When we hear that word, we often think of the terrible destruction we ve seen on TV after one of the fires that has blazed through southern California. We might also think how painful it is to be burned by fire. NO - fires have burned all across the planet for millions of years helping to shape the world we live in. In fact, fire is a crucial part of our ecosystem, and the way of life as we know it today is dependent on it. In a dry climate such as we have in southern California, it causes dead plant debris to decompose quickly resulting in a mineral ash necessary for plant life.
Fire regenerates life.
The Chumash Indians who lived at Stunt Ranch not only respected fire, but had learned to use it to increase the productivity of the land. One of the things they did was to burn the understory of oak trees to make the acorns, a staple of their diet, larger and more plentiful the following year because it killed off competing plants. Early European explorers traveling in other areas inhabited by the Chumash reported large areas of grassland that had been burned by the Indians. The order was particularly directed at the old women who were the principal gatherers of wild seeds. Chumash Indians depended on a variety of wild seeds for their food.