Indigenous communities in B.C. and California promote cultural burns for disaster mitigation

By Santana Dreaver
CBC News
January 22, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada West, US West

Joey Gonzales, a Tataviam and Chumash model and actor from southern California, is one of the thousands of Indigenous people in California who watched their homeland burn.  “What’s really missing is the Indigenous perspective on these fires, knowing that they could have been prevented.” Cultural burning is a traditional fire management practice that has been used by Indigenous peoples in Canada, the U.S. and around the world to eliminate fuel build-up that contributes to the intensity of wildfires and promotes the regrowth of native species that local Indigenous communities depend on… Mata-Fragua says it’s important for those involved in disaster mitigation to acknowledge and encourage Indigenous practices because Indigenous peoples have been caring for those lands for thousands of years and understand the geography of their regions.

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