Karuk ecological fire management practices promote elk habitat in northern California. Issue 7 (25th May 2022)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Karuk ecological fire management practices promote elk habitat in northern California. Issue 7 (25th May 2022)
- Main Title:
- Karuk ecological fire management practices promote elk habitat in northern California
- Authors:
- Connor, Thomas
Tripp, Emilio
Tripp, Bill
Saxon, B. J.
Camarena, Jessica
Donahue, Asa
Sarna‐Wojcicki, Daniel
Macaulay, Luke
Bean, Tim
Hanbury‐Brown, Adam
Brashares, Justin - Abstract:
- Abstract: After a century of fire suppression and accumulating fuel loads in North American forests, prescribed burns are increasingly used to prevent conditions leading to catastrophic megafire. There is widespread evidence that prescribed fire was used by Indigenous communities to manage natural and cultural resources for thousands of years. Wildlife habitat is an example of an ecological response that was actively managed with prescribed burns by Indigenous American peoples and is an important factor in western US forest management planning, restoration and climate resilience efforts. We analysed the effects of modern prescribed burns informed by traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) on the predicted change in elk winter habitat in Karuk aboriginal territory in Northern California between 2013 and 2018 using species distribution and simultaneous autoregressive modelling techniques. Burn types most closely resembling Karuk traditional practices, specifically those incorporating multiple‐year broadcast burns, had significant positive effects on elk winter habitat suitability. Conversely, concentrated burns focused solely on reducing fuel loads had significant negative effects on elk winter habitat suitability. However, areas where these fuel‐reduction burns were combined with multiple years of broadcast burns featured the highest increases in habitat. Synthesis and applications . Our results suggest that transitioning to prescribed burns that more closely follow KarukAbstract: After a century of fire suppression and accumulating fuel loads in North American forests, prescribed burns are increasingly used to prevent conditions leading to catastrophic megafire. There is widespread evidence that prescribed fire was used by Indigenous communities to manage natural and cultural resources for thousands of years. Wildlife habitat is an example of an ecological response that was actively managed with prescribed burns by Indigenous American peoples and is an important factor in western US forest management planning, restoration and climate resilience efforts. We analysed the effects of modern prescribed burns informed by traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) on the predicted change in elk winter habitat in Karuk aboriginal territory in Northern California between 2013 and 2018 using species distribution and simultaneous autoregressive modelling techniques. Burn types most closely resembling Karuk traditional practices, specifically those incorporating multiple‐year broadcast burns, had significant positive effects on elk winter habitat suitability. Conversely, concentrated burns focused solely on reducing fuel loads had significant negative effects on elk winter habitat suitability. However, areas where these fuel‐reduction burns were combined with multiple years of broadcast burns featured the highest increases in habitat. Synthesis and applications . Our results suggest that transitioning to prescribed burns that more closely follow Karuk traditional ecological knowledge will promote elk habitat in the region. This would be best achieved through continuing to work closely with Indigenous representatives to plan and implement cultural fire prescriptions on a landscape scale, a trend we posit would benefit environmental management efforts across the globe. Abstract : Our results suggest that transitioning to prescribed burns that more closely follow Karuk traditional ecological knowledge will promote elk habitat in the region. This would be best achieved through continuing to work closely with Indigenous representatives to plan and implement cultural fire prescriptions on a landscape scale, a trend we posit would benefit environmental management efforts across the globe. … (more)
- Is Part Of:
- Journal of applied ecology. Volume 59:Issue 7(2022)
- Journal:
- Journal of applied ecology
- Issue:
- Volume 59:Issue 7(2022)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 59, Issue 7 (2022)
- Year:
- 2022
- Volume:
- 59
- Issue:
- 7
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2022-0059-0007-0000
- Page Start:
- 1874
- Page End:
- 1883
- Publication Date:
- 2022-05-25
- Subjects:
- conservation -- ecology -- elk -- forest management -- habitat -- prescribed fire -- TEK -- wildlife
Agriculture -- Periodicals
Biology, Economic -- Periodicals
Agricultural ecology -- Periodicals
Applied ecology -- Periodicals
577 - Journal URLs:
- http://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2664/ ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ ↗
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/member/institutions/issuelist.asp?journal=jpe ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1111/1365-2664.14194 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0021-8901
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 4942.500000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 22404.xml