South Coast Cultural Burn Association

The Wild Rivers Coast Forest Collaborative was awarded a large grant from the Oregon Department of Forestry-Urban Community Forestry (ODF-UCF) program in 2025, to be implemented through September 2028. The Wild Rivers Coast Cultural & Prescribed Fire award from ODF-UCF has since, through an agreement with the Northwest American Indian Coalition, created the South Coast Cultural Burn Association (SCCBA) - a culturally-focused burn association in southwest Oregon. 

The objectives include cultural fire restoration through integration of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and current prescribed fire methodologies, particularly for the management of culturally significant plants, habitat restoration, and community wildfire risk reduction. For thousands of years, Indigenous communities of the southwestern Oregon area used fire as a land stewardship tool to promote open spaces and the growth of plants critical for food, basketry, and medicine. Through land preparation and targeted burns, landowners can reduce hazardous fuel loads, create defensible space around homes and properties, and lower the threat of catastrophic wildfire.

Fire plays an essential role in maintaining fire-adapted ecosystems that are home to diverse species. Habitats such as oak woodlands and meadows are important for species like Roosevelt elk, black-tailed deer, and native pollinators. Prescribed burns will enhance the health of these habitats by clearing out invasive species, reducing competition, and stimulating the growth of native plants, especially culturally significant species. 

This program will be implemented through coordination of cultural fire trainings & workshops led by cultural fire practitioners; community engagement & implementation - empowering local landowners and community members to take an active role in land stewardship through cultural and prescribed burning; and building critical collaborative networks among indigenous communities who were historically removed from their homelands in SW Oregon.  

Photo by Teresa Bird, Botanist, Cultural Landscape Coordinator, South Coast Cultural Burn Association Coordinator for Northwest American Indian Coalition during a recent Certified Burn Manager Course training.

This Cultural Burn Association is a grassroots effort that is bolstered by partnerships with local Tribes, federal and state agencies, volunteer fire departments, and community organizations. Collaborators such as the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians Tribal citizens, Coquille Indian Tribe citizens, Karuk, Yurok, and Tolowa Dee-Ni’ Nation Tribal citizens, ODF, Coos Forest Protective Association, OSU Extension Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and other regional partners provide technical support, help navigate permitting processes, and offer expertise in fire management; however the grant is exclusive to work on non-federal land. 

During this quarter we successfully employed two coordinators with the Northwest American Indian Coalition, have engaged over 30 landowners, developed an agreement with the Winchuck Rural Fire Protective District to implement land preparation activities, and have two events this spring to increase local knowledge and capacity in prescribed fire with cultural objectives. The SCCBA just completed the first event, a Certified Burn Manager Course, taught with a focus on cultural fire with the help of the Cultural Fire Management Council. On the final day of the course, participants worked together to conduct the association's first burn in Agness! The burn was successful in reducing fuels for the landowner and providing valuable training to the CBM course participants and local volunteers. Thanks to the members and staff from partnering organizations that made this possible, including Agness Rural Fire Protective District, Coos Forest Protective Association, OSU Extension Service, Willamette Ignitions Network, Cascadia Fire Service, Ecostudies Institute, Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians, Northwest American Indian Coalition, Winchuck Rural Fire Protective District -- and to the local volunteers and course participants, which included local community members from Coos and Curry County and the Illinois Valley, and participants from four Tribes within Oregon and California. We're excited for planning more for burn windows that will hopefully arise later this year!

Written by Tabatha Rood