in northwestern California
Frank K. Lake
Traditional wisdom – protecting wilderness as a cultural landscape
Alan E. Watson et al.

2010

Fire, agency and scale in the creation of aboriginal cultural landscapes
Andrew Martin Miller et al.
Utilization of the Native American talking circle to teach incident command system to tribal community health representatives
Brenda Granillo et al.
Fire burners to firefighters: the Nez Perce and fire
Matthew S. Carroll et al.

2009

Communicating about fire with tribal organizations
Germaine White et al.
Developing computer-based participatory approaches to mapping landscape values for landscape and resource management
Stephen J. Carver et al.

2008

Living artifacts: the ancient ponderosa pines of the West
Stephen F. Arno et al.

2007

Wildland fire management as conservation-based development: an opportunity for reservation communities?
Kathleen Rasmussen et al.

2005

Culturally scarred trees in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana, USA- interpreting Native American historical forest use in a wilderness area
Lars Ostlund et al.

2004

Private and tribal forest landowners and fire risk: a two-county case study in Washington state
Matthew S. Carroll et al.

2003

Simulated indigenous management: a new model for ecological restoration in national parks
M. Kat Anderson et al.

2001

Maintaining the mosaic: the role of indigenous burning in land management
R.W. Kimmerer et al.

2000

Using traditional ecological knowledge in science: methods and
H.P. Huntington

1994

Fire regimes on andesitic mountain terrain in northeastern Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Stephen W. Barrett

1982

Indian fires as an ecological influence in the Northern Rockies
Stephen W. Barrett et al.

Podcasts

Nov 14, 2024
Life with Fire Episode 71: Fire in the Southwest Ep. 6: The Ebb and Flow of Public Trust Around Prescribed Fire, with New Mexico State Forester Lindsey Quam

Sep 30, 2024
Fire Ecology Chats Episode 33: Strategic fire zones are essential to wildfire risk reduction in the Western United States

Jun 18, 2024
Life with Fire Episode 66: Fire in the Southwest Series, Ep. 3: Integrating Indigenous Knowledge into Western Fire Management with Jon Martin

May 29, 2024
Life with Fire Episode 64: Fire in the Southwest Series, Ep. 1: Southwest Fire Regimes and Post-Fire Community Support with Mary Stuever

Apr 17, 2024
Forestcast Season 4 Episode 2: Afire: Understanding Fire Differently

Oct 18, 2023
In the Woods Episode 40: Indigenous Knowledge

Jul 31, 2023
Life with Fire Episode 55: Humble Fire and Traditional Ecological Practices with Cultural Fire Scholar, Dr. Melinda Adams

Nov 8, 2022
Life With Fire Episode 43: Utilizing Traditional First Nations Values in Land Management, with Francis Johnson Jr.

Jun 2, 2022
Life With Fire Episode 34: Indigenous-Led Fire Stewardship with Amy Christianson

Nov 8, 2021
Life With Fire Episode 20: All Things Cultural Burning with Karuk Tribal Member Bill Tripp

Oct 20, 2021
YourForest Episode 111: Environmental Sociology with John Parkins

Apr 6, 2021
In the Woods Episode 5: Fire

Mar 30, 2021
Fireline Episode 4: The Gift of Fire

Sep 2, 2020
Fire Ecology Chats Episode 4: Incorporating Traditional Knowledge into Fuels Treatments

Oct 28, 2019
Good Fire Episode: Fire Ecology and Indigenous Knowledge

Apr 25, 2018
KHSU Lecture: How Humans Can Provide Services for Ecosystems With Traditional Ecological Knowledge