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Improving Water Resilience and Availability Through Culturally Prescribed Fires as a Management Tool on Yurok Tribal Lands

Active wildfire with burnt trees and smoke obscuring the horizon

Fire in the Sierra National Forest, California. Credit: USFS

Project Summary

Principal Investigator(s):

  • Diana Zamora-Reyes (USGS California Water Science Center)
  • Michelle Stern (USGS California Water Science Center)

Co-Investigator(s):

  • Christine Cosby (Yurok Tribe)
  • Jennifer Curtis (USGS California Water Science Center)
  • Joe Hostler (Yurok Tribe)
  • Mathieu Marineau (USGS California Water Science Center)

Fiscal Year: 2022

Start Date: 06/29/2022

End Date: 06/30/2025

Project Overview 

Summary:  

Climate Change is making our environment unpredictable. Increased persistence of drought is causing deaths of plants and animals across our landscapes. However, drought amongst the western United States is not a new thing. Native American populations have been living with drought since time immemorial and practiced culturally prescribed fire practices to foster the landscape for an environment that provides resources for tribal livelihoods and traditional practices (Marks-Block et al. 2019).

The United States Geologic Survey and the Yurok Tribe are partnering to study the effects of prescribed burns actively occurring in Yurok Ancestral Territory. Prescribed burns promote a healthy ecosystem through positively influencing base flows, potentially affecting water quality and ecosystem health. This burning practice can help protect communities and forests from mega disturbance events through: 1) Transitioning forests from Fir dominant composition to mixed hardwood composition, diverse ecosystems will always be more resilient; 2) Thinning of fuels that lead to catastrophic fires; 3) Reduction of draws from the water table by limiting tree growth, resulting in prolonged surface flow and soil moisture. By taking the same resources and dividing them amongst fewer species keeps a selective amount of species healthier, promoting a forest that is resistant to mass die offs.

This study will help evaluate and validate a traditional tool for ecosystem health used by the Yurok Tribe since time immemorial. Through co-management this tool can be studied for other benefits in hopes that other land managers will adapt traditional ecological processes and help restore North America to its full potential.

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