On July 31st, 2014 a fire started on the Lower Salmon River Basin and continued to burn upstream. This fire gave local scientists and water quality managers an opportunity to study how fires in the ecosystem can impact our fisheries. (Robinson, 2013) In a theoretically “perfect” world there should never be a “bad” fire. For example, back before the Europeans and foreigners arrived, long before forest service was around, the native people used fire so frequently that when lightning would touch down that all the lightning would do nothing but burn all the unwanted brush or tress that wasn’t useful and using a lot of groundwater that can also be generated more toward the old growth. It wasn’t until the forest service came around where [...]
Summary
On July 31st, 2014 a fire started on the Lower Salmon River Basin and continued to burn upstream. This fire gave local scientists and water quality managers an opportunity to study how fires in the ecosystem can impact our fisheries. (Robinson, 2013) In a theoretically “perfect” world there should never be a “bad” fire. For example, back before the Europeans and foreigners arrived, long before forest service was around, the native people used fire so frequently that when lightning would touch down that all the lightning would do nothing but burn all the unwanted brush or tress that wasn’t useful and using a lot of groundwater that can also be generated more toward the old growth. It wasn’t until the forest service came around where the fire suppression began to occur which prevented us Natives from practicing some traditional burns to help all of our natural resources who depended on fire. Many natural resources depended on frequent burning to ensure successful productivity. The main focus for this project will be discussing how the proper fire management can help restore fisheries while experiencing drought caused by climate change. The negative impacts that fire can have on a watershed is discussed as well.
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Charlie Reed NPLCC TEK-CC Final Paper_19Aug2014 (1).pdf “Student Intern Project Report”
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Purpose
This article is seeking to address the differences between negative impacts and positive impacts fire can have on our fisheries if done correctly and frequently enough. Another purpose for this paper is to educate the community of Somes Bar, California as well as all of northern California, which fire needs to be in our ecosystem to prevent these catastrophic events. And that not all fires are necessarily “bad.” Local Klamath River Tribes, such as the Klamath Tribes, Karuk Tribe, Yurok Tribe and the Hoopa Tribe have used fire as a tool for hundreds of years to survive and provide food for their families as well as safety precautions. Spreading the word that Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Scientific research is the formula to adjusting our lifestyle with the upcoming climatic changes.
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LC MAP - Landscape Conservation Management and Analysis Portal
