Future Ecologies

So you want to put good fire on the ground, but how?? We're taking you to Yurok territory (at the mouth of the Klamath River) to join the Cultural Fire Management Council for 3 days of burning — not just for fuel management, but for all sorts of cultural and ecological values: food, wildlife, materials, and more. We're finally moving from theory to practice, as we learn what it really means to be on the fire line.
This is our 6th return to the subject of fire. Call us obsessed, but we can't think of a better symbol for what this podcast is all about: demonstrating how people can (and need to) be active stewards of their ecologies, rather than passive victims of collapse. In fire-evolved ecosystems all over the world, prescribed fire has been an ecological management tool since time immemorial.
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🔥 Learn more about the CFMC at culturalfire.org
📸 Find photos, citations, and a transcript of this episode at futureecologies.net
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This episode features the voices of (just some of) the CFMC crew. In order of appearance: Elizabeth Azzuz, Dylan Stevens, Rick O’Rourke, Margo Robbins, Robert McConnell, Annelia Norris, Isabel Guerra, Amanaka Yancey, Jordan Spannaus, Claire Brown, Max Brotman, and Will Bruce.
Plus music by C. Diab, Thumbug, Adrian Avandaño, G̱a̱mksimoon, and Sunfish Moon Light
With special thanks to the Confluence Lab's inaugural Artists-in-Fire Residency (Sasha White especially). Thanks as well to Fern Purdy, and Anita & Micah Williams. Heads up — Adam is writing a blog post about his experiences at the CFMC. We'll link to it here when it's out!
Cover art by Ale Silva
Catch up on all our other episodes On Fire:
FE1.5 - Camas, Cores, and Spores
FE1.6 - Combustible Communities
FE2.2 - In the Wobble
FE5.4 - Under Water
FE5.5 - Walking on Two Legs

Plus three related episodes:
FE4.7 - Phase Change
Earthkin's Trial by Fire
Disintegration Loops (by The Wind)

😅 We accidentally released an unfinished draft of our upcoming episode!
If you auto-downloaded it, please don't listen to it (or don't be surprised that it's undercooked).
It's going be a great one, and we want you to hear it when it's done — which will be very soon.

Summary Pending

Eric Higgs (of FE3.1, FE3.2, FE3.3, and FE4.9) sits down with Laura Govers, who has been working on bringing eel grass back to the Netherlands' Wadden Sea — on an island that moves, no less!
This conversation covers the low-tech solutions that they concocted to plant hectares of eel grass, the social invisibility of the marine domain, and the semantics of "restoration" in a rapidly changing world.
Catch some videos of Laura's team over at the Zeegrasherstel NL YouTube channel. And don’t miss our own visit to Oostvaardersplassen, in FE4.3 “A Tiny Wilderness”
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Bogs are our absolute favourite places to be. They’re not only tremendously important ecosystems, rich in exquisite biodiversity and massive stores of carbon, they’re also uniquely beautiful. These serene, colourful spaces jumble land and water into something at once both alien and familiar.
In this episode, we explore the wonders and the mysteries of peatlands, through the story of one very special (and threatened) bog just outside of the city of Vancouver. We meet the scientists who fought for its protection, and some of the folks who are studying it and working on restoring it to this day.
Plus, we answer a tricky question: should we still be extracting peat to help grow plants?
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Visit futureecologies.net/listen/fe-6-8-for-peats-sake for photos from some of our boggy adventures, full credits, citations, and a transcript of this episode
🪼💖 This episode is sponsored by our amazing community of supporting listeners. If you appreciate it, you can become one yourself! Get the scoop at futureecologies.net/support