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Cultural Fire Management Council
The Cultural Fire Management Council (CFMC) is reclaiming the traditional use of fire on the Yurok Reservation and ancestral lands, to support a healthier ecosystem for all plants and animals while also supporting traditional hunting and gathering activities and long-term fire protection for residents. The CFMC offers training for wildland fire professionals across communities to build local capacity for returning fire to landscapes in a way that is managed, safe, and operates within the current legal framework. CMFC also offers community classes on safe burn practices along with opportunities for intergenerational transfer of knowledge, encouraging families to reclaim their right to use fire in a good way.
“Back then we just called it taking care of the land, now we call it cultural burn but really, it is managing the land for living culture.”
Featured Media
Quiet Fire
Indigenous tribes in California and other parts of the U.S. have been rekindling the ancient art of controlled burning.
'Fire is medicine': the tribes burning California forests to save them
For millennia, native people have used flames to protect the land. The US government outlawed the process for a century before recognizing its value.
For tribes, 'good fire' a key to restoring nature and people
