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Organization

Cultural Fire Management Council

Yurok Reservation, northern California

A Yurok firelighter holding a drip torch, lighting a low cultural burn through forest undergrowth on Yurok land in autumn 2023. Photo by Matt Mais, Public Relations Director, Yurok Tribe. Permission granted to USGS for usage. Public domain.

TL;DR

The Cultural Fire Management Council exists to make Yurok cultural burning practical again, on the grounds that deliberate fire produces a healthier forest and safer communities.

Mission: The mission of the Cultural Fire Management Council is to facilitate the practice of cultural burning on the Yurok Reservation and Ancestral lands, which will lead to a healthier ecosystem for all plants and animals, long term fire protection for residents, and provide a platform that will in turn support the traditional hunting and gathering activities of Yurok.

The Cultural Fire Management Council is a community based non-profit organization working on fire use and cultural resource management. Its work is to make Yurok cultural burning practical again on Yurok reservation and ancestral land. Margo Robbins is its executive director, and Giants Rising credits her with using controlled burns to help heal and fortify north coast forests.

Why OGSP Recommends It

The Cultural Fire Management Council gives the One Good Story Project a concrete example of Indigenous land care. The non-profit works to make Yurok cultural burning practical again across reservation and ancestral lands. Cultural burning uses deliberate fire to manage the environment, directed by the people who belong to that land.
They've structured their efforts around four specific goals. They want to restore plant and animal ecosystems. They aim to provide long-term fire protection for local residents. Their work also supports traditional hunting and gathering while advancing cultural resource management.
Margo Robbins leads the organization as executive director. You can watch her apply controlled burns to north coast forests in the documentary Giants Rising.

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Related Topics

Environment

Related Resources

A single hiker standing among old-growth coast redwood trunks at Redcrest, California, the figure showing the scale of the trees. Photo by Dan Lynch on Pexels, free to use.

Giants Rising

Margo Robbins

Ways To Get Involved

Contact the executive director through culturalfire.org.

Key Takeaways

  • Cultural burning is deliberate fire used as land care by the people whose land it is.
  • The Council states four outcomes it is working toward, a healthier ecosystem, long term fire protection for residents, support for traditional hunting and gathering, and furthering cultural resource management.
  • Margo Robbins is its executive director and appears in Giants Rising.
  • Its own web presence is limited, which is worth knowing before sending anyone there.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Cultural Fire Management Council?

A community based non-profit organization working on fire use and cultural resource management, whose purpose is to make cultural burning practical again on Yurok reservation and ancestral lands.

What is cultural burning?

Deliberate, managed fire used as land care by Yurok people on their own land.

Who leads the Cultural Fire Management Council?

Margo Robbins is its executive director.

What does the Council say cultural burning achieves?

Its stated mission gives a healthier ecosystem for plants and animals, long term fire protection for residents, and support for traditional Yurok hunting and gathering.

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