Coming Thursday: Pre-Fire Suppression in Oregon
Hello Friends! Welcome to Fires. I have lots of new subscribers this week and I am so grateful you’re here. Fires is reader-supported, so please consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Good news: Gavin Newsom signed SB 322. This is a big step for California, and a gift to many nonprofits and (particularly Indigenous) groups who want to put fire on the ground without risking financial responsibility without insurance. For a while, insurance companies have been unwilling to cover folks who want to burn, even if they’re certified to do so, and this has really limited the engagement of many important cultural and prescriptive burning projects throughout the state.
I’ll be sending out a more thorough examination of this bill, plus my interview with Will Harling, the director of the Mid Klamath Watershed Council, next week. I’m excited to publish the interview, which will not only provide context for understanding how incredible this bill passage is, but also to understand the ways in which state agencies have subtly interfered with Indigenous burning in Northern California. I have lots of amazing interviews coming up, all supported by my paying subscribers (thank you!).
But before that, I’ll be sending out the third segment of my ten-part series on Thursday. This is an overview of Oregon before fire suppression. This series is a lot of work and is taking longer to flesh out than I imagined (story of my life). I’ll also be writing about fire retardant and its effects on the landscape soon.
I invite you to leave any comments and/or questions below!
I’m not a CA resident but I looked at SB322. It is complex and covers protections for health care whistleblowers to grants for wealthy landowners adjacent to wildlife preserves. Will indigenous people actually benefit from this bill? Is allowing burning without some amount of liability a good idea? Good reporting Stacey!