One Foot in the Black

Wildfire is integral to both nature and humanity. Yet, through colonial policies of genocide and the removal of Indigenous people from their land, the United States brought an end to traditional fire use and made suppression of most wildfires the dominating philosophy. By the mid-20th century, wildfire suppression reached an industrial scale, with the use of military tactics for suppression and a friendly mascot to deliver anti-fire rhetoric. We’ve become a nation that fears fire and fights it at all costs.

In this final episode of One Foot in the Black, we look back through the series and summarize what we’ve learned about fire in the era of climate change from voices on the front lines—from the cultural fire practitioners, wildland firefighters, fire scientists, and policy makers. We also look at how fire is portrayed in the media and how we deal collectively with climate grief in the aftermath of fires.

Our goal was to explore the facts, future, and solutions of wildfire in the era of climate change, and we hope you are coming away with a greater understanding of the importance of fire and how we can live in this fire future together.

Links & Resources

Indigenous Communities of the Klamath-Siskiyou includes links to regional organizations, resources, and Indigenous-led projects

Climate Grief Sources

Jennifer Atkinson, Facing It

Thomas Doherty

Dhar Jamail on Post-doom with Michael Dowd

Glenn Albrecht: TedX + The Age of Solastalgia

Solastalgia: living with the environmental damage caused by natural disasters

Joanna Macy

Featured guests:

Tim Ingalsbee, Executive Director, Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE)

Belinda Brown, Tribal Partnership Director, Lomakatsi Restoration Project

Janet Lancaster, Fire Smart Merlin

Charles Brooks, Executive Director, Rebuild Paradise Foundation

Rick O’Rourke, Fire Coordinator, Cultural Fire Management Council

Susan Jane Brown, Senior Attorney, Wildlands and Wildlife Director, Western Environmental Law Center (WELC)

Hosts: Joseph Vaile and Alexi Lovechio

Producer: Jessica Klinke

One Foot in the Black is a production of Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild)

Climate change is having a massive impact on how fires are burning, adding an urgent need for better wildfire policy that will change how we use, prepare for, and fight fire.But what are politicians doing about this? Is anyone addressing the policy changes that are needed to protect communities - the policy changes that we desperately need to build a different, more sustainable relationship with fire?

In this episode of One Foot in the Black, we look at the policies being presented to address the wildfire crisis impacting the West. We talk to policy makers and fire professionals about what it’s going to take to change our relationship to fire on the landscape. We discuss several wildfire bills that have been introduced, both on the state and federal levels, and we talk to wildland firefighters about ways to address issues on the frontlines of this growing problem.

Links & Resources

2021 Federal Infrastructure Bill - Federal Lands Provisions

Featured guests:

Tim Ingalsbee, Executive Director, Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE)

Pam Marsh, Oregon State Representative, District 5

Susan Jane Brown, Senior Attorney, Wildlands and Wildlife Director, Western Environmental Law Center (WELC)

Belinda Brown, Tribal Partnership Director, Lomakatsi Restoration Project

Jim Whittington, wildland firefighter and fire communications officer

Hosts: Joseph Vaile and Alexi Lovechio

Producer: Jessica Klinke

One Foot in the Black is a production of Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild)

In this episode of One Foot in the Black, we look closer at how climate change is impacting fire behavior in the West, and how we’re living through an era of Megafires. We talk to fire professionals and climate scientists about the increasing intensity of fire behavior, and ask the questions: how are we going to manage fires in the era of climate change? And what does climate adaptation look like in the context of fighting fire or preparing for fire season?

Featured guests:

Mike Beasley, Wildlands firefighter

Tim Ingalsbee, Executive Director, Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE)

Chris Chambers, Ashland District Wildland Division Fire Chief

Jessica Halofsky, Director of Northwest Climate Hub

Hosts: Joseph Vaile and Alexi Lovechio

Producer: Jessica Klinke

One Foot in the Black is a production of Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild)

In this episode of One Foot in the Black, we examine communities at risk. We dive into the Wildland Urban Interface and look at ways to protect our homes, our communities, and each other. And we ask the question, how can we better plan and prepare our communities for wildfire and climate change while also learning how to build back better when we are impacted by wildfire?

Featured guests:

Charles Brooks, Rebuild Paradise Foundation

Janet Lancaster, Firesmart Merlin

Chris Chambers, Ashland District Wildland Division Fire Chief

Rich Fairbanks, fire practitioner and founder of Prescriptions for Safety

Aaron Krikava, Rogue Valley Prescribed Burn Association

Hosts: Joseph Vaile and Alexi Lovechio

Producer: Jessica Klinke

One Foot in the Black is a production of Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild)

In this episode we look to the past, stepping back to learn about the role fire has played in shaping the landscapes of the West and how humans co-existed with fire before modern wildfire suppression. Are we willing to learn from indigenous tribes about how to use fire? How can indigenous tribes be supported in traditional burning on their ancestral lands?

We hear from tribal members and cultural fire practictioners Belinda Brown from Lomakatsi Restoration Project, and Rick O’Rourke from the Cultural Fire Management Council, on the importance of putting fire back on the ground. We also get a brief history of the Forest Service’s policy of wildfire exclusion from Tim Ingalsbee from Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE)

We begin this episode with the story of fire.

Hosts: Joseph Vaile, Alexi Lovechio, and Jessica Klinke

The first episode of One Foot in the Black introduces you to the four root causes we’ve identified that increase the frequency and severity of wildfire in the West, and we begin to explore the solutions to living with fire in the era of climate change. 

We begin this episode with the story of the Almeda Fire, which tore through southern Oregon communities during the Labor Day fires of September 2020. As an organization based in southern Oregon, a region where fire season is nothing new, KS Wild is at the forefront of tackling issues of fire and climate change. Here in Ashland, Oregon---on the unceded territory of the Takelma people---we are witnessing allies, friends, neighbors, and colleagues directly impacted by the aftermath and recovery of the Labor Day fires that swept across regions throughout Klamath-Siskiyou. Through narrative conversation, we find that the solutions to our fire problem are as complex as the problem itself. 

Guests: Wildland Fire Division Chief Chris Chambers, Oregon State Representative Pam Marsh, Belinda Brown (Kosealekte Band, Ajumawi-Atsuge Nation - Pit River Tribe) of Lomakatsi Restoration Project, Janet Lancaster of Fire Smart Merlin, and Jessica Halofsky of Northwest Climate Hub.

Hosts: Joseph Vaile, Alexi Lovechio, and Jessica Klinke

Music: Blue Dot Sessions

Sources/references

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/21/wildfire-prescribed-burns-california-native-americans

https://www.verisk.com/insurance/campaigns/location-fireline-state-risk-report/

One Foot in the Black is a six-episode podcast telling the story of fire in the West—how the landscape has been shaped by fire, how climate change is remaking the rules, and how our future with fire is tied to the past.

Presented by KS Wild