Yosemite National Park Fire Managers Partner with Indian Tribes for Prescribed Fire Project

Members of Yosemite Fire look on as the Southern Sierra Miwuk engage in a ceremony and traditional methods to ignite the prescribed fire.

NPS Photo by Brent Johnson.

A very unique prescribed fire project was completed in the fall of 2005 in Yosemite Valley. Yosemite fire and resource managers, members of the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation and the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk partnered on a prescribed fire project for both ecological and cultural resource benefit.

This fire was timed to try to control the non-native and invasive Himalayan blackberry and to encourage growth of traditionally-used plants.

Yosemite firefighters received the opportunity to work with the Native American tribes who have thousands of years of burning experience.

Indian Tribes in the central Sierra Nevada have used fire as a tool for thousands of years.

NPS Photo by Brent Johnson.

The indigenous people of Yosemite Valley have used fire as a tool for thousands of years. These anthropogenic fires clear meadows and open the canopy for sun-loving species like the black oak --a staple food source for the indigenous people of Yosemite Valley.

A traditional ceremony preceded the prescribed fire project and the Miwuk employed traditional ignition methods for the burn.