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We Are Fire People with Jessica Angel
- 2025/03/13
- 再生時間： 1分未満
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Good Fire Podcast by Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew KristoffStories of Indigenous fire stewardship, cultural and social empowerment and environmental integrityWe Are Fire People with Jessica AngelEpisode highlightIn this podcast, Jessica Angel talks to Amy Cardinal Christianson and Vikki Preston about being an Indigenous trans woman bringing back fire to her Nation. ResourcesJessica AngelEcostudies Institutehttps://fusee.org/fusee/indigenous-cultural-burning-crew-returns-good-fire-to-oregons-willamette-valleyDocket 234 FundsSponsorsThe Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire ScienceIndigenous Leadership InitiativeQuotes23.30 - 23.33: “The best teacher when it comes to working with fire is fire.” 33.19 – 33.23: “Some good smoke is part of preventing a larger quantity of bad smoke down the road.”56.02 - 56.28: “It’s been really interesting to… show up with this zeal for fire as… an Indigenous trans woman… because, let me tell you, the fire world is stacked against Indigenous peoples and more so stacked against Indigenous women. It isn’t even beginning to crack open… trans people let alone… trans people who are Indigenous or Black or POC or BIPOC in some way.”TakeawaysMeet Jessica Angel (07.59)Jessica is an Indigenous trans woman, a cultural fire practitioner and an enrolled member of the Chinook Indian Nation. Until recently, she worked at Ecostudies Institute in Olympia, Washington. She now works to approach cultural Indigenous fire from a community perspective. Her Nation recently had their second ever prescribed fire since colonization, and she found it a different experience to attend it as an individual as opposed to with an organization or agency. “How do you be a good steward of your land using fire in the 21st century?” (11.43)Jessica became involved in Indigenous fire over three years ago. She got her FFT-2 qualification to become a basic wildland firefighter, but believes it is a big barrier to Indigenous peoples being able to participate in burning on their land, since the certification is required by many agencies. She is a founding member of the all-Indigenous cultural burn crew, The Wagon Burners. They have had many burning sessions over Oregon and Washington and are planning how to continue operations into the future.Burning to protect endangered species (14.34)Jessica shares that Ecostudies Institute workson land where there was some good fire till the 20th century, after which it was turned into a joint military and air force base, where there are radioactive materials to this day. The detonation activity and the weaponry are not positive for the endangered plant diversity. Ecostudies Institute was able to step in and create agreements to allow prescribed fire, helping kill invasive species and protect the endangered ones.Fire is the best teacher (19.30)As an Indigenous person, Jessica experiences cognitive dissonance being around men with guns, given the history of the US Government participating in the genocide of Indigenous peoples all across the USA. As a young person involved in fire, she feels privileged to have access to a lot of knowledge and many teachers and the ability to burn often. It’s interesting to her to compare the perspectives of academicians with those who have hands-on experience with fire.Connection to fire (24.58)Jessica credits her grandmother for her journey into the world of fire. Her grandmother would burn on her farm in Oregon with tall flames. She believes that Chinook peoples are “just beginning our revitalization of fire practices”. She recalls a training session she attended to help make the FFT-2 certification more culturally appropriate, and a burn which made her realize she wanted to work in cultural fire for the rest of her life.Cultural burning (30.22)Jessica shares that when her mother was a child, many non-native farmers burned on their fields, but because it was uncoordinated, the smoke became an issue and many strict regulations had to be put into place. This then presented a huge barrier to Indigenous farmers who wanted to burn, especially in the short burning windows they had. While burning is part of Indigenous culture and history, Jessica jokes about how that tendency manifests in burning other things.Recognizing unceded lands (34.40)Jessica feels privileged to be part of a group of Chinook peoples helping to get fire back on the land now. The Chinook Indian Nation is not one of the 500 Tribes that have federal recognition in the USA. However, they are “celebrating a victory and a step forward with the decision to recognize us as the inheritors of these Docket 234 funds”, says Jessica, recognizing them as heirs to their own ancestry and territory. Last year, they were able to return fire to West End Island, an important fishing spot.Reciprocity is required (39.40)“You have to be in an intentional give and take relationship with the land”, Jessica states. She finds that the “settler ...