The Indigenous Peoples Burning Network (IPBN) is a support network among Native American communities that are revitalizing their traditional fire practices in a contemporary context. Since time immemorial indigenous people have been using refined fire practices to care for landscapes in what is now the U.S.  Although most fires today are managed by non-tribal governments, indigenous knowledge-holders are vital partners in  advancing forest resilience and hazardous fuel reduction. The IPBN is unique—in its leadership by  Native American elders and practitioners, and in its focus on revitalizing traditional fire cultures to help solve today’s fire problems.

Starting in 2015 with a single landscape in the combined ancestral territories of the Yurok, Hoopa and Karuk Tribes of Northern California, the IPBN has grown to include participants from multiple pueblos in New Mexico, land managers from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota, and the Klamath Tribes in Oregon. The network is also exploring connections with tribes in North Carolina, Texas and Washington.

Learn more from the latest IPBN fact sheet, and see a map of where the IPBN currently touches down.

Voices from the IPBN:
PBS News Hour (23 Jul 21)—"‘Fire Is Medicine’: How Indigenous Practices Could Help Curb Wildfires"
National Geographic (magazine article, 17 Dec 20)—"‘There’s Good Fire and Bad Fire.’ An Indigenous Practice May Be Key to Preventing Wildfires"
Nature Conservancy (magazine article, 2 Nov 20)—"Quiet Fire"
Science Friday (NPR, 25 Sept 20)—"How Indigenous Burning Practices Could Prevent Massive Wildfires"
News in Context (podcast, 3 Sept 20)—"California Wildfires and the Importance of Cultural Fire Management"
The World (PRI, 1 Sept 20)—"California and Australia Look to Indigenous Land Management for Fire Help"
The Takeaway (podcast, 6 Jan 20)—“How Tribal Members Are Shaping the Federal Government’s Wildfire Strategy”

NOTES FROM THE FIELD

• October 2020 — Onward: The Native Stewards of the Amah Mutsun Land Trust and CAL FIRE Burn Together
  

• April 2018 — IPBN Learning Exchange: Eco-Cultural Revitalization in California and New Mexico (Highlights from a learning exchange in New Mexico)

• March 2018 — Yurok TREX (A report from a spring 2018 Prescribed Fire Training Exchange hosted by the Cultural Fire Management Council)

• October 2017 — Yurok TREX (A brief report from the fall 2017 training and burning near Weitchpec, CA)

• July 2017 — Yurok TREX (Highlights from the spring 2017 training and burning near Weitchpec, CA)

• March 2016 — Indigenous Peoples Burning Network: Workshop #3 (Highlights and outcomes from the January 2016 workshop of this developing learning network)

• May 2014 — Yurok Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (Report on the May-June 2014 TREX near Weitchpec, CA)

OTHER MATERIALS

•  April 2021 — Case Study: Managing the Land
  for Living Culture (Healthy Country Planning to revitalize fire culture in the Yurok, Hoopa and Karuk Tribes)
  
  
• September 2020 — Focus on Indigenous Partners: Growing Relationships with the Klamath Tribes
  

• August 2018 — Report: IPBN work, January-June 2018

• February 2018 — Report: IPBN work, July-December 2017

• August 2017 — Report: IPBN work, January-June 2017
  

• February 2017 — Report: IPBN work, July-December 2016
  

• July 2016 — Report: IPBN work, January-June 2016
  

• April 2016 — Poster: IPBN Overview (for annual Learning Networks Workshop, Jacksonville, FL)