Spring 2024 Newsletter

Notes from the Native Stewardship Corps: Returning fire to Mutsun territory

Esak Ordoñez, a Tribal member and AMLT Native Steward, has spent much of the past two years participating in a fire apprenticeship program to gain experience as a fire practitioner. 

Here, Esak shares his experiences with cultural burns, collaborations with Tribes, and returning fire to his ancestral territory.

He reflects on how fire is an inherent part of life, saying “Every beginning of the burn when we start with a song or a prayer, you feel this emotional connection to the landscape. That feeling, of fire being a part of life, is almost always present.”

Esak would like to encourage local Tribal members to try out fire and if possible, find their place in fire.

What is the fire apprenticeship program?

In 2022, the Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association offered three Tribes within the local counties – San Benito, Santa Cruz, and Monterey Counties – two apprentice positions each for local Tribal members to get trained as experienced fire practitioners through certificates and courses. The apprenticeship started with the Firefighter Type 2 training, which is an initial course to go through the basics of firefighting and burning, and establish familiarity. From there, we took other classes including one on fire weather and one on wildland fire chainsaws, but it was mostly about the on the ground work: broadcast or pile burning alongside state parks and private landowners.

How did you deepen your understanding of cultural burning?

In addition to prescribed burns, I’ve attended two cultural burns with Ron Goode, an Indigenous fire practitioner. One was with the North Fork Mono Tribe over in Mariposa, [focused on] sour berry, which is a basketry material. That was the first time I was able to see the differences between prescribed fire and cultural fire first hand. Cultural burns are much slower paced, more meticulous, and you don’t need all the big gear fire engines. It’s recommended of course, but it more so depends on your situation. Overall cultural burns are a whole different setting and it was really cool to experience that.

What are your experiences with burning in Mutsun territory?

We’ve had a handful of burns in Mutsun territory. The more successful burn in Mutsun territory was last winter at Mt. Madonna, where I was able to manage an ignition crew and we successfully burned 2 units and 17 acres in total. We were able to go onto the hillside, then descend from the top of the mountain and carry down this unit we had created. In a diagonal pattern, we’d walk with a drip torch (which expels a diesel gasoline mix that’s on fire), and that’s how you start burning the landscape. Traditionally our ancestors would create a fire bundle of a native plant for this purpose, and we will use these fire bundles in the future for fires we manage. Then with your drip torch, you slowly walk that in a zigzag pattern towards the bottom. But with that comes complications. You have canyons and little shoots in the landscape where you can’t always burn in that way, so you have to stop and reassess. I think that burn was cool because there were a lot of variables [at Mt. Madonna] because of how steep it is, and that made it a really good learning experience.

There was [also] a Central Coast TREX that was throughout Esselen and Amah Mutsun territory, and a little into Chalon territory, I believe. We were primarily in the Nyland Property, which is this beautiful property a few miles away from the San Juan Bautista Mission in Mutsun territory [where AMLT holds a cultural conservation easement]. The Nyland Property burn has been the most memorable so far because I was able to burn in my local tribal territory, and was able to do so with my cousin Moses next to me. It was special to get my cousin involved with the burning and to use fire in our native territory.

What was it like to attend the Klamath Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX)?

I participated in the Klamath Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX) in Orleans, CA. The Klamath TREX was a great experience; it was with the Karuk and Yurok people, and the TREX also was different from the others. Usually there’s a university focus or research-based aspect of the TREX’s. With the Klamath TREX, it was more personal, community-based, and local. And you really felt that; there was trust with the local community right off the bat, trusting us to burn so close to their houses and do it in a successful safe manner, even though so many of us weren’t from the area. Some of them were even next to us burning; these folks are neighbors from the area, but they’re also fire practitioners and actually the main fire crew for that area. The Karuk Tribe’s K1 Fire Crew manages a huge area in the Klamath region along the Klamath River, and is able to successfully hold off and produce broadcast burnings. The crew is mostly Tribal members along with some non-Indigenous community members, and they have all the apparatus like fire engines and water tanks. It was really cool to be able to see that first hand. 

The K1 Fire Crew also has a crew which is all women and LGBTQ+ ran. That crew really kicked butt! They include cultural burning with an emphasis on basketry, because there’s a lot of history with women burning historically for basketry materials. 

On the last day they completed a cultural burn right on the riverbank of the Klamath River for some willow, just some pile burning. It was really pretty to see. You got fire from your fire stick, and you didn’t use any drip torch or gasoline since you’re so close to the water.  The firesticks are fairly new to me; they are called pitch sticks. The material for the pitch varies. Fire sticks are something you don’t get to see in the State Parks or other corporate burns. There is also a lot more singing and prayer up there. We do as much as we can down here, but up there [in the Klamath region] it’s a lot more of a big deal. It was very healing to be a part of that. They do the Klamath TREX annually but this year it seemed smaller and more intimate. There was less focus on the certificates, and it was more about burning the area. It didn't feel like it was about checking boxes or fulfilling your task book. It was a great change of pace.

What other tribes have you been working / burning with? 

Our primary collaborator is the Esselen Tribe. Through their Kechun Village, we’ve been able to do beautiful burning with their legacy oaks and old, multi-100 year old oaks. We do these really intense stronger burns to reduce all the non-native thistles and the hardy invasives, and try to promote natives. We do have to go at this intense pace, it’s out in the middle of nowhere and we have our own safety zones and perimeters. It’s always successful and really good to see them. 

What do you like best about being a fire practitioner, and why is it important to you?

I like the excitement of seeing the fire and being able to produce fire onto the ground. In the bigger picture, I consider how there was such a big lapse of fire in the California landscape but now it's coming back in full force. There’s a lot of urgency now because of how crazy wildfires have been in the past decades, not only in California but in the world. I feel like there’s responsibility now to promote this fire and bring it back to the landscape. 

For me personally, I remember growing up my grandfather was a fire captain in Santa Clara. I always thought it was cool and honorable to be a firefighter, but I never considered that I would go down that path. It wasn’t until I learned more about my Indigenous heritage and how fire is just one with them, that it's a way of life [our ancestors] would have. I like that aspect. Every beginning of the burn when we start with a song or a prayer, you feel this emotional connection to the landscape. That feeling, of fire being a part of life, is almost always present.

What comes next?

In a week or so, I’m going to Nebraska to burn for a few weeks, which I’m excited for. I’ll learn to burn different fuel types with a new group of fire practitioners. There will be both a cultural emphasis along with the state and federal standards; it will be interesting to see a burn that’s a mix of the two [prescribed and cultural], and to see how different states burn. In other states, hunting creates a big need for burning. A lot of animals don’t graze in crowded out areas with a bunch of chaparral, so you have to burn to promote the open prairie. This burn will be thousands of acres of open grass burning, and I’m interested in learning those fire patterns. 

[The bigger picture], the path I’m working towards is to be a burn boss and also a cultural burn boss. I’m trying to strive for both of those positions, but ultimately the cultural burn boss is what I’m looking for the most. 

I would really like to encourage our local Tribal members to try out fire and see if it’s for them. I feel like everyone has a place in fire, whether it’s on the ground or not - there’s always a role.