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Fire, Food, and the Future
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Orleans TREX 2016 crew. Photo by Stormy Staats, Klamath Salmon Media Collaborative.
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Ayukîi, Aiy-ye-kwee', Waqlisi, Hello!
Last month's Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX) was a huge success, with over 70 people, including many tribal youth, learning how to manage forest ecosystems with fire that can lead to greater food security and food sovereignty. This month we are also celebrating the birth of the Pikyav Field Institute, which will provide new cultural and holistic environmental education programming to help tribal and non-tribal youth prepare for college and careers. Work on our gardens this time of year also focuses on the future, protecting plants for winter, planting cover crops to restore the earth. See the stories below for more.
Want to help out? Here's what's going on this month.
Have questions? Talk to a local Food Security Coordinator:
Chris Peters, [email protected], 707-464-1852
Crescent City and Klamath, CA (Yurok Tribe)
Earl Crosby,
[email protected], 530-469-5434 (Interim, for
Youth Camps, Community Gardens, Herbaria, Food Crews, Native Foods Workshops, Orchards, and Ishkêesh'túnviiv)
Orleans, Happy Camp, and Yreka, CA (Karuk Tribe)
Lisa Hillman, [email protected], 530-627-3446 (for Pikyav Field Institute, K-12 Curriculum, and Sípnuuk Digital Archive)
Orleans, Happy Camp, and Yreka, CA (Karuk Tribe)
Grant Gilkison, [email protected], 530-627-3202
Orleans and Happy Camp, CA (Mid Klamath Watershed Council)
Perri McDaniel, [email protected], 541-882-1487 x 235
Chiloquin and Klamath Falls, OR (Klamath Tribes)
Got news? Talk to Edith in the Berkeley office: [email protected], 510-643-9534.
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Cultural foods need fire. Photo by Stormy Staats, Klamath Salmon Media Collaborative.
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Burning for Food Sovereignty
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Good Fire, such as that of indigenous management, is what we are beginning to return to the land."
-- Bill Tripp, Deputy Director, Karuk Department of Natural Resources
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Why fire?
Jonathan Mohr, Rony Reed and Sophie Neuner explain.
Video by Stormy Staats, Klamath Salmon Media Collaborative.
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In the Klamath River Basin, prescribed fire is being reintroduced as a method for preventing devastating wildfires and managing the forest - and the cultura
lly important food sources within it. This October, for the third year in a row, the Karuk Tribe, the Mid Klamath Watershed Council and numerous other partners* undertook the extensive organization required to lead more than 70 volunteers in burning over 400 acres in the mid-Klamath area as part of the Klamath River Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX).
For thousands of years, Native people used fire as a tool for managing the health and productivity of the landscapes in which they lived. As Heather Rickard, Natural Resources Technician for the Karuk Tribe, explains:
"Cultural burning is central to native food sovereignty: the majority of traditional foods, fiber and medicines require fire in order to be usable and accessible to people. Fire can reduce bugs in acorns, madrone berries, and willow sticks; stimulate regrowth of hazel, willow, huckleberries, gooseberries and more; invite game to graze; and make plant food resources, hunting, fishing, and ceremonial locations more accessible."
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Karuk Food Security Project announces the birth of the Pikyav Field Institute!
Within the framework of the USDA-funded inter-tribal, multi-agency collaborative Klamath Basin Tribal Food Security Project, the Karuk Tribe has developed several initiatives focused on the education and workforce development of our tribal and non-tribal youth, as well as opportunities for research within our Ancestral Territory and homelands. You might know of the Kaavíchvaans Project, employing tribal youth over summer break; our culturally relevant and academically stimulating K-12 Nanu'ávaha Curriculum, which has been piloted at four of our local schools; and the digital training opportunities of the Sípnuuk Digital Library, Archives and Museum, which house collections about our rich cultural heritage, traditional and contemporary food systems, and historical photographs.
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This Month on the River
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Junction School students assess food groves post-burn. Photo by Stormy Staats, Klamath Salmon Media Collaborative.
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Karuk Tribe
The Karuk Tribe and our Food Security Team cordially invite all community members to participate in our continuing Food Security programs every Monday - Thursday in Orleans and Happy Camp, and on Friday 11/18 in Yreka, CA. Regular activities include:
- Orchard Fruit Survey (Monday)
- Traditional Food Harvest, Traditional Food Groves Assessment (Mon, Tues)
- Food Processing (Tuesday)
- Gardens in Happy Camp (Wednesday)
- Herbarium Collection/Mounting (Thursday)
- Basketry Materials Collection & Weaving (Thurs and Sun, weather permitting)
SPECIAL EVENTS:
Klamath Tribes
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Salmon. Photo by Chris Peters. |
Thanks to our new greenhouse we still have fresh produce for you
at the Chiloquin Community Garden! For open times, or to volunteer with us, contact Perri McDaniel, [email protected] or 541-882-1487 x 235.
Smokehouse Building Workshop - THIS WEEKEND! - with guest instructor Chris Peters of the Yurok Tribe. Fri - Sun, November 4-6, Chiloquin, OR. Lunch provided. Limited spaces, please RSVP to Perri.
Mid Klamath Watershed Council
Afterschool Thursdays in the Garden continue in Orleans, CA. Contact Grant Gilkison for more information, [email protected], 530-627-3202.
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| Kids at Seiad Elementary learn about pumpkins. Photo by Laura Jaffe-Stender. |
Yurok Tribe
We are heading to Chiloquin, OR this weekend to help the Klamath Tribes build a smokehouse. You are invited! RSVP required to Perri McDaniel,
[email protected] or 541-882-1487 x 235.
We still have fresh produce from the Klamath Community Garden, come by the Crescent City warehouse to pick some up! Our Food Tech is putting in our cover crop, collecting for the Yurok Tribal Herbaria and catching crabs for elders this month. Want to join in? Contact Chris Peters, [email protected], 707-464-1852.
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Community garden peppers. Photo by Chris Peters. |
FOOD SECURITY RESOURCES
Wondering what, where and when to plant? Visit the Mid Klamath Watershed Council
Foodsheds pages
for excellent free online info on the vegetables and fruits that grow best here, along with planting calendars, soil, and disease prevention advice.
Keep in touch with us! Find upcoming events, see photos, ask questions, let your neighbors know what's going on in the foodshed! All that and more on the
Foodshed Facebook page
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The Karuk Tribe's new
Sípnuuk Digital Library supports food security and sovereignty with information on our regional food security issues, solutions and knowledge of traditional and contemporary foods and materials. Easy to use and open to all - sign up now!
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The goal of the collaborative Klamath River Basin Food Security Project is to rebuild a sustainable food system that supports healthy communities, ecosystems and economies among the Karuk, Klamath and Yurok Tribes.
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