Governance
Reimagining Fire Policy to Work for Most-Impacted Communities
Intensifying wildfire disasters require a change in approach to land governance.
We must recenter long-term solutions, over the short-term fixes that put us where we are today. We believe this transformation depends on a continuous place for Indigenous and youth voices in policy, to design a trajectory shift that is:
Rooted in Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Accountable to Most-Impacted Communities
Co-created by the Generation Who Will Implement Solutions for Decades to Come
At FireGen, we are working to create this access for young generations and Indigenous leaders in fire and land policy.
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We organized for the appointing of our Director, Indigenous fire practitioner and firefighter Ryan Reed (Karuk, Hupa, Yurok), as the public voice on the Northwest Forest Plan Federal Advisory Committee. This committee will make recommendations for the future of national forests across Indigenous lands in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington. The area includes Ryan’s ancestral homelands.
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We initiated the creation of a Next Generation Panel for the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission, one of the first youth panels ever consulted in this kind of federal process. We focused our representation on the panel around Indigenous sovereignty, workforce development, and addressing hostile cultural elements for underrepresented communities in fire management.
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Among hundreds of submissions, multiple FireGen policy recommendations were accepted to the Final Report of the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission. These recommendations focused on expanding fire education and training for young people in schools, developing standards for the fire workforce to understand Indigenous sovereignty, and taking down barriers to the accessibility of fire qualifications.
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We brought together experts, professional organizations, and student groups from over 25 states to call on federal land management agencies to establish formal representation for young people in fire and land management policy.
Read our Letter to National Leaders.
