ESTERN KLAMATH RESTORATION PARTNERSHIP
2021 Annual Report
ORDS FROM THE CO-LEADS
"The use of fire is our responsibility as Karuk People to our lands, waters, plants and animals. It is a birthright we have never ceded. Putting fire back into the hands of our people is a major step toward justice for our people and the environment" - Bill Tripp, Karuk Tribe Dept. of Natural Resource, WKRP Co-lead
"Ideas, beliefs, like songs or prayers, are invisible, intangible, but have always held the power to change the world. Indeed, they are what move us to action, help us weather the storms...and give us faith" - Will Harling, Mid Klamath Watershed Council, WKRP Co-lead
"We are learning to look beyond the blanket of green trees to see the bones of what was there before...to recognize the devastating effects of fire exclusion both in forests that are losing their diversity and vitality and in the high severity wildfires that are too often consuming them…" - Karuna Greenberg, Salmon River Restoration Council, WKRP Co-lead
2021 WILDFIRES IN THE KLAMATH & NEW LEGISLATION
Despite the unprecedented impacts of the 2020 wildfires in the Klamath Mountains, 2021 rivaled it in both similar and different ways through another intense and active fire season. The McCash Fire burned approximately 95,000 acres, threatening residents within the Somes Bar Integrated Fire Management Project (Somes Project), and in Happy Camp. The River Complex Fires burned over 208,000 acres across three national forests, including over 100,00 acres within the Salmon River Watershed. Once again, too many homes were lost in our region. This is truly an all-hands-on-deck moment for partners to work together to implement strategic actions outlined in the WKRP plan and the plans listed below.
The Karuk Policy Group's "Good Fire" report produced by lawyer Sara Clark, Don Hankins, Karuk Tribe, Mid Klamath Watershed Council and many others outlines legal & policy barriers and recommended actions to expanding the scope of prescribed and cultural fire in California.
WKRP supported efforts to write and pass key legislation, including SB-332, AB-642, and the Prescribed Fire Claims Fund. California's Prescribed Fire Strategic Plan integrates insights from the "Good Fire" report and will work to advance prescribed fire and cultural burning.
STRATEGIC LANDSCAPE FUELS REDUCTION & FIRE ADAPTED COMMUNITIES
The Klamath Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (KTREX) forged ahead for another year despite a global pandemic, and because of deep-seated beliefs by all to return good fire back to the landscape. 180+ participants from 40+ groups near and far trekked their way to our "remote-rural" area and burned over 1,000 acres in 7-weeks. We adjusted the traditional two week model, extended it, and embraced an All-Hands, All-lands approach to adapt to changing conditions.
Despite extraordinary challenges, WKRP partners continued to scale up fire & fuel treatments in 2021. Implementation of the Somes Project continued for a third year. A tally of treatments include over 1,200 acres of manual thinning, and over 1,580 acres of hand-pile and understory burning; which combined with mechanical thinning totaled about 2,850 acres! Workforce development remains a high priority, and local crews conducted a large portion of this work. We continue planning and preparing on a number of other projects. One of the year's most significant accomplishments was correspondence between WKRP Co-leads and USFS Region 5 that confirmed the authority of the Karuk Tribe federally-qualified burn bosses to lead burns without direct USFS oversight on public lands.
WKRP is working with the North Coast Resource Partnership on components of a regional strategic priority plan for NW CA. One outcome will be a spatial planning tool that will map Potential (Wildfire) Operational Delineations on over 11 million acres across all land jurisdictions. State and Transition models incorporating natural and cultural fire interactions across WKRP's 1.2 million acre planning area will help us understand historic vegetation patterns and guide future treatments.
FISHERIES RESTORATION, FOOD SECURITY, & INTERGENERATIONAL LEARNING
"Healthy river systems" is a core WKRP value demonstrated by long-term, robust fisheries programs. Fish habitat restoration projects targeting threatened coho salmon were implemented on China Creek (wood loading and fish passage), and at Boise Creek, Stanshaw and Sandy Bar Creeks (beaver dam analogs) on the Mid Klamath, and on Hotelling Gulch on the Salmon River in 2021. Expectations for 2022 include several large scale design projects spanning from 2022 to 2025 for completion. A partial list of these include: channel reconfiguration, off-channel ponds, and wood loading on Red Cap Creek, Seiad Creek, Horse Creek, Middle Creek, Beaver Creek, and the mainstem Klamath River at Horse Trough Springs and Humbug Creek; as well as at Red Bank and Windler Bar on the North Fork Salmon River. All projects are designed to increase critical fisheries habitat. 2021 marked the first year WKRP activated the Intergenerational Learning Workgroup to coordinate educational and workforce development programming for all ages. This year it focused mostly on K-12 educational coordination and was led by K-12 coordinators from KDNR and MKWC. Although there have been many educational and outdoor programs for years, this group is an effort to align programs and better organize around collective WKRP goals.
INCLUSIVE PARTNERSHIPS & DEVELOPMENT OF DIVERSE REVENUE STREAMS
Fostering "inclusive partnerships" is one of WKRP's nine strategies that guide the group's collective actions toward its conservation targets. In 2021, WKRP partners made significant strides working together towards landscape scale fire management. The Klamath National Forest (KNF) joined us for the first time during KTREX, the event clocking its eighth year, and invited partners/participants to conduct burns together on public lands. The picture above was taken at a BBQ dinner the KNF hosted at the Happy Camp Helibase for all KTREX participants. Additionally, for the second consecutive year, the Six Rivers National Forest (SRNF) engaged with KTREX efforts, implementing a dozen separate burns within the Somes Project with TREX resources! Joint activities with SRNF have extended even after KTREX, and we're thrilled to be entering this new phase with our partners and further solidifying a joint vision for intentional fire to safeguard communities.
Developing "sustainable, diverse revenue streams", another one of WKRP's nine strategies, works to combat problematic boom and bust economies of the past, as well as lack of stable jobs and organizational and project funding. WKRP partners develop proposals collaboratively, and secured funds in 2021 from local, tribal, state, and federal agencies, private foundations, and nongovernmental organizations to support innovative projects from rivers to ridges. Diverse funding supports WKRP organizational functions, and enables joint leadership among partners as well as opportunities to pursue other creative funding sources. For example, this year we sought and were awarded funding from the Bay Area Council's California Resilience Challenge to update our 2014 WKRP Restoration Plan!
TWO VERY SKILLED WOMEN JOINED OUR TEAM!
Analisa is a Karuk woman who was raised on her ancestral homelands in Northern California, where she continues to live and work today. A great deal of her formative years were spent outside, tending to special places and gathering traditional plants and foods, leaving her with a tremendous amount of love and respect for the natural world. Analisa received a B.A. in Native American Studies from UC Berkeley, and is currently working on a M.A. in Environment and Community from Cal Poly Humboldt. She has been employed by the Karuk Tribe’s Dept of Natural Resources since 2015 and worked in archaeology, fire, natural/cultural resources management, food security, and more during that time. She is now the Karuk DNR’s Collaborative Stewardship Program Manager. In this role, Analisa provides leadership and direction for select divisions, and works in coordination with department managers, partner organizations, and agencies to build bridges and achieve collective goals. Her personal and professional goals of supporting and restoring the relationship between Karuk land & Karuk people intersect and underlie the work that she does. Colleen Rossier, PhD, joined us in the fall of 2021, as the new Pikyav Field Institute Program Manager at KDNR. She received her PhD from UC Davis where her dissertation focused on demonstrating the importance of integrating Indigenous and Western science and management systems to enhance socio-ecological resilience. She did this in collaboration with Karuk, Yurok, and Hupa people through a case study on Indigenous stewardship of evergreen huckleberry (púrith/cheeegery/chwilch). Her research produced adaptive management recommendations for evergreen huckleberry and policy recommendations for Indigenous-led and -directed research/management. Her new role with KDNR focuses on intergenerational learning and food sovereignty including research and monitoring; K-12 eco-cultural education; Native youth/young adult internships; digital archiving; protection of Karuk intellectual property and data sovereignty; and environmental workforce development/vocational training.
PRESS & PUBLICATIONS Featured here are snapshots from this year's press, research publications, and documents that were either created by WKRP core members or that involved them. Press New York Times Video (left): "Meet the People Burning California to Save It" featuring WKRP partners and staff PBS Newshour: ‘Fire is medicine’: How Indigenous practices could help curb wildfires featuring WKRP Core Team member Frank K. Lake, PhD
Documents WKRP Post-Fire Management Recommendations (2021) Salmon River Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP, 2021) Orleans - Somes Bar CWPP (update beginning 2022) "Operational Guide" (WKRP Restoration Plan update beginning 2022)
Research Publications "Wildfire and climate change adaptation of western North American forests: a case for intentional management" by Hessburg et al. 2021 "Facilitating Prescribed Fire in Northern California through Indigenous Governance and Interagency Partnerships" by Marks-Block and Tripp, 2021 "Conceptualizing Indigenous Cultural Ecosystem Services (ICES) and Benefits under Changing Climate Conditions in the Klamath River Basin and Their Implications for Land Management and Governance" by Mucioki et al. 2021
THE YEAR AHEAD WKRP partners are seeing state and federal entities invest more and more in the work that we do to build forest and community resilience as the wildland fire threat increases every year with drier conditions. Our collaborative joins diverse partners across all-lands and all-jurisdictions; and in 2021 we saw policy and funding mechanisms adjust to accommodate a new sense of urgency for this work. We were the beneficiaries of a second $5 million award from CALFIRE based on our successes. In 2022, WKRP will begin to receive up to $4 million in funding annually through the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program. This is a 10-year, long-term program and represents the type of investments we hope to see more of in the coming years. We were happy to see in 2020 the state of California and USFS declare to jointly restore 1 million acres per year. We're seeing appropriate funding mechanisms be mobilized, and with this we'll continue our work to build out the infrastructure, capacities, and planning for this work.
CORE PARTNERS
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