Writing for Yes! Magazine, Ashli Blow takes us to central Oregon, where the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians has reclaimed the management of thousands of acres of their ancestral lands, which for thousands of years people burned regularly, enriching the land, sustaining oak savanna, and preventing catastrophic wildfires. Blow places her story in the context of the historic injustices faced by the tribe and concurrent mismanagement of the land by the federal government, which lead to a devastating wildfire in 2019. She then zooms out to show us how the federal government is now incorporating Indigenous ecological knowledge into their land management practices, and how tribes across the country are regaining the right to manage their own lands through trusts and outright purchases. Photo: Ashli Blow
