How can First Nation and Indigenous communities regain power over their long-honed land stewardship and cultural burning practices? How can these practices be done without the influence of Westernized practices, which includes prescribed burning?

Today’s guest Amy Cardinal Christianson, a Métis woman and Fire Social Scientist for the Canadian Forest Service, addressed these questions (and so, so many others) for us in today’s episode. On top of advocating for greater authority for First Nation communities over their ancestral lands, Amy also has an extensive background in researching the connection between First Nation communities and wildfire. Her most recent research centers heavily on wildfire evacuations in First Nations communities in Canada; various overlapping factors (like remote locations and a lack of emergency response infrastructure) often result in disproportionate wildfire impacts to First Nations communities.

We owe a huge thank you to Amy for coming on the show to share her perspective; it was a privilege to learn about the work she’s involved in, as well as how First Nations communities continue to reestablish control over their homelands—while touching on some of the roadblocks she’s experienced along the way. To hear more from Amy, you can check out her absolutely stellar podcast, “Good Fire,” here: https://yourforestpodcast.com/good-fire-podcast

Finally, this episode is sponsored by Mystery Ranch Backpacks, which recently came out with women’s-specific sizing on their fire packs (!!!) which we are inordinately excited about. Whether you need something that can keep up on day after day of digging line or a bomber duffel bag for weekend trips, you can rest assured that Mystery Ranch packs come ready to be used hard and put away wet, no matter what. You can dig around on their website here: https://www.mysteryranch.com/womens-hotshot-tl-wildland-fire-pack