Kumeyaay.comLESSONS FROM THE PAST
California Indians and fire management
By Lynn H. Gamble
For thousands of years, the California Indians lived and adapted to the dry conditions of Southern California, relying on hunting, gathering and fishing to meet their needs. They experienced droughts, floods, earthquakes and other disasters that we face today. Some droughts lasted decades, possibly even longer. Although the California Indians did not practice agriculture in most parts of the state prior to European contact, they carefully managed the environment they inhabited, not relying solely on the whims of nature. The earliest explorers in California repeatedly noted the propensity for the California Indians to burn the land. The indigenous populations deliberately burned the land to improve the yield of the grasses that they relied on, to control plant diseases and insect infestations, to stimulate new plant growth, to increase the range and frequency of certain species of plants, to facilitate hunting through the abatement of undergrowth, and most importantly today, to reduce the severity and frequency of uncontrolled wildfires.
In San Diego, the Kumeyaay Indians were still conducting controlled burns as late as 1870. According to the diaries of San Diego settlers and local newspaper articles, these burns were conducted in the late summer through late fall. Grasses used in basketry were burned every three years to maintain quality.Although most California Indian groups regularly burned the landscape every few years, some groups burned more often. In Northern California, the Maidu Indians burned every year to eliminate underbrush and reduce the likelihood of destructive forest fires.Frequent and regular burning enabled the California Indians to control their intentionally set fires and manage the environment. Many native plants in California not only survive fires, but thrive and even require fire to remain vigorous. Because the California Indians were hunters and gatherers, they lived in the same landscape that we inhabit today – such as chaparral and coastal sage scrub.California State Park has conducted a number of prescribed burns, as has the U.S. Forest Service. These burns differ from typical wildfires, such as the ones that we recently experienced, in that they do not burn as hot, and if controlled properly, they primarily burn deadwood and grasses, leaving healthy plants intact.
There are two significant issues that need to be considered when considering risk reduction in California due to wildfires. The first is that the native vegetation has adapted to our Mediterranean climate of cool and wet winters and hot and dry summers and is ideal for this region. Removal of native vegetation is not the answer. Second, controlled and regular burning is the best way to effectively manage the chaparral and other native habitats, but cannot be practically implemented in many privately owned regions of Southern California.
How can we better address these realities given that private property owners are afforded considerable rights that are not seen in many other parts of the world? Perhaps it is time that we shifted our thinking to that of risk management through the clearing of dead and flammable woods and plants on private property, and then reintroduce regular controlled burns into the ecosystem to enhance the health of native habitat and to reduce the possibilities of future catastrophic wildfires.
The California Indians would not be thriving today without their expertise and intimate knowledge of the environment. They were scientists extraordinaire who had figured out how to live in this unpredictable environment and reduce risks to their families and future generations.
Scores of articles and a handful of books have addressed this subject. Today, in the aftermath of these devastating fires, I think about these remarkable California Indians and take pause, knowing that we can learn from them.
We need to implement environmental practices that reduce future risks; we need to take an active stance in order to avoid the terrible loss and devastation. As we experience the effects of global warming, the situation will only worsen. When will we devote the resources and knowledge that we now have and apply it to the future?
One lesson that archaeologists are all too aware of is that all civilizations come and go. Let’s all take a moment to look at the people who adapted to this landscape for thousands of years and learn from their successes and failures.
Gamble has just completed a book on the Chumash Indians of Southern California that will be published by the University of California Press in 2008. In 2005, her article, “Culture and Climate: Reconsidering the Effect of Palaeoclimatic Variability among Southern California Hunter-Gatherer Societies,” was published in the journal World Archaeology. She has been a professor in the Department of Anthropology at San Diego State University since 1997, where she specializes in the archaeology and anthropology of Southern California.
© Copyright 2007 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. • A Copley Newspaper
Posted on November 27th, 2007 by hunwut
Filed under: Wild Fires
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