TEACHING TOOL! A Classroom Guide to Appreciating Cultural Burning & Good Fire

by Trelasa Baratta, Education Specialist

Weaver Carly Tex holding a traditional cradle board.

Disclaimer: Cultural Burning is a deeply sacred practice carried out by Indigenous communities on their homelands worldwide. While cultural burning is a form of ceremony reserved for Indigenous peoples, non-Indigenous individuals can learn from this practice as it highlights our shared responsibility as stewards of the land. Increasingly, non-Native fire tenders are applying the principles of Good Fire to restore balance to the landscape.

Eméenehi (Greetings) Redbud Supporters!

In the wake of the LA fires and the disheartening news of environmental justice funding under threat, we’d like to offer a moment of reprieve and reflection. Amidst these challenges, we are happy to share this teaching resource that reconnects us with hope and resilience.

Now more than ever, it’s time for us to explore and understand the profound role Fire plays in our lives. As traditional stewards of the land we all now call home, we understand that the Land doesn’t just endure Fire—it craves it. 

Since time immemorial, Native peoples have maintained a reciprocal relationship with Fire and the Earth, using it to return vital nutrients like potassium and phosphorus to the soil, allowing the land to nourish us in return.

Through the practice of cultural burning, Indigenous communities create the ideal conditions for fire-adapted plants like willow and sedge to thrive - resources that are deeply valuable to California Native basket weaving traditions. To help you start a meaningful conversation with your students, follow the steps below!

Rebuild Your Students’ Relationship with "Good Fire"

Step 1: Watch & Discuss

Begin by watching Redbud's Steps to Land Back: Land Access & Cultural Revitalization and discussing how fire is an essential part of Native culture and land stewardship. In the video, you’ll see how good fire (low-intensity, controlled burns) has been used for thousands of years to clear overgrowth, promote new plant growth, and create healthier landscapes.

Fire isn’t just a tool; it’s a living relationship between people and the land. For Native communities, cultural burning is a ceremonial practice, a way to care for important plants, and a method for maintaining ecosystems that sustain food, medicine, and basket materials.

As you watch, ask students to consider:

• What role does cultural burning play in strengthening the relationship between Indigenous people and the land?

• How can learning about fire through basketry shift the way we think about land management and sustainability?

• How might participating in cultural burning and basket weaving give Native youth, like Oni, a renewed sense of identity, pride, and purpose?

  
  

By framing fire as a relationship rather than simply a destructive force, students can begin to see fire as a living part of the ecosystem—one that requires care, respect, and understanding.

Step 2: Connect Fire & Basketry

Pair the video with our Life Cycle of a Basket visual to guide classroom discussions on how basketry and fire are inseparable in Native traditions. Remind students that basket weaving is a universal skill practiced by many cultures and communities worldwide!

Basketry is an essential part of ceremony, storytelling, trade, and daily life for California Native peoples. Baskets are used for gathering food, cooking, carrying water, cradling infants, and even as gifts in spiritual and social traditions. The strength of a basket reflects the health of the land and the knowledge of the weaver—when the land is tended with fire, basket weavers can access the highest-quality materials, ensuring that both the tradition of basketry and the ecosystem remain strong.

Step 3: Weave your own basket!

To fully appreciate the relationship between fire and basketry, try weaving your own basket. This hands-on experience offers a glimpse into the time, care, and ecological knowledge required to weave a basket - from restoring landscapes with good fire to harvesting, preparing, and weaving materials throughout the seasons. None of this is possible without people tending the land and keeping these reciprocal relationships alive. Again, remember that weaving is a universal practice implemented by many cultures and communities, not just California Native peoples.

Explore our newest "How-To" video, featuring Redbud’s very own Jonathan Kunkel! In this step-by-step guide, Jonathan walks us through a common basket-weaving technique shared by many weavers around the world. Click here to access step-by-step written instructions: How to Weave a Twine Basket

Other great resources on Cultural Burning & Good Fire:

• UCANR: Protecting California’s Natural Resources, How the Indigenous practice of ‘good fire’ can help our forests thrive

• Tribal EcoRestoration Alliance, “Restoring Good Fire” with Caring for Clear Lake lesson plan

• Pepperwood Foundation, “Cultural Burn at Pepperwood November 2024 | Interview with Clint McKay and Photo Slide Show”

• PBS SoCal, “Cultural Burning | Tending the Wild | Season 1, Episode 1”

• PBS, Local, USA, S8 E7, “Fire Tender”

• Native Health in Native Hands, N-shong konk' ~ “Good Fire” (CULTURAL FIRE)

These resources provide powerful examples of how cultural burning supports healthy landscapes, strong ecosystems, and thriving Indigenous traditions. Encourage students to think critically about how fire is often misunderstood in mainstream media. What are some of the key differences between cultural burning and destructive wildfires? How might fire actually protect the land when used properly?

Take Action: Support Good Fire

1. Teach the Role of Fire in Ecosystems – Integrate Indigenous knowledge on cultural burning into lessons on land stewardship, wildfire prevention, and ecological balance. Help students understand the difference between destructive wildfire and Good Fire.

2. Acknowledge and Process Fire Trauma – Create space for students and educators to share their experiences with fire. Use storytelling, art, or reflective writing to explore personal and community histories with fire.

3. Engage in Place-Based Healing – Organize visits to culturally significant burn sites or invite Indigenous fire practitioners to share how cultural burning restores balance to the land and helps communities heal.

4. Build Relationships with Indigenous Fire Stewards – Partner with local Tribes and Native-led organizations to bring authentic perspectives on fire knowledge into your teaching, supporting a community-wide shift toward fire literacy and resilience.

“I think that allowing ourselves the ability to really change how we see things is how we’re going to change things.”

― Dahr Jamail, We Are the Middle of Forever: Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island on the Changing Earth