California Voice: Right historic wrong by recognizing tribal authority for cultural burns

The state’s history of fire suppression and the criminalization of Indigenous burning have contributed to an era of catastrophic wildfires, wreaking havoc on our environment and our way of life.

As a Karuk person, I have known this for a long time.

Fire is central to our Karuk identity, and the suppression of Indigenous burning has deeply impacted our people and our lands. Fire, for us, is not just a tool — it’s a lifeline, a means of renewal, and a vital part of our culture. For generations, our ceremonies have honored the essential role of fire in maintaining the health of our forests, the regeneration of plants and the sustenance of our communities.

With Senate Bill 310, California has a chance to begin the long process of reconciliation — with both tribes and fire. SB 310, introduced by state Sen. Bill Dodd, acknowledges tribal sovereignty over cultural burning for the first time in California’s history. By signing SB 310 into law, Gov. Gavin Newsom can start to correct historical wrongs and reduce our collective vulnerability to wildfire.

When settlers first arrived in the Klamath region of what is now Northern California, they found forests with enormous trees, wooden homes and structures, acorn orchards, abundant plants, berries, fish, wildlife and clean water. All of it was made possible by Indigenous peoples’ frequent use of fire on the landscape.

California is not just fire-adapted, it is fire dependent.

Yet, in the late 19th century, California and the United States attempted to stamp out Indigenous peoples and our practices, including Indigenous burning, in an effort to force Native people to assimilate into settler culture and to “protect” the timber supply on stolen lands. Under an 1850 state law, Native people were legally shot for burning as late as the 1930s.

Today, Indigenous burning, when conducted in accordance with tribal traditions, is still unjustly criminalized and could even be classified as arson, a felony offense.

Addressing the wildfire crisis requires restoring our severed relationship with fire — a relationship that many Indigenous communities still maintain and are working to reclaim. California has taken steps to embrace proactive burning as a proven solution for ecosystem health and resilience. A record number of controlled burns were set on federal lands in California this year, building resilience on over 63,000 acres. However, this is only a small fraction of the fire that was used by our ancestors and is needed on the landscape.

Despite being sovereign nations, tribes must currently seek permission from the state to light a fire. This not only strains our resources and limits our ability to burn when conditions are right — a window that is very small and shrinking — but violates tribal sovereignty. Sovereign tribal nations should not have to ask a state for permission to exercise our culture.

SB 310 is an opportunity for California to “walk the walk” when it comes to healing and reconciliation of a violent history towards Indigenous peoples and the misguided exclusion of fire. The bill would authorize the secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency and local air districts to engage with federally recognized tribes to coordinate agreements for cultural burning activities without the burden of securing permits for each individual fire.

For far too long, the wisdom of our ancestors has been ignored, ridiculed and criminalized. SB 310 represents an opportunity for California to take a significant step toward healing the relationship between the state, its forests and the Indigenous peoples who have always cared for them.

By embracing this bill, California can acknowledge and support tribal sovereignty while embracing a future where fire is once again viewed as a force for renewal, not destruction.

Russell “Buster” Attebery is the chairman of the Karuk tribe, a federally recognized tribe overseeing more than 1 million acres of land in Humboldt and Siskiyou counties along the Klamath River. Distributed by CalMatters.org.