Last month, the Climate Alliance team was hosted on the beautiful Cahuilla homelands to assess the community's need of reclaiming the use of traditional burning to promote positive land and resource management. Blog written by Tribal Climate Stewardship Intern Jada McCovey.
On Tuesday June 27th, 2023, the Climate Science Alliance team was hosted on the beautiful Cahuilla homelands to assess the community's need of reclaiming the use of traditional burning to promote positive land and resource management. Our visit was led by Climate Science Alliance team member, Will Madrigal Jr.(Cahuilla), who is our Tribal Capacities and Partnerships Program Manager. Our day began with engaging in discussion with Cahuilla representatives and other supporting Tribal partners of the ongoing project that will work to bring cultural fire practice back to Cahuilla lands, starting with a 50-acre juncus patch that is significant to community members.
Our group was then guided through a visit to the landscape and the juncus patch, where we were able to spend some time taking in the scenery and current conditions of the juncus and surrounding environment. After soaking in this visit and talking more about the steps of getting fire back on Cahuilla homelands, we returned back to the tribal center where we enjoyed a delicious lunch and debriefed. We soon wrapped up our visit and returned back to our office, with gratitude for being hosted for this pleasant gathering, and ongoing support for Cahuilla’s vision of using traditional knowledge for environmental stewardship.
