Call to Understanding Given the devastation being wrought by these catastrophic fires, we want to draw attention to the importance of Indigenous fire stewardship and Karuk leadership around the use of fire as a management tool. KDNR director, Bill Tripp, recently published this excellent piece in the Guardian about how Indigenous knowledge and cultural fire stewardship are critical in preventing and mitigating catastrophic mega-fires (also read the conversation below with Bill, special for this newsletter). KDNR leads the Western Klamath Restoration Partnership (WKRP), a consortium of Tribal, federal, state, and non-governmental organizations and landowners committed to maintaining resilient Klamath ecosystems, communities and economies. The WKRP combines cutting-edge fire ecology and forest management techniques with Karuk Indigenous Ecological knowledge and management practices to pilot the implementation and monitoring of prescribed burning and fuels treatments designed to benefit cultural foods and fibers, wildlife habitat, and community wildfire protection.