Check out this latest issue of High Country News for an essay by Jessica Douglas on the recent cultural burn at Andrew Reasoner Wildlife Preserve in the Long Tom Watershed, reclaiming cultural fire, and hopes for the future of Indigenous stewardship.
“Carrying out this burn was a significant act for me and my fellow Siletz tribal members. As a Kalapuya descendant whose people lived in the valley, I visited the land with a familiar curiosity, wondering what life was like here for my ancestors. Did they gather acorns from oak trees the same way I did? Did they find comfort, too, when red-tailed hawks circled high above the woodland canopy?” – Jessica Douglas (Siletz)
Thanks to our partners at Ecostudies Institute, McKenzie River Trust, TEIP, the fire crew at The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and members of Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians for helping to make this event happen!