Thoughts and images from our “Restoring Fire Safe Communities: Fire Mimicry and TEK” workshop at Indian Canyon (Nov. 11-13, 2022)

Kanyon Sayers-Roods welcoming us to Indian Canyon with song and ceremony

In 2005 I had a thought (ironically, or not, beneath an Ancestor coast redwood) of creating a movement called Sudden Oak Life, with the intent of helping restore the dying oak forests of California through the efforts of fire mimicry. The movement has grown steadily over the years as more and more positive results from my fire mimicry practice have been documented. Now that I’m able to give more time to sharing these practices with the larger community, the Sudden Oak Life movement is now blooming.

Thanks to the fine efforts of EcoCamp Coyote and Indian Canyon Nation this past weekend we attracted more than 70 participants of all genders, ages, and ethnicities for our “Restoring Fire Safe Communities: Fire Mimicry and TEK” workshop at Indian Canyon. Along with my teachings on fire mimicry, we had TEK instruction led by Kanyon Sayers-Roods (Mutsun Ohlone) and Chanel Keller (Esselen Tribe), We were also honored to receive some heartfelt teachings from Anne Freiwald and Lydia Neilsen on methods of stream restoration. Ammon Felix guided us in the basics of chain saw safety and operation. At the end of the workshop, the enthusiasm of the participants for the teachings shared and the futures created were palpable.

I’m immensely pleased to see how this movement has grown in both size and diversity! Below are a few images of our event.

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Upcoming Event: “Restoring Fire Safe Communities” Nov. 11-13, 2022 at Indian Canyon

The “Restoring Fire Safe Communities” workshop at Indian Canyon next month (Nov. 11-13) is shaping up to be a stellar event. Along with my teachings on fire mimicry, our host Kanyon Sayers-Roods will be sharing some of her Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Cultural Competency. Tom Little Bear Nason, Esselen Tribal Elder, will be speaking on his experiences of the challenges and successes in managing his traditional lands here in Big Sur. All the while EcoCamp Coyote will be providing vegan meals and other logistics in environmentally-conscious ways.

Event details are here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/restoring-fire-safe-communities-tickets-358816077547

Hope to see you there!

Upcoming talk hosted by the California Native Plant Society

This coming Thursday (June 9) at 7:30 pm I will be presenting an online talk and discussion on “The Science and Practice of Fire Mimicry“, hosted by the Yerba Buena Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. The event is free and open to all. Please register for the Zoom conference at the link under my talk announcement here: http://cnps-yerbabuena.org/calendar/speaker-series/

Sudden Oak Life event Spring 2022: Fire Mimicry and TEK at Indian Canyon (May 13-15)

Indian Canyon Nation, EcoCamp Coyote, and Sudden Oak Life are collaborating again on an upcoming 3-day intensive workshop titled “Fire Mimicry and Traditional Ecological Knowledge” being held at Indian Canyon May 13-15, 2022. This event will feature Kanyon Sayers-Roods (Indian Canyon Nation, Mutsun Ohlone), Tom “Little Bear” Nason (Tribal Chairman of the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County), Leo Lauchere (EcoCamp Coyote), and Lee Klinger (Sudden Oak Life). Here are some of the topics we will cover:

• How this restoration work supports and is informed by indigenous cultures and traditions

• Explore right-relationship with the land and its people

• History and shared lineages of the Esselen and Mutsun Ohlone People

• Modern cultural tending and management of Central Coast forests

• Identifying culturally modified trees and landscapes

• The science and practice of fire mimicry

• Demonstration of stem canker surgical procedure

This is a rare event and should not be missed by anyone passionate about tending oaks and other native trees. More information and registration for the event are here.

Today’s “Tending the Forest with Fire” workshop summary

Today Sudden Oak Life, EcoCamp Coyote, and the Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association (CCPBA) held a workshop “Tending the Forest with Fire” at Indian Canyon hosted by Kanyon Sayers-Roods (Mutsun Ohlone). This was a followup event to the Fire Mimicry and TEK workshop at Indian Canyon in November ’21 where we learned the details of fire mimicry and traditional tending of the land.

After singing her beautiful Grandmother song to the group of over 60 participants today, Kanyon shared a thoughtful land acknowledgement and a summary of the Native history of Indian Canyon. I then described briefly the ecology and practice of fire mimicry covered in the previous workshop, and the strategies for staging the cleared materials for burning. Jared Childress (CCPBA) then provided detailed instructions on burn preparation protocols, methods and tools for safe pile burning, and the various resources for conducting these activities on private properties. A crew from Cal Fire showed up with their fire engine and made clear their intent of supporting and educating folks on safe fire management.

Once the fires were started we switched from workshop to work party mode, and ended up burning all the piles of cleared material from the previous workshop. Jonathan Kabat showed up with a simple setup for making biochar, and we made several hundred pounds of biochar today, which we will spread around the nearby oaks to improve their health.

Below are some photos of today’s activities. Many thanks to all who participated!

Opening circle

Jared Childress (Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association)

Feeding the fires

Feeding the fire

Making biochar

Putting out the fires at the end of the day

Biochar spoils

“Tending the Forest with Fire” at Indian Canyon

Here’s an upcoming one-day workshop on “Tending the forest with fire” sponsored by Sudden Oak Life, the Central Coast Prescribed Fire Association, and EcoCamp Coyote at Indian Canyon, near Hollister, CA. Proceeds will go to the “Save Indian Canyon” fundraiser. Spaces are limited so please sign up soon!

For more information see the Eventbrite page.

Spreading the knowledge of Fire Mimicry and TEK

Last night I returned home to Big Sur full of hope and joy after a successful “Fire Mimicry and Insights of Traditional Ecological Knowledge” workshop held at Indian Canyon over the weekend. About 60 truly fine and stellar people showed up! Kanyon Sayers-Roods (Costanoan Ohlone, Chumash) welcomed us warmly to Indian Canyon and skillfully held us accountable for our sacred relations to the land and people. Ruth Orta (Ohlone, Bay Miwok, Plains Miwok) generously shared stories of her family history and instructed us on traditional methods of acorn processing. Leo Lauchere, Ero Gorski, Jill Kunishige, and the rest of the crew of Ecocamp Coyote did a fantastic job of organizing the schedule and providing the necessary infrastructure. And all the while, Red prepared and served us the tastiest vegan meals imaginable!. Many thanks, too, to my loyal colleagues Giovanna Piumarta, Sprout Weinberger, Siena King, and Jorge Espinosa for showing up and sharing their fire mimicry knowledge and insights. If you missed the event, don’t worry, we’ll definitely be doing this again!

Also, there will a followup event on Sunday, December 5, 2021 at Indian Canyon where we will be holding a burn pile workshop. Prescribed fire expert Jared Childress and several of his colleagues will be there to help lead and teach us about fire safety and management. I’ll also be there sharing about fire mimicry. Watch this page for further details.

Here are images of some of the event highlights this past weekend …

Upcoming 3-day workshop: Fire Mimicry and Insights into Traditional Ecological Knowledge

Indian Canyon Nation, EcoCamp Coyote, and Sudden Oak Life are collaborating on an upcoming 3-day intensive workshop titled “Fire Mimicry and Insights of Traditional Ecological Knowledge” being held at Indian Canyon November 12-14, 2021. This event will feature Kanyon Sayers-Roods (Mutsun Ohlone), Ruth Orta (Him•re-n of Ohlone, Bay Miwok, and Plains Miwok), Ero Gorski and Leo Lauchere (EcoCamp Coyote), and Lee Klinger (Sudden Oak Life). Here are some of the topics we will cover:

• identifying culturally modified trees and landscapes

• the science and practice of fire mimicry

• demonstration of stem canker surgical procedure

• considerations for acorn harvesting

• methods of oak seedling propagation.

This is a rare event and should not be missed by anyone passionate about tending oaks and other native trees. More information and registration for the event are here.

Coast live oak at Indian Canyon tended with fire mimicry since 2019

Video recording of “Forest restoration theory and practice based on Indigenous cultural tending”

Here a Youtube video of my recent lecture and discussion in the course FORESTS, hosted by the Humanities Center of Texas Tech University. Many thanks to Bruce Clarke and Michael Borshuk for facilitating this talk!

Upcoming zoom lecture (Thursday, Nov. 12) – “Forest restoration theory and practice based on Indigenous cultural tending”

This Thursday, November 12, (5:30 pm Pacific Time) I will be conducting a zoom lecture and discussion for the online course FORESTS, hosted by Texas Tech University, on the topic of “Forest Restoration Theory and Practice Based on Indigenous Cultural Tending”. The points I will be addressing are: Gaia theory, ecological succession, fire ecology of California, evidence of cultural modification of trees and landscapes, and approaches to forest restoration. The lecture is open to all, just be sure to register beforehand. Follow the embedded link to register.