Reigniting Cultural Burning Practices
Ecological records and oral Indigenous history confirm that fire, sparked by lightning or planned by Indigenous Tribes, played a vital role in shaping healthy ecosystems for thousands of years. Many Indigenous communities have preserved their deep knowledge of traditional burning practices to steward landscapes and they are passing that knowledge on to the next generation—and sharing across Tribal communities.
In 2023, Planet Women offered a grant to the Indigenous Peoples Burning Network (IPBN), which spurred the creation of a new program—the Indigenous Women’s Fire Learning Exchange. In June 2023, IPBN invited Indigenous women to apply for $5,000 grants to gather in-person on Native lands to maintain and enrich cultural burning practices across the world.
In 2024, the learning exchanges were able to take place! Below you can read about the recipients of Planet Women’s grants via IPBN and hear about the amazing work they are doing in their own communities.
Charity Battise of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas
With a primary desire to make connections, Charity Battise used her fire learning exchange invitation to travel to Northern California to assist with a workshop of Skey-Wok Kee’ We Mech, the Yurok Cultural Fire Stewardship Plan. Charity is a senior at the University of Oklahoma and has an interest in GIS and fire. GIS stands for geographic information system and it is a technological tool that allows users to store, manage, analyze, edit, and visualize geographic data. GIS is a major component of the Skey-Wok Kee’ We Mech plan.
Shannel Thompson of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe (Minnesota), Anna Merritt of the Klamath Tribes (Oregon), and Charity Battise of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas
Planet Women funds enabled these three Indigenous women to network and contribute at the Annual Workshop of the Indigenous People’s Burning Network. Fifty-two attendees from 24 Tribes and pueblos, 10 states and 3 countries (USA, Australia, Canada) gathered to advance Indigenous cultural burning. Charity was a speaker on the Youth Panel and Anna Merritt presented on a fire project with the Klamath Tribes. Leveraged funds supported participation by eight additional Indigenous women.
Risharda Harley and Y Proctor of the Accokeek Foundation (Maryland), Millie Robinson (California) and the Cultural Fire Management Council (California)
The very best way to support Indigenous women in revitalizing their traditional fire cultures is to “learn and burn” together. The Cultural Fire Management Council used Planet Women funds to host three of the participants in a two-day Aspiring Firelighter’s workshop. The workshop provided a step-by-step introduction to burning for cultural objectives. The Accokeek Foundation manages land in the ancestral territory of the Piscataway tribes.
Courtney Steed of the Lumbee Tribe (North Carolina)
Courtney Steed is the founder and director of the Lumbee Cultural Burn Association. Planet Women funds are enabling Courtney and her community to host a two-day women’s cultural burning event this coming October. Women and non-binary people from other Tribes in the region will be invited, including the Waccamaw Siouan, Eastern Band of Cherokee, Catawba, Coharie and Haliwa-Saponi Nations. Participants will build relationships through storytelling, preparing traditional foods, crafting with fire-dependent Indigenous materials and sharing plans for the future. After the workshop, participants will be invited to participate in a cultural burn hosted with other funds.
Thank you to the Planet Women community for your financial support that enables grants like these. And thank you to Indigenous Peoples Burning Network, The Nature Conservancy and Women-in-Fire Training Exchange for making this amazing program possible!
The Indigenous Women’s Fire Learning Exchanges were funded by Planet Women and administered by The Nature Conservancy. Each learning exchange was customized to meet the needs of individual applicants. The Indigenous Peoples Burning Network (IPBN) and the Women-in-Fire Training Exchange (WTREX), both programs of the Fire Networks, built upon existing relationships with multiple Native American Tribes and communities to recruit applicants and arrange each exchange. For more information, contact info@planetwomen.org and we will connect you to the right person.