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The Jefferson Exchange

Using Ancient Fire Knowledge On Modern Landscapes

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, by AlbertHerring, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29814833

Maybe the wildfires of the dry season would be less intense if we had learned the lessons of the forests long ago. The original people of the region recognized that fire not only occurs naturally, it is a necessary component of the forest ecosystem.

Native Americans lived with fire, and used it as a tool, for thousands of years. In recent years, forest managers have turned to the tribes for some Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of landscape management.

Lomakatsi Restoration Project offers a webinar incorporating some of that knowledge later in May (May 20th), in coordination with tribes from the region and Doug Bird, from the Anthropology Department at Penn State University.

He visits, along with moderator Belinda Brown, Lomakatsi's Tribal Partnership Director.

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The Jefferson Exchange is Jefferson Public Radio's daily news program focused on issues, people and events across Southern Oregon and Northern California. Angela Decker is the program's senior producer, Charlie Zimmermann is the assistant producer, and Geoffrey Riley hosts the show.