Big Rock Property Meadow Restoration Cultural Revitalization

The project consists of hosting cultural bum training events at the "Big Rock" property recently acquired by Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation in an effort to support the continuation of Indigenous beneficial fire practices and traditional land management. These activities will rely on low-impact firing and thinning operations as part of responsible wildfire mitigation maintenance, cultural land stewardship, tribal agriculture and education. The proposed activities will be implemented by Tribal hand crews conducting hand-tool fuel treatments, small pile burns, manual thinning of encroaching conifers <5" dbh and competing vegetation, removal of noxious weeds and low-intensity broadcast burning in open meadow areas. Burn operations will be led by a Cultural Practitioner and will only take place on permissive bum days as determined and permitted by CalFire in cooperation with the Mariposa County Air Pollution Control District. The Project will implement traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) to apply traditional indigenous burning techniques for the revitalization of culturally significant plant species. Cultural burn trainings will be timed to occur in the fall and/or winter, when high-moisture conditions are conducive to low-intensity beneficial fire, and specific weather patterns (including wind speed/direction, temperature, and humidity) will be closely monitored before determining a specific day to conduct burning activities. Anticipated benefits of these treatments include increased native plant biodiversity, improved wildlife habitat, and better quality and abundance of indigenous foods/fibers/medicines.