Indigenous practice could be key to taming wildfires

For Indigenous tribes in the Pacific Northwest, fire has always been a part of the landscape.

Klamath Tribal Council Chairman Don Gentry says his ancestors learned that low-intensity fires caused by lightning storms helped regenerate plant species and thin out excess growth in the forests.

So tribes like the Klamath started to use fire as a tool to not only stimulate plant growth, but manage the forests by clearing out the excess flammable plants that make the forests prime for more wildfires.

"We lived with the fire. We used fire," Gentry said. "Those were the conditions that our people lived under for years."

By Kelcie Grega