kúkuum yáv nukyâati peethívthaaneen

We make the world good again

The Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources

February 21, 2020

nanuthívthaaneen

Our World

Since time immemorial the Karuk áraara (upriver people) have been at home on the Klamath river and its surrounding forests and mountains, located in what is now called Northern California and part of Oregon. Before humans came into being here, the ikxaréeyav (spirit people) inhabited this land.

At a turning point in creation, some of the ikxaréeyav transformed into the humans, plants, animals, and geologic features, and they gave the people the original teachings on how to live, adapt and sustain future generations in this place.

These teachings have been passed down through the stories and ceremonies to their living descendants who comprise the membership of the Karuk Tribe today.

This collective body of knowledge is referred to by scientists as Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)

These stories and ceremonies help retain the cultural ties between Karuk People and their ecosystems. These ancestral relations were formed during creation of the various species that inhabit their homeland. These species are still utilized by the Karuk people for food, medicine and fiber.

This story map will illustrate how these relations inform the management goals of the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources

01 / 06

apxantínihich ithivthanéenkuupha

The white man's doings

Karuk People have remained in place despite all the hardest efforts of colonial forces to erase and assimilate them. Since the arrival of white men over a century and a half ago, up until today, Karuk people have stood against waves of genocide, settler colonialism, land theft, criminalization, and resource extraction.

(click right through the slides to see the different forms of destruction Karuk people have endured)

Mining

The California Gold Rush in the 1850's brought the first major wave of settlers into Karuk Territory, and with them they brought disease, violence and irreparable ecological damage, including the destruction of fish habitat and logging old-growth forests.

Dams and Water Diversions

Hydroelectric dams and agricultural operations in the Klamath Watershed have heavily impacted water quality, causing a massive decline in Salmon populations, of which the Karuk People have always depended on for survival.

Logging/ Fire Supression

Not long after the gold mining economy went bust, the timber industry boomed with the widespread availability of fossil fuels and machinery. The once carefully-tended, diverse patchworks of food groves and meadows managed by Karuk families were converted into dense fir plantations to maximize profits for logging companies.

In order to protect these "timber assets" colonizers criminalized the cultural use of fire, i.e. perhaps the best tool for healing all of the damage inflicted.

As you can see in the photograph, the Black Oak tree is shaded out by a dense canopy of even age fir trees with a thick brushy understory. This intensive fuel loading sets the stage for catastrophic wildfire

Climate Change

Ultimately, climate change is the product of unsustainable western land management practices and the rise of political and economic systems for which Indigenous Peoples hold little to no responsibility.

Climate change is one of the most dramatic and widespread impacts the modern world has faced, and attempting to come to terms with the data and implications can be daunting. Indigenous peoples are disproportionately impacted by the changing climate.

Within Karuk Aboriginal Territory on the mid Klamath, the effects of climate change are occurring now. This includes changes in precipitation patterns, decreased snowpack, increasing droughts, increasing frequency and severity of wildfires, disease and pest outbreaks.

While the changing climate poses serious threats for all life on earth, it is perhaps most productively viewed as an opportunity to assert and expand Karuk traditional practices, tribal management authority, sovereignty and culture.

This California Tribe Is Fighting Wildfires With Fire

xâatik vúra nukyaavárihva

Let’s Try

Today, many of the same entities that oppressed and undermined the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples (federal and state agencies, education institutions, white environmentalists) are now turning to Karuk teachings to face current ecological problems such as climate change, mass extinction and catastrophic wildfires.

It is however important to note-

“As Western land managers have begun to realize limitations in the land management systems they have imposed and to appreciate the legitimacy of Native knowledge systems, there has been interest in integrating or adopting indigenous “TEK.” However Karuk traditional knowledge cannot be separated from either the practices that generated the knowledge, or the practices that emerge from it. These practices, known as “traditional management” are in turn centrally about Karuk culture, identity, spirituality and mental and physical health. While non-Native interest in Karuk knowledge may be a strategic positive opportunity for expanding of Native practices in the landscape, recent experiences make clear that this outcome is not a given. At this juncture it is important that the Karuk Tribe retain sovereignty over TEK, not only for tribal interests, but to attain the ecological outcomes desired by all.”- Karuk TEK and Knowledge Sovereignty

Guided by this understanding, relationships are being formed under the Western Klamath Restoration Partnership (WKRP) to address the current ecological dilemma of the Mid-Klamath , and for the rest of this Story Map we will be focusing on the Somes Bar Integrated Fire Management Project to highlight the importance of Indigenous leadership in land management efforts.

WKRP Tree Marking

Somes Bar Integrated Fire Management Project (SBIFMP)

The goal of the SBIMFP is stated to “Demonstrate the reintroduction of fire as a step towards restoring and maintaining resilient ecosystems, communities, and economies in the interest of revitalizing balanced human relationships with our dynamic landscape”

TEK takes into consideration the dynamics between all of the different species in order to analyze and inform management practices.

Unfortunately, incorporating this level of complexity into the framework of western-science informed land management is currently an unrealistic undertaking. To ensure collaborative success with partners, the KDNR has selected five different species each representing five distinct habitats, to serve as indicators for the success of the project.

[Zoom in and click through different highlighted sections of map to view treatment plans within the SBIFMP]

01 / 06

Focal Species and Representative Habitats

púfpuuf

salamander

Habitat- Riparian

Highlighted on the map is Pacific Giant Salamander “ideal habitat” within 3000 meters of the Klamath River. “Ideal habitat” here meaning forests with closed canopies, intersecting with perennial streams

In Karuk beliefs, púfpuuf is a spiritual being who transformed into a salamander to monitor spring and creek water quality and quantity. The healthy presence of púfpuuf is indicative of a healthy riparian and aquatic fresh water ecosystem. Púfpuuf it has its own prayer in ceremonies related to how humans - as the only species capable of lighting a fire and making sure it doesn’t get out of hand - can maintain balance in riparian systems. As a cultural indicator Pacific giant salamander is connected to the transitional riparian habitat between the in-stream and the up-slope environments.

Karuk culture requires that no harm come upon this species and in turn riparian habitats receive special focus and water from the source to the ocean and back again is protected as the primary directive

Púfpuuf helps teach why we let some places burn differently than others; not letting all places burn in the wildfire environment alone

Púfpuuf is perhaps the most important cultural indicator for the identification of needed emergency management actions. Karuk traditional practitioners report that if púfpuuf is in peril, we are on the verge of system collapse

Western Science has since come to terms with the significance of amphibians such as salamander as indicators for habitats in trouble; Due to their semi-permeable skin they are highly susceptible to environmental toxins, especially given the fact that they inhabit both aquatic and terrestrial niches.

kufipnára

willow

Habitat- Riverine

Map highlighting the Klamath River as it runs through all of Karuk Aboriginal Territory

Karuk cultural practitioner , Kathy Mccovey demonstrating basket material gathered from willow stand behind her

Willow is a key species representing the Riverine ecosystem. The Karuk creation story of Coyote stealing fire ends with frog spitting fire into willow, and willow swallowing fire into its roots. At this point, fire rises up, dogs howled and humans came into being. This illustrates the connection between people and fire and willow, and also represents our current moment, the return of the wolves to the landscape, fire rising up, and the need for people to come into new being.

Willow is utilized for basketry material, and health of the plant as well as its pliability and usefulness to weavers is dependent on regular burning, especially since dams and water diversions have disrupted traditional flooding patterns.

Willow plays a key role in gauging the effectiveness of the SBIFMP. Can we treat enough Willow and other basketry materials to supply basket weavers with enough gathering opportunity and materials to sustain this cultural practice?

Willow also harbors the river mussel. The mussel shell is used by women to carry fire when upholding the traditional female fire use, responsibility to the plants.

Karuk Tribal Member and Workforce Development Coordinator Aja Conrad preserves her cultural relationship to fire

2018 Karuk Tribe Basketweaver's Gathering

Íshyuux

Elk

Habitat- Meadows

Highlighted on the map is Elk Winter Foraging Range habitat.

Íshyuux are important for their use as food, clothing (hides), regalia, and implements, as well as in their role in shaping ecosystems. The management of elk populations, and the protection and restoration of habitats that elk depend on are of vital importance to the Karuk Tribe.

Humans have learned about the benefits of coppicing plants from animals such as elk. Straight pliable shoots from numerous shrubs and trees can be used for many cultural uses such as dip net hoops for fishing, arrows for hunting, basketry for many utilitarian and ceremonial uses and so much more.

During the time of the influx of settlers to this area for gold in the 1850s there was an abundance of Ishyuux. However Ishyuux were extirpated from Karuk Tribe’s aboriginal territory as early as the 1870s.

When Íshyuux were first reintroduced in 1985, they moved into private property because that is where people had been keeping things open. As we started seeing less success in fire suppression and wildfires impacting larger areas, some high severity burn pockets started to create more open space. As fires occur, elk herds are splitting and moving off into more places. Presence/absence data and landscape use types, that the tribe actively collects through interdepartmental collaborations, can inform us of our progress in regard to winter range and calving habitat restoration and maintenance in the low elevation forest zone.

In a focused co-management effort with California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), the Karuk Tribe has aligned a Wildlife Division to research and monitor the response the Íshyuux have to the work being done in the SBIFMP areas. The Wildlife Division of the Karuk Department Natural Resources has continued to extend this project’s successful collaborations to meet the tribes inherent responsibility to care for the herds and meadow habitats by involving the local community, private landowners, universities, and CDFW.

With Elk specifically, we get into the traditional male responsibility of taking care of the animals. In fulfilling this male role in fire management, fire is carried in an Elk horn.

Karuk Tribal member Rony Reed returning his culture's management practices to the landscape.

tatkunuhpíithvar

Pacific Fisher

Habitat- Oak Woodlands

Map is displaying Six Rivers National Forest Late Succesional Reserves with Old Growth characteristics preferred by Pacific Fisher.

The fur of tatkunuhpíithvar is traditionally used in Karuk regalia. The Pacific fisher has experienced significant declines in Karuk territory

The Tribe seeks to conserve current range, promote expansion, and facilitate reintroduction of fisher into the landscape

It is well represented in world renewal ceremonies as the quiver that carries the arrows used to wake up the world. It represents the need for balance among dense and open habitats with large fire scarred hardwoods.

Tatkunuhpíithvar prefers hardwood forests with significant canopy cover, with large trees and snags where they convert large cavities into a den. More open habitats may be used for hunting and foraging.

Tatkunuhpíithvar currently face habitat losses due to fire suppression and conifer planting: Shifting forest composition from mixed evergreen to an increase in conifers has contributed to a decrease in fisher populations in the Klamath region

Bacon Flat Burn in Orleans - Madrone Fisher Habitat

Northern Spotted Owl

Habitat- Old Growth Conifer

Highlighted on map is the Six Rivers National Forest Late Successional Reserves Developed by the Northwest Forest Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl.

The Northern Spotted Owl (NSO) is listed as threatened by the Endangered Species act. The NSO is dependent on open stands of old growth forests for nesting and foraging, and is therefore an indicator of the overall health of old growth ecosystems.

Traditionally, the pacific fisher would stand in as an indicator for analyzing the health of old growth forests.

Currently the legal regulatory framework mandates that the Northern Spotted Owl be considered in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for this project.

Although the Karuk don’t currently have a known traditional use for the species, it has been documented to be one of the first species to decline in population as a result of fire suppression.

We firmly believe collaborative projects led by Indigenous Peoples, such as the SBIMFP, will not only provide the tools for collective survival in the face of climate change and mass extinction, but will also return humans to their vital role as caretakers within the ecosystems.

This return will be the great struggle defining humanity's future on Planet Earth. The historic and scientific consensus is painfully clear; Globalized, industrial empires are unsustainable and devastating to life and culture across the world. Revitalizing localized eco-cultural practices, rooted in Indigenous peoples' knowledge and values is resistance to this devastation.

Indigenous or not, we are all humans on planet earth and as such, we share a deep responsibility to the land and each other. Are you doing your part to fulfill this responsibility?