Getting back to fire suméŝ: exploring a multi-disciplinary approach to incorporating traditional knowledge into fuels treatments

Monique D. Wynecoop; Penelope Morgan; Eva K. Strand; Fernando Sanchez Trigueros

doi:10.1186/s42408-019-0030-3

Getting back to fire suméŝ: exploring a multi-disciplinary approach to incorporating traditional knowledge into fuels treatments

Monique D. Wynecoop
, Penelope Morgan
, Eva K. Strand
, Fernando Sanchez Trigueros

Native American Studies

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Evaluating fuel treatment effectiveness is challenging when managing a landscape for diverse ecological, social, and economic values. We used a Participatory Geographic Information System (PGIS) to understand Confederated Colville Tribal (CCT) member views regarding the location and effectiveness of fuel treatments within their ancestral territory within the Colville National Forest (CNF) boundary. The 2015 North Star Fire burned 88 221 ha (218 000 acres) of the CCT ancestral territory. Results: We sampled thirty plot pairs that were treated or untreated prior to being burned by the North Star Fire and again one growing season post fire. Species diversity was significantly increased by wildfire in both treated and untreated plots. Species richness was significantly increased in the plots that were treated, and there was no significant change in species richness from wildfire within the untreated plots. The percent canopy cover of two of the six culturally important plants (Fragaria spp. L. and Arnica cordifolia Hook.) significantly increased one growing season post wildfire within treated plots and one (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi [L.] Spreng.) significantly decreased in the treated plots post wildfire. These post-fire monitoring results were consistent with CCT member management recommendations and desired outcomes of understory thinning, prescribed fire, and natural ignition found using PGIS. Conclusions: Together, the results suggest that prior thinning and prescribed burning can foster vegetation response to subsequent wildfires, including culturally important plants. Further, integrating Traditional Knowledge (TK) into fuels treatments can improve ongoing adaptive management of national forests that include tribal ancestral lands.

Original language	English
Article number	17
Journal	Fire Ecology
Volume	15
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-019-0030-3
State	Published - Dec 1 2019

Funding

This project was funded by the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region’s Ecology Program, the University of Idaho, and the International Association of Wildland Fire (scholarship to M.D. Wynecoop.). F. Sánchez-Trigueros and A. Watson were funded to participate in this research through a Joint Service Agreement between the Colville National Forest and the Rocky Mountain Research Station and their partners. We thank those that agreed to be part of the scoping group representing the Colville Tribal Elders, the Colville Indian Agency, and Bureau of Indian Affairs. C. Watt, Bureau of Indian Affairs/Colville Indian Agency, was our key contact and representative for the Confederated Colville Tribes. We thank T. Paveglio at the University of Idaho for his advice in design, implementation, and analysis. A special thanks to L. Wynecoop, who volunteered his time on the North Star Fire as fire lookout and crew member for the FFI rapid response data collection. This project was funded by the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region’s Ecology Program, the University of Idaho, and the International Association of Wildland Fire (scholarship to M.D. Wynecoop.). F. Sánchez-Trigueros and A. Watson were funded to participate in this research through a Joint Service Agreement between the Colville National Forest and the Rocky Mountain Research Station and their partners. The data that support the findings of this study are available from Colville Confederated Tribes, but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were authorized for this study, and so are not publicly available.

Funders
University of Idaho

Keywords

Traditional Knowledge
fire effects
fuel treatment effectiveness
northeastern Washington
participatory geographic information systems
social ecological systems

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10.1186/s42408-019-0030-3

Cite this

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abstract = "Background: Evaluating fuel treatment effectiveness is challenging when managing a landscape for diverse ecological, social, and economic values. We used a Participatory Geographic Information System (PGIS) to understand Confederated Colville Tribal (CCT) member views regarding the location and effectiveness of fuel treatments within their ancestral territory within the Colville National Forest (CNF) boundary. The 2015 North Star Fire burned 88 221 ha (218 000 acres) of the CCT ancestral territory. Results: We sampled thirty plot pairs that were treated or untreated prior to being burned by the North Star Fire and again one growing season post fire. Species diversity was significantly increased by wildfire in both treated and untreated plots. Species richness was significantly increased in the plots that were treated, and there was no significant change in species richness from wildfire within the untreated plots. The percent canopy cover of two of the six culturally important plants (Fragaria spp. L. and Arnica cordifolia Hook.) significantly increased one growing season post wildfire within treated plots and one (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi [L.] Spreng.) significantly decreased in the treated plots post wildfire. These post-fire monitoring results were consistent with CCT member management recommendations and desired outcomes of understory thinning, prescribed fire, and natural ignition found using PGIS. Conclusions: Together, the results suggest that prior thinning and prescribed burning can foster vegetation response to subsequent wildfires, including culturally important plants. Further, integrating Traditional Knowledge (TK) into fuels treatments can improve ongoing adaptive management of national forests that include tribal ancestral lands.",

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Getting back to fire suméŝ: exploring a multi-disciplinary approach to incorporating traditional knowledge into fuels treatments

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