In the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s homelands, California Climate Investments funding is helping the Hoopa Valley Tribe re‑introduce fire to an important oak woodland ecosystem. The work is supported by a $1.36 million grant from CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Program.
The eastern side of the Hoopa Valley, on the current Hoopa Valley Reservation in what is known today as Humboldt County, has historically been home to extensive oak woodlands. Fire has always played an important role on this landscape—the people burned the hillsides for generations to maintain the oak trees and promote growth of other culturally important plants.
However, this practice ended following the colonization of California by Euro‑American settlers and the subsequent disease and genocide of native peoples, as well as colonial policies that forbade and severely punished cultural fire use. In the absence of fire, Douglas‑fir trees have spread into the oak woodlands, slowly altering the ecosystem and reducing habitat for woodland‑dependent species.
In 2021, CAL FIRE awarded a Forest Health grant to the Hoopa Valley Tribe to help bring fire back to the landscape. Using the grant funds, the Tribe plans to burn more than 700 acres to reduce the number of Douglas‑fir seedlings and competing vegetation, and remove larger trees where needed. This can improve conditions for mature oaks and species that depend on the oak woodland habitat. Fire will also promote the growth of important plants for basket making.
Grant funds will additionally support the construction of two fuel breaks to reduce wildfire threats to the community. As a whole, the project is estimated to reduce GHG emissions by more than 11,000 MTCO2e by improving the landscape’s resilience to wildfire.
A Hoopa Tribal Forestry Fuels Project Crew member manages roadside pile burning as part of the Hoopa Valley East project. Photo courtesy of Jeff Lindsey.
“We’re excited to partner with the Hoopa Valley Tribe to advance many of the goals of the Forest Health Program,” said Chris Poli, CAL FIRE’s interim Forest Health Program manager. “The Tribe is applying beneficial fire and other treatments to restore the land, improve carbon sequestration, and protect local communities.”
The project is underway, with significant portions of the fuel breaks already constructed, and site preparation work done for prescribed burning. The project is expected to be completed by spring of 2025.