For millennia, Native people used fire to burn areas to help control pests, eliminate forest buildup and debris, and help certain species of plants procreate (ex: coniferous trees whose pine cones open up to scatter seeds when exposed to fire). Colonization and misunderstanding drove cultural burns underground. But over the years, better appreciation of Indigenous fire practices have helped state and federal agencies mitigate wildfire risks and rejuvenate the forests.
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Members of the Long Tom Watershed Council’s Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program (TEIP) meet at the Chaa-lamali Preserve outside Eugene, Oregon, on Oct. 8, 2025. On this day, the interns apply fire to three acres of oak savannah.
State and tribal partners — including the Oregon Department of Forestry, Ecostudies, and Oregon State University Extension — help regulate the area, dousing sections with water and monitoring conditions to keep the cultural burn controlled.
To protect what isn’t intended to burn, surrounding trees and foliage are watered down frequently throughout the operation. The cooler fall weather also helps reduce hazards that can make fire behavior harder to predict and control.
Siletz tribal citizen and TEIP curriculum director Joe Scott reviews conditions with Katie McKendrick, a prescribed fire specialist with The Nature Conservancy. Nearby, TEIP intern and Chinook tribal citizen Isik Cushman-White Eyes examines his pitch stick.
After a brief drum song and opening remarks by Scott, the TEIP team places their pitch sticks into a small fire. The members have dampened elderberry branches that hold the pitch sticks, preparing to carry flame safely.
With lit pitch sticks, TEIP interns and leaders apply fire to the meadows of the oak savannah. Fire bosses and water-truck tenders stand by to assist and oversee safety.
As an added safeguard, water trucks are kept idling and ready to respond to any runaway fire sparked by sudden gusts or loose flying embers.
Rachel Cushman, TEIP program manager and Chinook tribal citizen, advises her son Isik on where to apply fire and how to maintain a safe distance from other burning patches.
Siletz tribal elder Drew Viles sings during the cultural burn. He has been a recurring guest at many TEIP presentations, including those on basket weaving and hazel conditioning.
Kanim Cushman-White Eyes, a TEIP intern and Chinook tribal citizen, reflects that he has learned “that a small spark can start a whole field of flames.”
A section of burned meadow will help keep acorn weevils at bay and prevent overgrowth, supporting the health of the oak savannah.
From the 1930s through the late ’70s, government agencies followed a directive of total fire suppression. That policy built up slash and created tinderbox conditions in many parts of the U.S. Today, “good fire” is one way communities work to offset that accumulation.
Cushman and her son Isik are excited to share this traditional management practice. More cultural burns will be carried out in the fall, winter, and spring—before conditions get too hot and dry.
While the aftermath of a cultural burn may leave the landscape looking desolate, fall rains and, later, spring growth will bring the area back. Scott notes that rain will wash ash and nutrients into the soil, renewing the meadow.
(All images on this page Buffalo’s Fire/Brian Bull)…