with apocalyptic skies blanketing the state i call home, now feels like a good time to trot out one of the most important stories i’ve reported. [thread] https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2019/11/californias-wildfire-controlled-prescribed-burns-native-americans/

California is burning so intensely because of climate change, yes, but even moreso because of misguided imperial policy that has warped the land’s natural tendency to burn. [2/15]

for two centuries, the settler govmt (think Smokey the Bear) has suppressed wildfires and barred Indigenous tribes from doing traditional controlled burns, leading to an unnatural build-up of dry brush. [3/15]

we’re freaking out about these fires torching 2.6 million acres (& this early in the year, that’s scary for sure), but prior to colonization, nearly 2x that much of the state burned annually, with up to 1 million acres burned intentionally by Natives. [4/15]

of course, we shouldn’t just look at the # of acres burned, but at the severity and destructiveness of the fires. what we’re seeing right now is WAY more intense than the natural + human-facilitated burning of past eras. [5/15]

climate change has exacerbated our heatwaves and droughts, lengthening the fire season by months and making fires burn hotter and longer, with more release of greenhouse gases and destruction of carbon-storing trees. [6/15]

but poor land management is to blame here, too: our forests would be WAY more resilient if the govmt didn’t facilitate decades of extensive logging & prevent forests from burning safely in the colder, wetter months. [7/15]

controlled burns limit the severity and destructiveness of wildfires, yet these days, California leaders and landowners intentionally burn <100,000 acres of the state each year—less than one-tenth of what Natives once did. [8/15]

as my article depicts, state and federal agencies STILL actively prevent experienced, knowledgeable Indigenous folks from burning their own lands, even when conditions are ripe for a safe, effective burn. [9/15]

Californian settlers lobby against controlled burns; they don’t want smoke in their communities, and they perceive the risk as being higher than it is. now we’re seeing the result: MORE risk and smoke, subsuming the entire state, even blocking out the sun. [10/15]

it’s past time to listen to what Indigenous people have been telling us since our forefathers got here: to heal the land, let it burn. help it burn responsibly. and to learn to do that, let the land’s first stewards lead the way. [11/15]

there is no way around it: California needs to burn. as residents, we need to learn to live with fire and smoke, and stop building homes in the danger zones (see this 2nd article for more context). [12/15] https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2019/08/burn-build-repeat-why-our-wildfire-policy-is-so-deadly/

settler culture promotes a fear of fire, but the forests thrive on it; their ecosystems need it, in so many different ways. [13/15]

if you live in a rural area, now is the time to learn how you can responsibly care for dry lands, such as by joining a Prescribed Burn Association (depicted in the first article) or supporting local tribes in their efforts to obtain land and restore ecologies. [14/15]

the future of the lands we live on—and thus, our own future—is quite literally at stake. [/thread]