Inclusion of Indigenous voices in revised Northwest Forest Plan focus of symposium
“One of the ways we are going to get through both the climate and the wildfire crisis is by bringing in the values and perspectives of indigenous people,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology. “They survived here, thrived here for millenia.”
“One of the ways we are going to get through both the climate and the wildfire crisis is by bringing in the values and perspectives of indigenous people,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology. “They survived here, thrived here for millenia.”
Symposium stresses need for Indigenous perspectives in Northwest Forest Plan amendment
One point of emphasis for one of the speakers was how going forward fire management needs to change its year-round approach, especially outside of wildfire season.
"As wildfires come through, then we pick up the broken pieces,” says Ryan Reed, an Indigenous fire practitioner and wildland firefighter. “There is a lot of power that needs to be distributed into the proactive aspect. It's wintertime now, where work and strategy-making has to be done now."
One point of emphasis for one of the speakers was how going forward fire management needs to change its year-round approach, especially outside of wildfire season.
"As wildfires come through, then we pick up the broken pieces,” says Ryan Reed, an Indigenous fire practitioner and wildland firefighter. “There is a lot of power that needs to be distributed into the proactive aspect. It's wintertime now, where work and strategy-making has to be done now."
Will the Northwest Forest Plan finally respect tribal rights?
Ryan Reed (Karuk, Hupa, Yurok), an Indigenous fire practitioner and wildland firefighter and the youngest advisory committee member, said he pushed the committee to start to address the impact of settler colonialism on Indigenous communities, citing the impacts of the agency’s long suppression of cultural fire:
“If we’re able to empower Indigenous people, we’re also going to empower the various communities that are directly impacted by fire and have limited access to traditional foods or cultural practices.”
“We’re all feeling the negative impacts of fire suppression,” said committee member Ryan Reed.
Ryan Reed (Karuk, Hupa, Yurok), an Indigenous fire practitioner and wildland firefighter and the youngest advisory committee member, said he pushed the committee to start to address the impact of settler colonialism on Indigenous communities, citing the impacts of the agency’s long suppression of cultural fire:
“If we’re able to empower Indigenous people, we’re also going to empower the various communities that are directly impacted by fire and have limited access to traditional foods or cultural practices.”
“We’re all feeling the negative impacts of fire suppression,” said committee member Ryan Reed.
Forest Service, Native American Tribes partner to promote forest resilience
Ryan Reed, a member of the Hoopa Tribe in Northern California, is also member of a 21-person federal advisory committee for the Northwest Forest Plan. (And at 23, he’s the youngest.) He said true co-stewardship with tribes starts with early engagement in the planning process. Too often, he said, tribes are notified toward the end and then under pressure to find the people and resources to respond.
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Reed added that not everyone embraces tribes sharing in policy decisions. But he’s seen Forest Service leaders working “to make some serious change” in tribal consultation practices. “Climate change has been an unfortunate vehicle for tribal leadership and knowledge to be reintroduced,” he said. “The colonial mismanagement ... in our forests since contact has really caught up with the rest of society. We have large catastrophic wildfires and fuel loading in our forests. And so now the agencies are in a pinch.”
Ryan Reed, a member of the Hoopa Tribe in Northern California, is also member of a 21-person federal advisory committee for the Northwest Forest Plan. (And at 23, he’s the youngest.) He said true co-stewardship with tribes starts with early engagement in the planning process. Too often, he said, tribes are notified toward the end and then under pressure to find the people and resources to respond.
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Reed added that not everyone embraces tribes sharing in policy decisions. But he’s seen Forest Service leaders working “to make some serious change” in tribal consultation practices. “Climate change has been an unfortunate vehicle for tribal leadership and knowledge to be reintroduced,” he said. “The colonial mismanagement ... in our forests since contact has really caught up with the rest of society. We have large catastrophic wildfires and fuel loading in our forests. And so now the agencies are in a pinch.”
Managing fire is vital to the health of our forests
The NWFP, which holds sway over 24 million acres, follows the model in which humans do not interfere with nature. This “preserve” model does not take into account that nature is dynamic, and disturbance is essential to ecology. The popular credo “take only pictures, leave only footprints” fails as land management policy. In particular, the NWFP did not take into account that forests on both sides of the Cascades, but especially the east side, had long been separated from their historic condition and lost much of their resilience and biodiversity. This is the very condition identified as important to spotted owls — dense, multistoried canopies with high vulnerability to crown fire.
The NWFP, which holds sway over 24 million acres, follows the model in which humans do not interfere with nature. This “preserve” model does not take into account that nature is dynamic, and disturbance is essential to ecology. The popular credo “take only pictures, leave only footprints” fails as land management policy. In particular, the NWFP did not take into account that forests on both sides of the Cascades, but especially the east side, had long been separated from their historic condition and lost much of their resilience and biodiversity. This is the very condition identified as important to spotted owls — dense, multistoried canopies with high vulnerability to crown fire.
Planning to cut old growth: Proposed revisions to the Northwest Forest Plan could eliminate valuable protections
One notable change is the inclusion of additional national forests in the Klamath and eastern Cascade regions that tend to have dryer and more fire-dependent forest ecosystems than those in the original NWFP.
One notable change is the inclusion of additional national forests in the Klamath and eastern Cascade regions that tend to have dryer and more fire-dependent forest ecosystems than those in the original NWFP.
Reactions from PNW on nationwide directive to protect old-growth forests
The United States Forest Service, under the directive of the United States Department of Agriculture, has announced plans to apply consistent standards to the conservation, restoration and maintenance of old-growth across the country’s national forests.
It’s a first of its kind standard that many say is necessary, given threats from climate change and varied management practices.
“I would say it's historic,” said Josh Hicks, director of conservation campaigns with The Wilderness Society.
The United States Forest Service, under the directive of the United States Department of Agriculture, has announced plans to apply consistent standards to the conservation, restoration and maintenance of old-growth across the country’s national forests.
It’s a first of its kind standard that many say is necessary, given threats from climate change and varied management practices.
“I would say it's historic,” said Josh Hicks, director of conservation campaigns with The Wilderness Society.
More protections coming for old-growth forests under federal plans
America’s oldest trees, most of which are in the West, will get added protection from wildfire and climate change under updated forest plans from the U.S. Forest Service.
In announcements over the past week, officials from the Forest Service said they would begin the process of amending forest management plans affecting all 128 of the agency’s forest and grasslands, including the Northwest Forest Plan governing federal forests in northern California, Oregon and Washington. The amendments, both nationally and in the Northwest, are meant to bolster forest health to combat climate change and to further protect the last of the nation’s old-growth trees, many of which have been threatened by growing wildfires, drought and diseases.
America’s oldest trees, most of which are in the West, will get added protection from wildfire and climate change under updated forest plans from the U.S. Forest Service.
In announcements over the past week, officials from the Forest Service said they would begin the process of amending forest management plans affecting all 128 of the agency’s forest and grasslands, including the Northwest Forest Plan governing federal forests in northern California, Oregon and Washington. The amendments, both nationally and in the Northwest, are meant to bolster forest health to combat climate change and to further protect the last of the nation’s old-growth trees, many of which have been threatened by growing wildfires, drought and diseases.
Debate intensifies over conservation of PNW’s old growth forests
The fight over the future of the last old and mature forests in America intensified Tuesday when the Biden administration called for preservation of old-growth trees.
The administration, after creating an inventory of the nation’s old growth, wants to amend 128 forest land-management plans to conserve and steward 25 million acres of old-growth forests and 68 million acres of mature forest across the national forest system.
For the Pacific Northwest — home to much of the nation’s remaining old forests — an effort is already underway to overhaul and update key old-growth protections in the Northwest Forest Plan of 1994, one of the world’s most ambitious conservation plans. More than 1 million acres of old and mature forest in Washington, Oregon and Northern California that were explicitly set aside for logging within the boundaries of the plan are under scrutiny.
The fight over the future of the last old and mature forests in America intensified Tuesday when the Biden administration called for preservation of old-growth trees.
The administration, after creating an inventory of the nation’s old growth, wants to amend 128 forest land-management plans to conserve and steward 25 million acres of old-growth forests and 68 million acres of mature forest across the national forest system.
For the Pacific Northwest — home to much of the nation’s remaining old forests — an effort is already underway to overhaul and update key old-growth protections in the Northwest Forest Plan of 1994, one of the world’s most ambitious conservation plans. More than 1 million acres of old and mature forest in Washington, Oregon and Northern California that were explicitly set aside for logging within the boundaries of the plan are under scrutiny.
A wildland firefighter argues for setting more fires. Ryan Reed says: “In short, let’s look to Indigenous leadership.”
Reed is a member of the Karuk, Hupa and Yurok tribes in Northern California (those tribal lands are just across the Oregon border, and he got an environmental studies degree at the University of Oregon). Those tribes for years have lobbied the Forest Service for a return to Indigenous forestry practices, which include regular prescribed burns to reduce the underbrush that turns forests into tinderboxes. The concessions they’ve obtained—including the right for the Karuk Tribe to conduct controlled burns in Six Rivers National Forest—have been hard won.
Reed is a member of the Karuk, Hupa and Yurok tribes in Northern California (those tribal lands are just across the Oregon border, and he got an environmental studies degree at the University of Oregon). Those tribes for years have lobbied the Forest Service for a return to Indigenous forestry practices, which include regular prescribed burns to reduce the underbrush that turns forests into tinderboxes. The concessions they’ve obtained—including the right for the Karuk Tribe to conduct controlled burns in Six Rivers National Forest—have been hard won.