Protecting the Forest from Firefighters

The Blue 2 Fire has consumed about 9,500 acres of the Six Rivers National Forest.  It's been burning for over a month and is now 69 percent contained.  The fire is located a few miles east of Klamath CA, which is in Del Norte County--the northwestern corner of the state. There are reasons beyond the rugged and remote landscape that it can be complicated to fight fires there.

In the Six Rivers National Forest alone, there are 12 tribes that the U.S. Forest Service works with, according to Ana Dittmar, heritage resources project manager for the forest. They include the Yurok, Tolowa, Karuk, Hoopa and Wiyot Tribes, among others, she said, and all of them have culturally sensitive lands in the forest, some of which are still used today for spiritual purposes.

"All management activities or actions require an assessment of the cultural resources in that area," Dittmar said. "If the cultural resources happen to be in a project area, we have to mitigate what damages would be done to them."

This happens in everyday Forest Service operations, she said, as well as during emergency situations, such as wildland fires. In fact, when it comes to protecting heritage sites during wildfires, the Forest Service has formal agreements with the Yurok, Hoopa and Karuk tribes.

"They're not renewable resources and they can't get up and run away from danger," Dittmar said of tribal cultural resources. "They're precious because they represent the heritage of the American people—all American people."

FYI, the Yurok Tribe is the largest in California. 

McConnell is a 59-year-old Yurok Indian. The Forest Service signed a memorandum of understanding with his tribe that allows him to work with firefighters on the Blue 2 Fire as the tribe's designated representative. As a heritage consultant, McConnell monitors fire suppression efforts to ensure they don't encroach on culturally sensitive areas within the Six Rivers National Forest.

"We're not here to stop this effort," McConnell said as he worked his way up the Gasquet-Orleans Road toward the Blue 2 Fire. "We're here to guide it."

Before firefighters dig a hand line or do a controlled burn in a particular area, for instance, someone like McConnell will inventory that place, checking for anything that might indicate an American Indian presence.

If there's any signs of tribal use, McConnell coordinates with wildfire incident command teams to ensure those cultural properties are protected. This could mean a change in where a hand line is placed or it could mean letting a fire naturally burn through the area.

"Fire doesn't harm cultural resources," McConnell said, "but fire suppression does."

Catchy, but pretentious...there are obviously cultural resources which can be harmed by fire.  Nonetheless, one can understand his point. 

McConnell said he could not divulge what he searches for when he's out in the wilderness on his wildfire "reconnaissance" missions, and said he even restricts what he tells the firefighters about what he's found.

"I can't tell them too much and I can't tell them too little," McConnell said. "We don't tell them what's there. We just tell them don't go there."

There are a couple of reasons for this confidentiality.

Because the Six Rivers National Forest is public land it can be accessed by anyone. Cultural sites are easily identified, and once known, McConnell said they are easy to spot and can be subject to vandalism and desecration. The Forest Service also has this concern, and tends not to disclose exact locations.

The other concern for McConnell is that there are numerous sites near where the Blue 2 and neighboring Siskiyou Complex Fire are burning that are considered spiritual areas.  

It's good that the tribes get to protect their cultural sites.  But keeping the process a black box opens the system up to all sorts of abuses.  

It certainly makes sense when viewed though the following.

In accordance with our Constitution, in order to exercise the inherent sovereignty of the Yurok Tribe, we pledge in common to:

...

3.  Reclaim the Tribal land base within the Yurok Reservation and enlarge the Reservation boundaries to the maximum extent possible within the Ancestral Lands of our Tribe and/or any compensatory land area.

The fire has cost over $10 million to fight...and let burn.

Comments

[Jeff]

What are the odds that McConnell and the tribe are selling snake oil? Is he or the tribe being compensated for his "services"?

[Mike]

The hiring of McConnell was an effort to placate the tribes, who are extremely upset that their entire watersheds are being incinerated on purpose.

The Ukonom, Blue 2, Siskiyou, Panther, Bear Wallow, and Iron Fires continue to burn long after 2,000 or so other CA fires ignited by the June 20-21 lightning storm have been contained and controlled. The reason is that USFS managers have been "using" these fires to "treat" our forests. The fires could have been put out weeks ago, but extensive backburning has been done with little thought toward containment, according to USFS plan.

By extending these fires the USFS has spent $150 million more than necessary and broken the USFS budget. Eleven firefighters have been killed, as well, (so far). Dozens of spotted owl nesting stands have been destroyed. Salmon spawning streams have been fouled. $Billions worth of timber has been incinerated.

Yes, the tribes would like their lands back. Can anyone blame them? And is it such a bad idea considering that the federal government is actively and deliberately destroying those lands on purpose?