A fire was set on Chico State’s campus this week — and it was a good thing.
The university occupies land that was historically home to the Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria. For the first time in more than 140 years the tribe was able to engage in a practice they once carried out there, what is now referred to as a “cultural burn.”
Several dozen people — including tribal members, Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve staff and onlookers — gathered to watch as large clumps of native deer grass were put to flame.
Hilo Ramirez is the environmental director for the tribe’s Office of Environmental Planning and Protection.
“This is good fire and we as California natives have been using fire to manage our landscapes and make them more fire resilient, more biodiverse since time immemorial, over 10,000 years,” Ramirez said. “Re-introducing good fire back to the land I think is going to be crucial for our collective future as we move forward toward making all our communities more fire resilient.”
Chico State professor Don Hankins oversaw the burn. He’s also a cultural fire practitioner.
“My research is focused on indigenous fire stewardship for conservation purposes, and so with what we’re doing here is actually being able to demonstrate that and influence policy at the state level, national policy, and even international policies around fire stewardship,” Hankins said. “We’re kind of at the cusp of I would say a major change.”
Hankins said there have been significant changes in California law that now make cultural burning possible. He believes working with intentional fire can help increase resiliency in wildlands.
