Karuk and Yurok prescribed cultural fire revitalization in California's Klamath Basin : socio-ecological dynamics and political ecology of indigenous burning and resource management
Keywords: Anthropology.

Fire exclusion and suppression policies, associated with timber extraction and structure protection, have precipitated unprecedented wildfires and associated destruction across California and throughout the American West. Before widespread Federal and State fire exclusion and suppression policies were enacted, American Indians intentionally set prescribed burns to enhance the abundance and quality of species and habitats fundamental to their livelihood and culture. These fires are known as cultural fires, and they limited woody fuels and, in turn, mitigated wildfire spread across the landscape. In northwest California, the Karuk and Yurok Tribes are leading recent efforts to revitalize and expand the use of cultural fires, and thus, present a distinctive and timely opportunity to evaluate the socio-ecological effects of a formerly widespread land management practice that was and still remains integral to Indigenous culture and California ecology. This dissertation uses mixed qualitative and quantitative social and ecological methods and analyses to evaluate the cultural fire resurgence in Karuk and Yurok territory. First, I examine historical and contemporary fire management as a product of colonialism and Indigenous resistance, modes of production (e.g., capitalist timber extraction and Indigenous subsistence economies), and (de)centralized governance systems. Then I present mixed method assessments of the effects of: 1) fire proxy treatments—developed by Karuk and Yurok basketweavers in the absence of cultural burning—on the production of California hazelnut (Corylus cornuta var. californica) basketry stems; 2) re-introduced cultural and prescribed burns on hazelnut basketry stem production and basketweaver harvesting and gathering decisions; and, 3) cultural fire frequency and fire exclusion on forest stand structure and overstory species composition. I conclude with an investigation of the factors that may either constrain or facilitate the expansion of cultural and prescribed burning in northern California. I find that proxy treatments successfully increase hazelnut basketry stem production in shrubs compared to untreated shrubs, that hazelnut shrubs one growing season post-burn produced a 13-fold increase in basketry stems compared with shrubs growing 3 or more seasons post-burn, and that areas burned at high frequencies (3 or more burn events from 1989 to 2019) had 1.86-fold greater hazelnut shrubs than areas burned < 3 times. Thus, high frequency cultural burning increases gathering efficiency for basketweavers. Furthermore, high frequency burn sites facilitate the maintenance of hardwood tree overstories predominantly composed of deciduous California black oak (Quercus kelloggii), whereas low frequency burn sites (< 3 burns from 1989 to 2019) were dominated by Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). Although public land agencies, Tribes, and diverse nongovernmental organizations acknowledge the benefits of expanding prescribed and cultural burns, there remains a shortage of wildland fire teams and experts required to conduct environmental reviews to implement and plan these burns. Interagency partnerships and decentralized fire governance are eliminating constraints and facilitating prescribed and cultural burning expansion throughout northern California. By generating and assessing empirical ecological and social data, this dissertation corroborates Indigenous knowledge and burning practices by demonstrating that high frequency cultural burning supports ecological functionality as well as Indigenous culture and livelihoods. Integrating these Indigenous and 'Western' science approaches reveals that both cultural burning and Tribal land sovereignty are critical for collaborative efforts that seek to expand prescribed fire, reduce wildfire risk, and develop resilient fire-adaptive communities