Preparing Tomorrow’s Stewards: Modern Indigenous Stewardship in California and Wildfire Safety
While much education around California Indian communities, and Native communities in general, focuses on their past experiences, it is important to uplift narratives of modern Indigenous communities. In this lesson plan, students will learn about modern Indigenous stewardship practices, especially as they relate to fire. They will also learn lessons around fire safety, and how the two topics are releated. Interactive learning stations will challenge students to teach each other about this important issue.
Lesson Plan 3/3 in the “Preparing Tomorrow’s Stewards” Series.
A note on terminology: this lesson plan will use the term, “California Indians” to refer to the first people of what is now called California. Although there is controversy over what to call this group, we will use this term because it what the author learned was preferred by the community. This is because saying “Native Californians” or “Indigenous Californians” can be confused to someone who was born and raised in California. California Indian is more clear and also reclaims the historical use of the term, “Indian.” It is suggested you discuss this distinction with your students.
At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
Discuss the modern day processes by which Indigenous Californian communities are bringing cultural burning back to the landscape.
Know the benefits cultural burning has on California’s environment, and how it can be used today to help reduce severe fires in California.
Understand the concept of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and its importance.
Understand the dangers of fire that burns out of control/without the expert of cultural burners or prescribed burners.
Create a safety plan in the event of a fire.
The standards covered in this lesson are:
Common Core Reading Standards for Informational Texts: 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.5, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 (Common Core Standards Initiative 2021)
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Lesson plan created by Ariana Kretz