SDSU PARTNERS WITH TRIBAL COMMUNITIES TO TACKLE WILDFIRES AND PRESERVE INDIGENOUS LAND 2
Total Views: 63 By Susanne Clara Bard September 12, 2023 (San Diego) — A striking black and yellow beetle called the goldspotted oak borer has been decimating oak trees in Southern California for more than 20 years, including on the ancestral lands of the La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians on Palomar Mountain. The insects’ larvae burrow into bark, increasing drought stress on the trees. A project funded by a $7.1 million University of California (UC) award will tackle habitat degradation caused by the gold spotted oak borer and similar issues in the region by putting Indigenous land stewardship practices and California State University (CSU) and UC academic research to work boosting climate resilience. The Collaborative of Native Nations for Climate Transformation & Stewardship (CNNCTS) is a partnership between the Climate Science Alliance and its Tribal Working Group, six tribes, San Diego State University and three other universities. “Tribal communities have always been resilient in the face of change, and this project is creating an opportunity for them be at the forefront by sharing and demonstrating the value of the work that they’ve already been doing,” said Megan Jennings, co-director of the SDSU Institute for Ecological Monitoring and Management and principal investigator of CNNCTS. A major component of the community-driven project will be Indigenous fire management, training and landscape restoration demonstration projects on tribal lands around the region. They will serve as workforce development opportunities for the next generation of land stewards and climate leaders from both tribal communities and local universities, according to Amber Pairis, founder and lead advisor of the Climate Science Alliance. “The demonstration projects in particular are really important because they’re opportunities to really show how climate adaptation work is done and what it looks like when you create a space where there’s equal valuation for ways of knowing,” she said. Good fire Several of the demonstration projects focus on Indigenous practices for managing fire. As stewards of the land, native communities in California have used cultural fire — an approach to working with fire to cultivate and sustain the land — that was practiced for thousands of years before colonization. Fire can renew ecosystems, releasing vital nutrients into the soil, and support biodiversity, according to Jennings. But federal land managers have suppressed fires for more than a century, leading to the buildup of flammable material that has in turn fueled devastating wildfires in recent years. During this time, Indigenous voices were left out of fire management decisions. “Part of what has influenced the way communities are affected by climate change is a history of colonization,” said Jennings. “Having land taken away, not having an opportunity to steward their own lands, ancestral lands, or to have a say in what happens to their communities. And so we are trying to create a more equitable vision of how we move forward and adapt to climate change.” Acorns are an important food resource for Indigenous communities. On the La Jolla Indian Reservation and adjacent ancestral lands on Palomar Mountain, Tribal members and the band’s Natural Resource Manager Joelene Tamm — a graduate student at the University of California, Riverside — will continue ongoing work testing cultural burning and the timing of tree cutting as a means of reducing the spread of the goldspotted oak borer and restoring forests. “Bringing good fire back to the land in the right way is particularly important and our tribal colleagues are at the center and leading on how cultural burning is talked about and what that looks like across the West,” said Pairis. Also on Palomar Mountain, a demonstration project led by the Pauma Band of Luiseño Indians will build on ongoing stewardship work that has been restoring the forest following the destructive Poomacha Fire in 2007. CNNCTS will invest in Pauma’s vision to create a nature trail that is accessible to Tribal members — especially elders. Jennings emphasized that making the demonstration projects accessible is an important aspect of CNNCTS. “We can best steward the places that we see and we can get to,” she said. Food, fiber and medicine Three demonstration projects focus on restoration of landscapes that support culturally and ecologically important plants used for food, basket making, and traditional medicines. “All of this comes back to this idea of how we envision our roles as stewards,” said Jennings. “Since time immemorial, Indigenous peoples lived on the lands, stewarded it, and gave back to it and it gave to them.” The Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians have established a greenhouse east of Alpine to produce seeds and plants that could be used to restore sites damaged by fire, or caused by other climate-related issues in the future. “Some of the species that currently live within their reservation boundaries, for example, might not be there in the future,” Jennings said. “And so this will allow them to be better prepared for doing restoration and promoting healthy populations of culturally important plants that serve as food, fiber and medicine.” West of Palomar Mountain, the Pala Band of Mission Indians also are building a greenhouse operation. Their demonstration project will encourage people to set up their own home gardens and share the knowledge with other communities. In coastal Southern California, the Acjachemen Tongva Land Conservancy’s demonstration project aims to rematriate and restore lands that were part of their unceded ancestral territory, creating a welcoming place for the community to return to, according to Jennings. The tribal working group and its extensive network will share knowledge gained from the demonstration projects with the broader tribal community. A model for climate adaptation CNNCTS will engage students from SDSU, California State University, Long Beach, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, and community college campuses in hands-on learning opportunities, turning university preserves and Native American Land Conservancy lands into living laboratories and working side-by-side with tribal stewards in an reciprocal exchange of knowledge. And research by SDSU and UC Riverside faculty and students will build upon on-going restoration work. The program will also support tribal
2 viewsKUMEYAAY LAND TRUST FILES NOTICE TO EVICT COUNTY FIRE AUTHORITY FROM JULIAN FIRE STATION 5.6K
Total Views: 47 New Julian fire station No. 56 sits on disputed land By Paul Kruze, Contributing Editor July 13, 2019 (Julian) – Following a firestorm of controversy over San Diego County’s takeover of the Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District, the County may lose access to a new fire station. Theodore J. Griswold, attorney for the Kumeyaay Native American Land Conservancy, has filed an eviction notice with the San Diego County Fire Authority (SDCFA) that would force the SDCFA to abandon Julian Fire Station No. 56 within two weeks. The future of Station No. 56, located at 3407 State Route 79 just south of downtown Julian, has been a dicey subject from the onset of the county’s efforts to shut down of the Julian Cuyamaca Fire protection District (JCFPD), the county’s last volunteer fire department. Though the transfer of authority was approved by a majority of voters and the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), many area residents have fought strenuously to reverse the action, with litigation pending. But the LAFCO action and vote failed to take into account potential land claims by the Kumeyaay-Diegueno Indian Land Trust (KDLC), as ECM reported last year, a claim which the Trust now asks a court to enforce. In May 2018, John “Eagle Spear” Elliott of the KDLC brought to the attention of County Supervisors during a hearing that late Julian resident Frances H. Mosler had deeded 6.4 acres of land to the Native American Land Conservancy (NALC) of Indio, CA — acreage later transferred to the Kumeyaay group. The transfer was reportedly meant to allow a fire station run by the JCFPD to be built on But Elliott said, “By dissolving itself as a district, the property where the fire station was eventually constructed automatically reverts to KDLC for its use consistent with the underlying deed.” Although Elliott said KDLC wasn’t taking sides after the Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District earlier decision to dissolve the district, he said the conservancy was never approached by the County, LAFCO, or the JCFPD regarding issues surrounding the deed. At that time, Supervisor Dianne Jacob said, “That definitely will be an issue that the staff will need to look into and work with you on.” Alex Bell, county spokesperson, issued an email stating,“We are very early in the LAFCO consolidation process, which is when issues including property ownership are negotiated.” That was then. One year later, this is now. The letter sent to the county on Wednesday from Griswold says that the NALC has invoked its power of termination to end JCFPD’s estate “with respect to Property due to JCFPD’s abandonment of the Property. JCFPD no longer has any legal claim, right, or interest in the Property.” The letter from Griswold continues to say that “NALC hereby notifies SDCFA of its unlawful possession of the Property, which is lawfully owned by NALC. SDCFA as the owner of the Property in fee simple, including all costs associates with enforcing these rights.” But the County of San Diego has its own ideas and intentions and has asserted that it is ready to challenge the KDLC full-on. On Friday, ECM obtained a copy of a letter sent to Griswold by Joshua M. Heinlein, Senior Deputy County Counsel on behalf of Thomas E. Montgomery, County Counsel, retorting Griswold’s claims. Heinlein’s letter states that NALC’s Notice to Vacate is based on the assertion that the JCFPD permanently abandoned the fire station on May 31. “That assertion is incorrect; the fire station has not been permanently abandoned.” (May 31 was the date when San Diego Superior Court Randa Trapp ordered the volunteers who had been occupying Fire Station No. 56 since April 8 to leave the premises. The volunteers argue that the election was illegal due to violations of the state’s open government law, the Brown Act, which they believe should nullify the election. The JCFPD’s attorney, Cory Briggs, immediately filed an appeal to the San Diego Superior Court’s Appellate Division. Despite the automatic stay of Trapp’s order, which should have allowed the volunteers to remain in the station until their appeal was heard, the following day, June 1, the San Diego County Fire Authority along with the San Diego County Sheriff took over the building, changed the locks and took all of the keys of JCFPD’s fire vehicles. (ECM is continuing to investigate the name of the individual who actually ordered the June 1 takeover action.) The letter sent this week from Heinlein on behalf of the County states, “As you are aware, SDCFA and JCFPD are currently engaged in litigation regarding which of these entities has the legal right to provide fire protection services to Julian and the surrounding areas.” It continues, “A Temporary Restraining Order now in effect prevents JCFPD from using the fire station. That Order has been appealed by JCFPD. Nevertheless, the fire station is manned by SDFCA personnel on a daily basis, and, once the litigation is resolved, the fire station will resume providing fire service to Julian and the surrounding areas. In short, the fire station has not been “permanently abandoned,” and SDCFA is not in unlawful possession of the property as asserted in your letter.” The letter ends, “Should your client file a lawsuit, SDCFA will appear and vigorously assert its legal right to own and possess the property and continue its use as a fire station.” ECM on Friday sent an email requesting comment to SDFA/Cal Fire Chief Tony Mecham, Cal Fire public information officer Isaac Sanchez, the SDCFA, LAFCO Executive Director Keene Simonds, LAFCO attorney Carmen Brock with the Los Angeles law firm of Colantuono, Highsmith & Watley, PC, and JCFPD’s attorney Cory Briggs, but did not receive a response. Support truthful, independent reporting on important local news stories! Please donate now at http://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate Follow Paul Kruze on Twitter and Facebook: @PaulKruzeNews Printer-friendly version
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