Almost all indigenous peoples worldwide engaged in practices of generational Landcare – continuously. It was chief among their primary occupations and human responsibilities to the Earth.

This sacred knowledge of Landcare was developed over thousands of years, passed on from generation to generation, always adapting and evolving, becoming more complex and nuanced.

A primary tool of ancient Landcare was fire technology – also known by other terms including cultural burning, fire farming, and some others. It is different from the more recently conceived control burning practices, which are nowhere near as sophisticated or beneficial.

Effective cultural burning is still practiced today, although it has been heavily suppressed by migrating and invading colonizers.

In Australia and North America, indigenous people still retain significant knowledge, and, with more recent fire seasons reaching epic proportions, their wisdom is now being sought for help.

I urge everyone to read, watch documentaries, and discuss these highly refined and intelligent practices that will help reduce dangerous forest fires while regenerating local ecologies and reconnecting humanity to the natural world. For this reason, it is called “cultural burning”.

Recommended books are:  Fire Country – by Victor Steffensen; The Biggest Estate on Earth – by Bill Gammage; Dark Emu – by Bruce Pascoe; Forgotten Fires – by Omer C. Stewart; Tending the Wild – by M. Kaat Anderson

And here are two informative videos on Cultural Burning: