The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and its partners have received a $4.5 million grant from the federal America the Beautiful Challenge program to restore more than 2,000 acres of oak and prairie land.

Isobel Charlé reports.

The project will draw on partnerships across 22 public, private, and tribal sites to restore native plant species such as camas – and reduce fuel for wildfires.

Lindsay McClary, with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, says these oak and prairie lands have deep cultural significance as a source of food, medicine, and hunting grounds.

“Really, these landscapes were maintained by traditional tribal practices and they were relied upon as such. So restoring these habitats is really like restoring cultural life ways to the Willamette Valley. ”

Once widespread, only 7% of oak habitat and 1% of prairie habitat remain in the state.

This is in part due to the impacts of fire suppression, so one piece of the restoration plan is prescribed burning.

McClary says Kalapuya fire practices shaped the Willamette Valley, and that removal of fire has invited in too much plant growth, making the area more susceptible to wildfires.

She says oak and prairie habitats require constant disturbance, and the role of fire in ecosystems is often misunderstood.

“I think this project is really going to help shift and change that social conversation where we can embrace fire as an important tool when it’s done correctly.”

Oak trees are known to support biodiversity like few other trees are able to.

From large wildlife who graze on the acorns down to the many species of fungus that grow with them, oak trees are known to support at least 2,300 species.

It’s been a busy holiday season for an Anchorage man known simply as Native Santa.

But before he sat down to rest, Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA caught up with him at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

“Wanna sit on my lap and we’ll take a picture?”

Jake Hawk, also known as Native Santa, asks a girl, who seems a little timid.

“Oh, there you go.”

Jake Hawk lifts her onto his lap. No matter how shy, Jake knows how to channel the magic of Santa.

“I don’t know. I’ve never been anything but the Native Santa, really.”

Even elders seem to enjoy having their picture taken.

“I helped a lady out of a wheelchair to sit on my lap earlier. I got a bunch of hugs And back there, they loved the qaspeq.”

It is a qaspeq, a traditional hooded Yup’ik overshirt made with a plush, fire engine-red fabric, that Jake’s girlfriend stitched just for him.

“I got the white fringes on the cuffs. I got the white fringes on the pocket of my qaspeq. And I don’t have a hat, but I wear the hood, and it’s got some fringe around it. So, it keeps me nice and warm.”

You might say Jake became an accidental Santa.

At a Christmas party a few years ago when Santa suddenly called to cancel, so as not to disappoint all the kids, Jake was begged to put on the man’s red suit and be a “substitute” Santa. And although the outfit was a little too tight, Jake discovered the role of Santa was a perfect fit.

“Walking through here, getting hugs, just randomly from little kids, I love that.”

And there are always kids who can’t get enough of Native Santa.

Hawk asks the boy on his lap what he wants.

“Lego City.”

Although Jake is Tlingit and Haida, he loves to dance to the beat of a Yup’ik drum and enjoy the timeless rhythm of giving and receiving.

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.