Incorporating TEK with wildland fire and fisheries research and management: Opportunities and challenges

Background/Question/Methods: Incorporating traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) with wildland fire and fisheries research and management can provide opportunities, but also some challenges. This presentation shares the perspective of a federal agency research ecologist, of tribal descent, who works with and lives in a predominantly rural tribal community where wildland fire, forestry and fisheries management issues are at the forefront of socio-cultural and economic agendas. TEK offers a historical perspective and contemporary understanding of wildland fire and fisheries issues of value for developing research that is responsive to management needs from a local to regional scale. This presentation will share what has been found to be effective methods for incorporating TEK and what are the strengths and weaknesses with various approaches. How can ecologists, as researchers or managers, benefit from utilizing various forms of TEK in their fire or fisheries programs or projects.  Additionally, what are appropriate or applicable scales of TEK for ecological research and management pertaining to wildland fire and fisheries. TEK is derived from many different sources as published and unpublished literature, as well as from contemporary tribal communities. Examples of how TEK is acquired, organized and categorized from tribal individuals and governments, non-governmental and tribal organizations, academia, or federal agencies is offered.

Results/Conclusions: Several case studies, focusing on the Klamath-Siskiyou region of southern Oregon and northern California, USA will be used to demonstrate how TEK has been incorporated with wildland fire and fisheries research to provide various types of data and how inclusion of tribal community members, as holders of TEK, is applicable to contemporary management efforts. The presentation will conclude with how historical and contemporary TEK links different types of research approaches with integrated resource management as a model of how components of tribal cultures may sustain ecosystems in face of threats such as climate change.