The Inconvenient Truth of Smokey Bear
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- Опубликовано: 16 янв 2024
- You can watch the new season of Native America now - head to www.pbs.org/native-america.
Join Tai Leclaire and an Indigenous scientist as they explore the importance of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), cultural burns and traditional land stewardship in combating climate change.
They also illuminate Smokey Bear’s story and why Indigenous knowledge was overlooked for far too long because of it.
Learn about The Truth Behind the Legend of Pocahontas here: • The Truth Behind the L...
A People's History of Native America is produced by Mahebe Media for PBS.
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As an indigenous wildland firefighter myself in the state of Oregon. I'd like to say, This is a very enlightening video to watch. I live close to the Klamath River so all of this hits close to home.
I witness what the timber industry leaves/has left as slash piles every year in all different states.
Accidents waiting to happen. The tiniest ember on the dryest day is all it takes.
TEK.. keep up the good work and positive vibezz.
Those slash pile should be illegal, or they should be forced to be transported off site to be used for other positive purposes, such as mulch or house fuel. They shouldn't be able to be left there.
@@YourCapybaraAmigo_17yrsago well said friend!
So much firewood fuel for families in need just sitting out there.
I commend you for saying that. I definitely agree that the slash piles should be illegal and people/companies taking shortcuts should be held accountable. (Always) nvr too late to start.
@@dezmondw7927 agreed. Hopefully someone will send it up the legislature and it will be voted on by the majority and approved. It really is an unforgivable fire hazard and is an awesome resource with great potential. No need to let it go to waste. Oregon overall is a really fantastic place. I've lived there twice, semi-briefly,. I have no problem with sustainable timber harvesting but we gotta do it right. Clear cutting should be a no-no. There was a big algae bloom in 2018 because dumbass timber harvesting removed too many trees near Detroit lake, which allowed too much non-secured dirt to erode into the lake bed if I remember correctly leading to low oxygen conditions which caused a red algal bloom and a short-term drinking water issue in the surrounding regions.
So it really is all connected. Irresponsible timber practices affect soil health, fire safety, soil erosion, drinking water, etc. The biosphere is an interconnected web that affects us in turn. Just a fact. Hopefully in time better environmental practices will get passed. There are certainly ways to responsibly use our timber resources.
@@YourCapybaraAmigo_17yrsagoIt is best for the soil if they stay on the property and are burned in the wet season.
@@karlrovey oh hmm. Yeah I could see that. Well it doesn't sound like they're doing that either tho. I wonder if Oregon has a controlled burn program.
If we're gonna retire Smokey, two suggestions for a new mascot:
- Lightningbird (Thunderbird's partner): probably self-explanatory
- Grandmother Spider: At least in the Southeast, Grandmother Spider was the only one who was able to successfully bring back fire (and in some accounts, the Sun) & her story has a good bit of fire wisdom baked into it.
Always thought Smokey Bear was an odd choice to have picked originally--the traditional way to hunt bear was to smoke them out of their trees/caves during hibernation, so a smokey bear was one that was about to get an arrow in it...
I'd rather have Smacky the frog
the australian indigenous experience is similiar. And now we've got so much infrastructure and climate change impacts on good burning windows has resulting in major difficulties in applying indigenous or scientific burning
Just what I was going to say 👍🏽
Yeah rubbish..please show me how the Aboriginals handled the large forests.. they did not..they only ever burnt scrub to force animals out for food...stop putting them on a pedestal they do not have...climate change has nothing to do with it...you cannot control burn large forests. ..they couldn't and we can't today either..
Growing up in rural mountainous Ireland we used to burn gorse. It allowed to us to live. Sadly climate change has fucked us over
As much as the smoke stuffs my asthma, I always appreciate the controlled burns around us. It’s good to know they could squeeze it in.
I am from Australia and Indigenous/First Nations people from all parts of the continent also had their fire farming practices that were unique and tailored to each of the biomes found here. The stories of dispossession, displacement, cultural suppression & genocide are disturbingly all too familiar. And, unsurprisingly, the loss of Indigenous land management practices and knowledge have had devastating impacts on ecosystems. See for example the 2019/2020 Black Summer in Australia.
isn't that why we got it bad a few years back. From what I heard it was the government caved in to people who don't know anything. most just need a hobby but they don;t like can;t afford golf
I'm Australian too, and it also struck me how the use of "terra nullius" and the banning of Indigenous people from national parks is pretty much identical to what they did/continue to do in the US. We also have that same situation where Indigenous land managers warn us about the negative effects of projects like the straightening of waterways or removal of vegetation, we ignore them and do it anyway, and then all the things they warned us about happen
Indigenous peoples do national Parks better than the white man's government. I have only ever been to one where the White man did anything other than overpriced crappy camping.
I love the phrase "fire farming" -- such a quick and direct way to explain these practices without having to use academic jargon.
(Let me hasten to add I'm all for academic jargon as well, but I know it can distance the public.)
As the daughter of 4 generations of wildland firefighters, I highly agree with giving the stewardship back to native people. My husband grew up in the Klamath Basin any I grew up not far away, so we both know how beneficial those practices are to the local lands.
Maybe I was smarter than the average bear, but growing up in the 80s, this is definitely not the message I garnered from Smoky the Bear. I knew about yearly burns and the fact the areas requiring them have seeds that just do not work without fire, and smoky was about preventing accidental fire. There is, after all, a big difference between someone purposely and knowledgeably doing a prescribed burn and someone who tosses a cigarette or doesn't fully put out a campfire and walks away, leaving it to smolder unwatched until it causes a blaze.
Very true. Smokey does have a good purpose for that. Accidental campfires spreading is a threat.
I think the point is that Smokey uses a language that suggests forest fires are only the consequence of personal irresponsibility and accidents when forest fires are also caused by bad policy and procedures but Smokey tells us otherwise he says "only YOU can stop forest fires"
Sweet, thanks PBS for allowing us to drop comments so we can show our appreciation for wholesome public knowledge; it's too bad higher education hasn't been brought up to speed, 'cuz there's a lot of political Americans with knowledge from the 1960s secured in their permanent memories.
I agree with your closing. Indigenous people manage land a 1000 times better than a gov't agency or department. It's evident all over the world.
Anything and anyone does things better than government lol
That’s because people who run the government aren’t of the land and never had any respect for the people they violently forced out.
@@BCc249 Truth
I am a forestry major and in my school's program, we talk a lot about fire in land management. I myself have been able to participate in several prescribed burns to preserve prairies. There has been some push back to these practices and some of their points are that of terra nullius stating that nature does not need management as it created the landscape without us, but that just is not true. People have been on this continent and have influenced the ecology of the USA far before European colonization, and we continue to influence it to the present by introducing exotic species and deciding whether or not to manage or use the landscape. Here in the Midwest, we don't have very devastating fires, but a lot of our important oak-hickory forests have given way to a less ecologically valuable maple-basswood forests and prairies/savannas have closed up and turned into forests in absence of fire.
Growing up in the California coastal scrub area, we learned it was the Spanish who first stopped the burns so their cattle could graze. Plants like Chamise, that dries out and gets oily in the summer, absolutely will build up if the year is too dry, and I've seen enough wildfires in the fall to take them seriously. I've always seen thr Smokey messages as reminders to be aware *now* of fire safety, of stray sparks and cigarettes and making sure all camp fires are fully entinguished.
Only 1/2 the story here - in the end, about half of total tribes did not burn their land. Firing the land - aside from planting fields after harvest - was mostly a Plains, Cali and Southeast practice. I have worked with scientists and tribal elders on this and we have published and continue to publish proof that many regions were not burned traditionally.
My immediate assumption is that the practice would be much less appealing in, for example, much of the Midwest and Northeast, since the forests are wetter and historically dominated by hardwoods. Or is there a different pattern?
Thanks for your comment. I definitely would like to know more about this subject. It stands to reason that all tribes did not institute control burns and those that did I'm sure didn't do them all in the same way.
you are right. indigenous people only burn land in those places where natural fires are common and part of the natural cycle system of succession. in the northeast, there is no natural fire dynamic on any large or consistent basis@@danaroth598
Where can we read your research?
We were at the Smokey Bear State Park two days ago. The kids earned the Jr Ranger badges. It had a portion dedicated to recognizing that not all fire is bad, but 9 out of 10 forest fires are accidentally started by people, and that's what we need to work to prevent. It talked about the different kinds of forest fires, the tools firefighters use to manage them (including controlled burns), and honored the lives of fire fighters who have died combatting them. It was a really good experience for the family. I'm here for team Smokey.
When I was on wildland fire, my crew chief was all about burning back. He was a 10 year hot shot before running a hand crew and understood the true meaning of fighting fire with fire. For one, it helped manage the safety and energy levels of a team.
FINALLY!! I see my people on my favorite platform, PBS. A'HO My Brother! Creek Indian here. I will now follow closer to your works on PBS & Social Media!
I'm Blackfoot! I'm a rarity here in Michigan. It's nice to see other peoples on this channel!
I was under the impression that Smokey was about warning people against doing irresponsible things that could lead to wildfires, rather than anti-control burn propaganda. It kinda feels like Smokey was dragged into this for clicks. Not that I disagree with the core of this video at all (I mean, it's just facts). People need to know about how this land was managed, and managed well, before settlers came. And the science behind prescribed fires is so interesting!
I always thought it was a thing for accidental fires.
Yes, but he also stands for the idea that fire is something to be feared, which, when lands are properly managed and stewarded, is completely unnecessary as a stray spark or an unattended campfire wouldn't do any damage. But in an environment where burning isn't allowed, then messaging like smokey the bear becomes relevant. So as a result he now represents a society that has a suppression-dominant position towards fire.
Part of the issue is Smokey Bear tells people that only they can personally stop forest fires, which obfuscates the fact that policy and procedure play a major role in forest fires as well, such as whether the state implements controlled burns, it doesn't just involve the responsibility of individual citizens going camping or whatever
@@tysonasaurus6392 I don't know if it adds anything, but I don't remember the word "stop" being used? 😅 I remember him always saying "prevent", which makes it seem much more like individuals being mindful. You know, don't throw a cigarette butt down, stomp out your campfires, etc. prevent one from starting, and stopping one from spreading, seem like 2 different things to me lol
“Inconvenient truth” is such a good way to describe things that are hidden from the public
This video is literally on a tax-funded channel on the world’s foremost video service. Not really hidden
@@LEFT4BASS I’m talking about things in general that people choose to hide because it would be too “inconvenient” to tell the truth
@@Ipomoea_Alba The term "An Inconvenient Truth" comes from a documentary about Al Gore's work to get climate change acknowledged and addressed by the American public and government.
After 400 plus years of violence, dispossession and attempted genocide, the time is NOW for all Native communities to start getting their justice. Appreciating and applying Native knowledge is only the first step, which would benefit all of us. Reparations, representation in governing bodies and managing groups, giving land back and more will be part of this long process that has barely yet begun.
WOW WOW WOW!! so easy to see the link between colonization, genocide, capitalistic greed, silencing indigenous voices and climate change. wHY don't we learn like this in elementary and high school?
Okay, but this didn't even answer my most pressing question about Smokey bear. Why is he wearing the hat of a Canadian Mountie? Did he eat them and take their hat? The world needs to know!
It's a Campaign Hat, also worn by various state troopers, and drill instructors in certain branches of the American military.
@@j3tztbassman123Ah, so he ate a state trooper. Thanks for the info!
Another burning question: what happened to his red suspenders?
@@KreativeKerriHe now wears a belt 😎✌️
@@gus473 Mandela effect
I just got an urge to write a kids book about a well meaning bear (cause i feel bad for bears being aligned with this nonsense) learning how to actually help prevent nature based calamities through direct action.
I like the idea of promoting being humble enough to admit you messed up and wanting to learn to do better being presented young and with a lot of encouragement. You dont things right till you admit they were wrong.
Love this! I asked for more Indigenous programing when the survey came up and I got it! I love this! Checking the new chanel now! I'm sure I wasn't the only one that asked but I feel heard! Thank you PBS!
Yes! My mom and I always have voiced how important it is for indigenous programs to be a thing. There has not been nearly enough of it and our indigenous people have a lot of knowledge and stories that should be told. So, this is great.
I first encountered the idea of controlled burning to care for the land in a book i read as a teenager. The more i have learned about history and not just how the Natives were ad still are treated the more disgusted ive been with the country i was born in. We suddenly find something valuable or useful and we just take it even if it destroys a treaty.
We pretend that caring for the land this way we came up with. We arent even taught in school how during the world wars we had a code system that wasnt broken by the enemy because it wasnt a code. It was a few hundred Navajo lending their aid and speaking in their mother tongue to pass information for us.
Even after all that has been done, they still help if we let them.
That makes them better than most of the people whose names we were taught to praise.
The Navajo Code Talkers were absolutely speaking in code, a code that they created to meet the need of the US military for secure communications during the war. Navajos' language was the best possible option to base the code on because of its uniqueness, and the Code Talkers created about 450 words for things that didn't have words in the language of the Navajo, like tank and submarine.
Thank you for sharing. I did not know the history/origins of Smokey the Bear. I respect the indigenous people and their stewardship of the land. ❤
PBS,
Please do a deep dive into T.E.K.
Are you familiar with the documentary Tending the Wild? It's on youtube and a good deep dive I think. It focuses on California Native tribes
@@natalie526 I believe you have pointed me to a whole series on KCET (PBS affiliate?)
Cultural Burning | Tending the Wild | Season 1, Episode 1 | KCET
I know I'll start watching this tomorrow evening.
Thanks!
@@FarmerRiddick Yes, that's it! FYI there is an hour-long special that combines all the episodes into one video as well.
Once again, I am surprised but not shocked by this.
It's interesting how this contrasts with how things are in my country (Chile). Here fires are extremely detrimental to native forests and wildlife. During the 70's timber and woodpulp industries grew enormously. They replaces native forests with man made pine and eucalyptus monocultures, both exotic species to the zone. Many of the recent wildfires begin in these single species plantations, because both pines and eucalyptus are adapted to fires and even help to spread them, pine cones also benefit from them in a way, as it helps open them and spread seeds. It's interesting to see the contrast. Here, indigenous people make everything to not have fires and preserve the native forests because they know it is detrimental, but in the US, they used controlled burns to manage the forest for generations.
This is something that should be viewed by the millions after two weeks
Ember is adorable.
At first, it was "prevent forest fires", and somehow it got revised to "wildfires".... ? When? Why?
As a Mainer, fire = wild blueberries. I'm all about it
When I was in high school my english teacher had somehow talked the school into an "eco-literacy" unit where we would learn about the ecosystem of the area around us and the unit culminated with the class actually going out to an overgrown meadow and burning it. It was pretty cool.
It wasn't Smokey Bear, it was Smokey the Bear.
And his motto was not, "Only you can prevent wildfires." It was, "Only you can prevent forest fires."
It was a campaign to prevent reckless behavior by unwitting civilian tourists by getting them to act responsibly about fire safety in their natural surroundings, and nothing more.
Kudos, PBS, you have completely muddied the waters on the real matter of controlled burns in forest stewardship by attacking people's hallowed childhood memories.
This is sure to placate your firmly bunkered audience among the cultural elite and bring zero new people into the conversation.
And I had 1 stuffed animal as a toddler, we were poor, Native American Sharecropper Family, but Smokey the Bear was that stuffed animal. Ironic I know
I grew up near the Yurok and Hupa! The Hupa recently bought back (it bothers me that they had to buy it) ten thousand acres so they could demolish two dams! And the Klamath dam is coming down!
The way First Nations and Native peoples were treated by the Colonizing of North America was disgusting. They were stripped of a beautiful and rich culture. Boarding schools,!or Residential Schools as they are known up here in Canada were not just a means for assimilation, but they did awful things behind closed doors. I don’t know what has been happening to hold past governments accountable for the past in the USA but I’m pretty aware of what’s happening here in Canada. The big thing happening right now is the properties where residential schools used to stand, are being scanned for unmarked graves. So far thousands of graves of children that attended these schools, and it is validating parents from years ago, whose children went to school and never made it home. And at the time they were ignored and it was swept under the carpet. I’m enjoying this series. I wish there was more like this for Canadian First Nations history.
What a pearl. I loved the part about the assumption that when Europeans arrived that their New World that the land was blank or needed work. Need more info about concept of TEK. In all honesty, I am 71 years old and consider myself knowledgable and open minded--and I never heard about either of those things. I subscribed and ready for more.
Jim
Love seeing lifelong learners! Braiding Sweetgrass is a book about native culture, including TEK. If you’d like to see the lie of Terra Nullus in (horrible) action, it was part of the founding myth of every colonial project, but most recently Israel- epitomized in the slogan “a land without a people for a people without a land”.
Soo completely love this ❤❤❤❤❤thanks for the respectful and truthful story❤❤❤❤
I'll never trust shirtless bears ever again.
Love this dude. More of these vids, please. PS: thanks for plugging Democracy Now!, they're badasses.
Great video! Thank you for teaching us
Great Video. Thank you for producing this.
It's almost as if you listen to the land, it'll guide you what to do.
People wonder how great knowledge is lost to time...
I'm glad the original knowledge of the land is finally fighting back against the propaganda
i’m loving this! i can’t wait to spend my night watching all the videos from Tai 😊
Thanks for sharing
1. I have started using the term “non-immigrant” instead of indigenous in order to rub the noses of conservatives in their own hypocrisy.
2. We do not spend enough time discussing the many acts of genocide this country is guilty of. We treated the non-immigrants very badly and need to make up for that.
You sound like a self-righteous fool.
I'm curious how this would work on a large scale? If we practiced prescribed burning on a scale necessary to avoid impacts on human settlement, would the increase in greenhouse gasses be worth it?
I would think prescribed burns would result in fewer total acres burned, especially with some of the massive fires we’ve had the last few years. It would probably reduce the number of homes burned, too, which produces more dangerous chemicals than brush and trees.
Not even done and put a tear to my eye
Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for a well researched and presented episode.
I learned a lot from it.
Very good
I love this I’m so glad this is coming forward it’s time to reclaim ALL peoples histories🙌🏼♥️♥️♥️✊🏼
The point of Smokey the Bear is to stop UNNECESSARY forest fires from human negligence. I know we developed an impressive fire suppression system in the U.S. but it is now becoming to bite us as we disrupted the natural fire cycle and climate change affects fire season. I think the general message of Smokey the Bear is the right one though.
Mescalero apache reservation is still in the Lincoln wilderness. Beautiful area, but the fentanyl problem is crazy.
Interesting. Here in the Albany, New York area there is a pine barren that actually needs occasional fires in order to thrive. It’s also home to a rare species of butterfly.
I first learned about the benefits (in-depth) of prescribed burns back when I was going to UCF; there, they tried doing as many prescribed burns in their Arboretum as they could.
Okay, what is scientific empiricism? Observation of Physical and Natural (later Pyschological and Social or Cultural) phenomenon, through the 5 senses, and technological instruments that aid them. These tribes have been involved in sense-observation, for centuries, if not millennia. This is science.
Dawning of a NewAge - the OldWayz are returning when our World need All of Us to Be Are Best !🇨🇦
I love learning about things like this. It wasn't until I took an extra credits cultural history class that I even learned how much of an impact Muslim culture had on science and mathematics. The Euro-centric notion of "You have land that we want therefore we're taking it" hurts to the core as a very white person of "noble" European descent (read: my triple great grandfather was a bigger b*st*** than someone else's), but I'd like to think videos like this are helping raise awareness that yes, indigionous people were scientists who cultivated the land, not some racist stereotype. Thank you so much for sharing this 🔥🦊
Empire building is not a euro centric idea, it happened with civilizations around the world including central and southern america
@aurious5821 actually thinking that it is, is eurocentric itself. Asia, Africa and the Middle East all had concepts of empire bulding. Also south america definitely goes against the idea that all indigenous cultures were at a equilibrium with nature. They very much harvested resources from the enviroment to a negative extent at times. Also south america had empires too but im not sure if the concept of land was the same but they taxed the areas they controlled.
That is fascinating, I had no idea about any of that. Yeah I agree that it would be great to have people who know about the land and how to take care of it taking care of it.
Thanks for showing this y'all! Jake Kosek has a chapter about this phenomenon in his book "Understories" titled "Smokey the Bear is a Racist Pig."
However, having Dr. Adams to discuss indigenous techniques with TEK was a great and an extremely necessary expansion from what that book did not and could not discuss. Keep up the amazing work!!
I kinda like Smoky as a character, he just needs to learn and adapt just as the people who find forest management do. I like Ember the fox too, but I don’t think smoky needs to go.
6:18 I wouldn’t mind something on how the papal decree of 1493, Doctrine of Discovery, has violated the human rights of native peoples. I believe there were religious schools into the late 20th century, still imposing inhumane practices on tribal children. It would be nice to have more notice of the injustices we face today, that stem from that law in 1493.
Thank you for this. I recommend reading The Big Burn. It gives some insight into US federal policy as well.
Great episode.
Thank You, great video
The problem is people going out into the woods and carelessly causing fires. That’s what Smokey was designed to fight against. The practice of prescribed burning vs full suppression has nothing to do with the mascot.
I’m sure indigenous peoples were responsible with fire outside of prescribed burns. You don’t go out on a super windy day after a month of hot, dry conditions, and try a prescribed burn.
Even today, if a fire is burning in a remote area and not threatening structures, the focus of firefighting response is containment, rather than suppression.
I’ve read so many articles of how dead fall and underbrush have piled up in California from decades of neglect and ridiculous regulations, which have been major contributors to the strength of the wildfires on the West Coast. Even some places like the military bases here in the south (Fort Benning and Fort Stewart), they do controlled burns every year or so. It does affect quality, but it helps with the regulating of wildfires.
Listen to the Good Fire podcast too!!!
Great video and message ❤
Thank you.
Some of this was talked about in the book Paradise by Lizzie Johnson. She talks aboit the Konkow people, their legends and their fire management.
Does anyone else think that protection of American forests makes a weird argument for keeping natives from living in the woods? It may be surprising to some but the Eastern Woodlands nomadic ecosystem and the Eastern Woodland peoples were kinda defined by the fact that there were flourishing populated woodlands in the East...
Thank you this is great
We need Smackey the Frog and also Mitch Hedberg
Would've really liked if we heard more from the expert and were told what more exactly TEK includes
Ooooh now do one about the ice cream truck jingle!
I had assumed the stop of managed burning had to do with people building homes in "scenic" areas full of trees and underbrush.... Because "property values" .... Without understanding that it's worse if the undergrowth isn't touched by fire management.... That California has a burn-friendly ecosystem (I think it's referred to as chapperelle?).
Chaparral !
@@camdendodik3190 thank you! I just knew the pronunciation.
I don't think we ever got mascots like that in Australia. Seems Ember knows more than Smokey. Traditional Wisdom is not the load of hocus pocus that some in Western science with money in things would have everybody think .
FireFox, love it 😂
Smokey taught us kids to not play with matches and tell the grown-ups to be careful with their cigarettes.
I've learned about changing governmental attitudes toward fires from my parents (both having worked for govt orgs including the NPS and BLM) and from my university coursework. I'm curious what TEK exists out in the desert where I live 🤔
Very much the Australian experience also. The whole "Terra Nullis" rubbish has a lot to answer for.
Ironically even Europe is facing the same issues with ignoring traditional forrest management
So if they knew how to do proper controlled burns for so many years, what did they do to prevent their homes and structures from burning up with these fires? If we look at the whole picture, then maybe there is some knowledge that can be shared to help save the modern structures they way they saved the structures in the past.
1:10 I would say tell me more, it makes sense.
Thanks so much for this video, power to the people ✊🏾
In regard to CANADA
We didnt move here for the Weather - where we all came from was far worst !🇨🇦
Q: Do you know how hard it is to start a forest fire?
A: Not as hard as it is to stop one!
I'm glad you are back with a ai 🤩
Excellent video! I agree. Stuardship should be returned to First Nations people. Here in Canada and all the Americas. I'm of European ancestry ( Caucasian), but have ALWAYS had a deep respect for First Nations connection with the biosphere. A minimum of 15,000 years since the first wave of human's migration to this continent and have lived harmoniously ( mostly, no one has a 0 carbon footprint) with nature. Gotta respect that! I'm glad we've adopted Ember as our new " spokesperson" for fire management here in Canada. I love your channel and am glad I subscribed. I always learn so much. Sorry for the great Canadian novel here 🤣. 🖖😁🤘🇨🇦🕊️
Uau!😮
YES
The policy of fire suppression in Western society arises from the myth that nature can be controlled. Ironically, trying to control nature through fire suppression has led to greater unpredictability.
The indigenous worldview emphasizes the dual nature, creative and destructive, of all forces. Fire can be a force for good as it warms homes and stimulates grasses, but it can also be immensely destructive. The role of humans is not to control nature, but to maintain a balance between these opposing forces.
For example, fire was used to create prairies to attract elk, deer, and other game. In contrast, fire was used by the colonists to create uniformity - pastures, cropland, plantations.
Indigenous people skillfully modified the fire regime to create to create a range of forest openings in many different stages of postfire succession, enhancing diversity and yield of game, berries, root crops, edible seeds, and medicinal plants.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Frank Kawaha Lake. “The Role of Indigenous Burning in Land Management”
This is an exceptionally good video. I've got nothing to add, just want to increase engagement metrics because the video deserves it.
That area of New Mexico is still prone to wildfires!
I lived there for a few years and they were 2 wildfires during that time.
Does DemocracyNow know you used a clip from thier news show?
10:11 yes, check the credits
I like TEK, as it actually has been proven by science, as opposed to eastern vs western medicine even though the east has produced just as many "western medicine" drugs as the west.
Perhaps new friends can educate and rehabilitate Smoky?
Thank you for preserving Indigenous cultures and passing it on.
I would imagine that indigenous peoples would scavenge the forest floor foor easily accessible burn material, thereby clearing potential wildfire fuel.