Centering culture

Culture is always at the heart of a cultural burn. The North Fork Mono ensure this through the presence of elders, children, neighboring Tribes, basket weavers, medicine practitioners, and other cultural practitioners. Burns are always started in ceremony and the objectives of the burn are always the plant resources of importance to the Tribe.

Extensive site preparation

Since the suppression and oppression of Native peoples of California and their fire, much land on which the North Fork Mono burn has not seen good fire in a long time. Therefore, sites received extensive preparation to clear or break down large fuels, clip heavy bush plants, create fire breaks, and move fuel aways from hazards. This extensive preparation ensures a safe burn.

Creating a nutrient

After a cultural burn takes place, it is a crucial step to mix the resulting ash with the surrounding and underlying soil. Fire breaks down the nutrients in the burned plants and mixing the ash into the soil reduces the loss of those nutrients to wind and run off, allowing the plants which regrow post-burn more ready access to the recycled nutrients. It has also been observed by the North Fork Mono that these mixed soils retain water better over time than soils which were not burned and mixed.

Focus on return

The meaning of return in this context is two-fold: to both return to the site and to observe the return of the plant resources after the burn. All cultural fire in done in service of stewardship of the land and for the continuation of cultural practices – this necessitates returning to sites frequently and throughout the seasons. Observing, harvesting and using the plants that have returned and been renewed gives cultural practitioners a unique insight into the state of the plants and the effect of fire on them.