Reintegrating Indigenous Burning Practices
Project Brief:
Prescribed fire can help reduce fuel loads in key areas that are safe to burn and where there has been a dearth of fire in the past. Prescribed fire is used as a tool to promote ecological health and reduce fire risk in various parts of the County on private and public land. Globally, there is increasing recognition of the role that indigenous communities played in managing ecosystem health through the judicious use of prescribed fire, but there has been little to no indigenous-led burning here in Santa Barbara County since the mission era. In recognition of the potential role indigenous burning practices could play in the stewardship of local ecosystems and the reduction of wildfire risk, this project proposed to engage key stakeholders to develop guidelines for integrating cultural burning practices into prescribed burning initiatives in the county. The guidelines will address a suite of issues including liability, interagency coordination, where and when indigenous burning and its goals are aligned with fire agency needs and more. Guidelines for indigenous-led burns should include provisions to ensure that the practice would follow the natural fire intervals for native plant communities to avoid type-conversion (e.g., chaparral and coastal sage scrub). This project was a high priority identified through the Climate Resilience Roundtable Series.
Project Description
Through partnership building and indigenous plant/fire research, the project aims to develop ‘best management practices’ for integrating local cultural burning knowledge into prescribed fire protocols of fire agencies and public and private land managers in the region. One of the ‘top ideas’ of the over 700 generated through the Climate Resilience Roundtable series was to restore indigenous access to use and manage lands to reduce fire risks and improve ecosystems. In support of this, CEC, Santa Ynez Chumash Environmental Office and LegacyWorks Group are collaboratively seeking to advance research and partnership development for the reintroduction of cultural burning practices in Santa Barbara County.
The traditional Chumash practice of cultural burning with low-grade fires was historically used to promote ecosystem health by increasing water runoff into streams, improving habitats for plants and animals and recycling nutrients. Up until recent shifts in management strategies, these traditional burnings were largely banned in California due to the state’s regulations around fire management. State and local fire agencies are now seeking this indigenous knowledge to help reduce fire risks and promote ecosystems.
This request is for plant propagation research, convenings and outreach to local fire agencies and land managers to promote partnerships, and creation of best management practices for integration into prescribed burning protocols on public and private lands in the county.
Desired Outcome and Goals
The goals of this project are to:
1) Establish dialog and strengthen relationships with fire agencies, conservation partners and land managers and the Chumash communities so that cultural practices that support reducing fire risk and improving ecosystems are considered;
2) Develop best management practices (BMPs) in collaboration with agencies, conservation partners and Chumash stakeholders that integrate cultural burn techniques into fire mitigation and prescribed burns, and establish protocols for increased tribal consultation and input on land management issues;
3) Adoption of these BMPs into agency and/or large land managers’ fire management plans and Community Wildfire Protection Plans; and
Relationship-building and collaborative development of BMPs that work within an agency’s framework is a critical first step to breaking down barriers to cultural practices. By utilizing science-based plant research and historical indigenous knowledge, cultural practices can be legitimized as a fire mitigation practice.
Success will be measured by stakeholder willingness to participate in the convenings and contribute to the development of the BMPs and number of fire agencies and land managers that adopt the BMPs as part of their fire management plans and protocols. Ultimate success by the end of the project would be the identification of a land owner/manager or fire agency willing to pilot cultural burning as part of their fire mitigation work.
Urgent Need
There are a number of opportunities that make this project timely and ripe for incorporation into fire mitigation efforts. We have entered extreme fire season and awareness of fire risk has never been higher. Federal and state initiatives are funneling more money into communities for fire protection and mitigation efforts. However, many of these resources are requiring that ecosystem health be balanced with mitigation. Governor’s Executive Order N-82-20 recognizes California Native Tribes as key stakeholders in resource protection with line items in state agency budgets for indigenous burn project implementation.
A recent $5.5 million grant award from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation aims to establish long-term wildfire resilience to the south coast of Santa Barbara County through a comprehensive assessment of wildfire risk and vulnerability, and implemented solutions for the built environment, natural landscape, and citizens of the region’s wildland-urban interface areas. This 3-year grant provides tremendous opportunity to incorporate indigeous practices into the natural lands and wildland interface areas as local partners, including CEC, the Land Trust and others, look to implement projects.
The BMPs will also be primed for incorporation into new and expanding Community Wildfire Protection Plans in Gaviota, Santa Barbara Foothills, Goleta Foothills, Mission Canyon, and Santa Ynez Valley, which currently has no plan.
Project Implementation
Task/Time Frame
Native plant propagation research - July 2021-June 2022
Expand experiments (i.e., introduce nursery plants into prescribed burn areas to see response and regeneration from fire and smoke). Preliminary research results (Sept/Oct) and continue throughout the project. Research contributed to the resource library
Resource Library content development - July 2021-June 2022
Assemble traditional knowledge, plant propagation methods, research on propagation/growth, and plant resource information. Includes in-field collection seed/specimens collection. A community digital and printed version of propagation applications will be produced in spring (April/May 2022)
Outreach/stakeholder meetings - July-Dec 2021
Initial outreach to key stakeholders in fire agencies, public land manages and large private land managers (i.e. preserves and land trusts) with first stakeholder convening (Sept/Oct); follow-up convening or small group meetings (Nov/Dec)
Development of BMPs - Oct-March 2022
First draft of BMPs developed (Oct/Nov) based on research and initial convening. Refinements to BMPs in (Nov/Dec) with input from follow-up small group meetings. Final BMP document developed (March/April 2022) for distribution
Follow up outreach - Jan-June 2022
Continued engagement to encourage strategies for integrating BMPs into land manager protocols; seek possible pilot project partner for proposal development
Partner Roles, Responsibilities and Experience
The project is designed as a collaboration of the three organizations that will each lead a component of the project, as well as collectively participate in the overall design and execution of it (see roles/responsibilities described in the collaboration section).
CEC will serve as fiscal agent and oversee the project flow and sub-contracts with the project partners. Sharyn Main will be a member of the project team and participate in convenings and some stakeholder meetings, as well as contribute to the development of the best management practices (BMP) document. Sharyn Main, Director of Climate Resilience will manage the project, ensure deliverables are met, serve on the steering committee. Sharyn headed up CEC’s Climate Resilience Roundtable series, and serves on the Regional Priority Plan project team (described below).
The Santa Ynez Chumash Environmental Office (SYCEO) will lead the plant research and resource library portions of the project. This includes overseeing nursery staff and an intern working on the resource library components. Teresa Romero, Director of the Santa Ynez Chumash Environmental Office (SYCEO) will implement and oversee the plant research and resource library, and serve on the steering committee. She is liaison with the Chumash community and will cultivate stakeholder engagement including to the broader Chumash communities, participate in meetings and convenings, and contribute to the development of the BMPs document. Teresa is a member of the Indigenous Peoples Burning Network, a Coastal Band of Chumash tribal member and serves on regional and state climate collaboratives.
LegacyWorks Group will lead the community engagement process design and implementation, hosting and facilitating convenings and small group follow-up meetings with key constituents from fire safety agencies, public agency and nonprofit stakeholders, land managers and indigenous communities to collaboratively develop best management practices. They will also participate in project team meetings, and contribute to the development of the BMPs. Carl Palmer and Carrie Kappel of LegacyWorks Group will lead the design and facilitation of the community engagement process, hosting key constituents from the fire safety, land management and indigenous communities to collaboratively develop best management practices. LegacyWorks Group specializes in collaborative solutions to complex challenges, and served as facilitators and co-designers of CEC’s Climate Resilience Roundtable Series, and as a project partner in the Regional Priority Plan.
Community Engagement
Our community engagement process will focus on bridging the divide between fire protection agencies, large landowners and the Chumash community. However, the project overall will create deliverables for how these key groups can collaborate effectively, moving forward in the region and beyond. These BMPs will be widely applicable to other counties and regions and will be readily adaptable to different indigenous community needs and regional fire prevention priorities. The community resource library digital content is also intended for dissemination to the general public and will provide information on a range of topics including caring for native plants and propagation.
We will disseminate the project deliverables through a variety of channels including the Indigenous Burn Network and local regional collaboratives and networks, of which CEC and Santa Ynez Chumash Environmental Office are members, including Central Coast Climate Justice Network, Santa Barbara County Regional Climate Collaborative and the Central Coast Climate Collaborative. We will also work to incorporate the protocols and BMPs in the upcoming Regional Wildfire Mitigation Program -- a $5.5 million grant from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, of which CEC is a project partner leading the development of the equity and vulnerability component.
Status: Funded (The project is in progress, scheduled to complete in August 2022.)
Cost: Low
Funding Sources: Grant proposal submitted and approved for the integration of cultural burning practices in prescribed burn efforts in south county (funder limited region)
Permitting: New prescribed burn areas not contemplated or analyzed under the California VTP's CEQA programmatic document would require a PSA (Project Specific Analysis) in accordance with CEQA requirements. Coordination with CDFW/USFWS (if a federally-listed species is present) would be needed to assess potential impacts to ESH or species. Coordination and permitting with APCD would also be required.