native people

Overhead view of a few firefighters watching smoldering burn piles in green scrub in the shadow of tall trees.

Banned for 100 years, cultural burns could save sequoias 

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On a cloudless day in California’s Sierra Nevada, the Tule River Indian, North Fork Mono, and Tübatulabal Tribes gathered to lead a small cultural burning demonstration in the Alder Creek Grove. Since the California ban was lifted in 2022, only two off-reservation cultural burns have taken place in the giant sequoia range: The demonstration at Alder Creek Grove and an earlier burn led by the Tule River Indian Tribe on Forest Service land.

Fires and humans shape redwood forests.

Impact of Humans on Forest Spans Thousands of Years

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Imagine being the first person to set foot inside the redwood forest. I can picture this visitor pushing through lush ferns as they gazed up at the towering trees. This brave explorer would have no trails to follow as they …