Preserving an Indigenous food source
The Apache Tribes of Arizona have harvested acorns from Emory oak trees for centuries, using them in cultural ceremonies and as a traditional food source. However, in recent decades, tribal elders noticed a decline in the overall health of Emory oak groves, resulting in fewer acorns to harvest…
#Arizona, #IndigenousKnowledge
Valentine Fire restores forest and community
Aerial fire ignitions conducted during the Valentine Fire. Spheres, about the size of ping-pong balls, filled with an incendiary cocktail of potassium permanganate activated by ethylene glycol, were dropped by firefighters to reduce the fuels available to the main body of the Valentine Fire. (USDA Forest Service photo by Danny Fairchild)
Smoke rising from a forest is ominous. Often it is the…
#WildlandFirefighting, #LandManagement, #ControlledBurn, #Arizona
Archaeology on the forest
Kristen Francis is an assistant district archaeologist on the Kaibab National Forest in Arizona. (USDA Forest Service photo by Andrew Avitt)
As Kristen Francis looks out across the quiet expanse of the Kaibab Plateau in Northern Arizona, she wonders at what all the land has seen and what we…