Good Fire Podcast by Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff
Stories of Indigenous fire stewardship, cultural and social empowerment and environmental integrity
Survivorship into Thrivorship with Ryan Reed
Episode highlight
In this episode, Ryan Reed talks about how the younger generations are leading the way into the future with a move away from fire suppression and into fire generation to protect the environment.
Resources
Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology
ON FIRE: The Report of the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission
Modernizing Wildfire Safety and Prevention Act of 2024
Sponsors
Indigenous Leadership Initiative
Quotes
13.12 - 13.32: “We can't create something without including or… centering around Indigenous communities as… there are so many statistics that point towards Indigenous communities or management in the Indigenous hands really shows a profound impact… not only just for the landscape but for the communities who depend on those landscapes.”
30.18 - 30.29: “It’s really to show other folks… how important it is to… know who you are and where you come from and how… important that is to be proud of that.”
58.07 - 58.20: “We’re a generation that we’re proud to be Indigenous… and our ancestors never had that opportunity to be proud of who they are and so it’s a responsibility of ours… to carry on with that.”
Takeaways
Meet Ryan Reed (02.33)
Ryan grew up on Karuk land, but is from the Karuk, Hupa and Yurok tribes in Northern California, and grew up immersed in different ceremonies and traditional cultural practices. He cherishes and values being part of the country, the community and the ceremonies. He completed his undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon and is currently pursuing a postgraduate degree in Forestry at UC Berkeley.
“The closest truth on earth is our ceremonies” (04.27)
Ryan used to be a wildland firefighter for the US Forest Service but decided to step away from fire suppression. He is also honoured to be a Karuk medicine person who comes from a long lineage of medicine people. He grew into learning the role and significance of fire in his community to manage resources and ceremonies. He looks forward to rejuvenating and revitalizing cultural practices to share their benefits and uphold the responsibilities to the earth.
Creating pathways for younger generations (07.25)
Ryan translates policies with the help of colleagues and friends to help create space and awareness of how Indigenous people can lead the way. Ryan is most proud of being the cofounder and program director of FireGeneration Collaborative, an organization that empowers marginalized and younger generations within fire policy with Indigenous leadership at the forefront to find climate solutions. They have spoken to government decision-makers to generate conversations and include youth.
Living in reciprocity (13.33)
Ryan’s life reflects the impact of living in reciprocity, and he works to bring Indigenous people and marginalized non-Indigenous people on the frontlines of the climate crisis or wildfire issues together to build a paradigm-shifting coalition. He has received funding and support to invest in creating spaces to change policies with younger generations who want to fight the discrimination and cultural erasure of Indigenous communities in the white male-dominated fire suppression world.
“Enough is enough” (16.40)
Ryan shares how his generation has decided to take matters into their own hands and look into the future, “not for just the generations, but also the non-human souls and entities we have on our landscapes”. Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology sponsors his work and he finds that organic connections made in the fire world, especially mentors, help overcome the growing pains of running the organization and cultivating their position in this space.
Modernizing wildfire safety (20.17)
Ryan is heavily involved as a committee member in the Northwest Forest Plan and is proud of the role FireGeneration played in conversations with the Wildland Fire Commission to share their perspectives, language and policy recommendations, which focus on empowering younger generations through education. To have the space and access to increase awareness in the early days is inspiring for younger generations to streamline their focus.
Feeding the mind, body and soul with a traditional diet (23.37)
“Growing up in a community that was socioeconomically deprived but culturally wealthy, we had a lot of knowledge and understanding of how our culture meshed with concepts of sustainability and holistic management of ecosystem services”, Ryan notes, but Indigenous people have not received the benefits of the advocacy they do to protect the environment for the benefit of all. He hopes to see a move from the environmental destruction his parents’ generation saw to sustainability in his communities.
Intergenerational trauma (28.49)
Ryan believes in “being proud of who you are and where you come from… and continuously learning about yourself, especially in intergenerational trauma”. He acknowledges that those who lived through the residential schools' era were deprived of life happiness and how that transmits through generations. His ancestors did not have the opportunity to talk about cultural fire the way he does, so he wants to empower others to vocalize, even though it is a difficult skill to practice in a tough space.
Lessons from fire (33.21)
Ryan encourages other Indigenous people to recognize their abilities and intelligence and not discredit themselves in Western spaces, because cultivating the teachings from the ancestors and Elders will help structure that wisdom and create a bridge to success. However, he recognizes that many lessons are learned the hard way, especially when it comes to fire. He shares how he learned about the role of the US Forest Service at home and in school and the ways they use fire or suppress it compared to his home.
“A profound sense of change-making that needs to happen in social dynamics” (38.43)
Ryan laments that the combination of intergenerational trauma, limiting policies and wildfire damage saw him get into fire suppression. His understanding of fire suppression, the motivations of people who work in it and the restrictive and unintentionally oppressive system they work under informs his work today as an Indigenous fire practitioner. Colonial settlers disrespected and underestimated the impact of fire on the landscape.
Wildland firefighters suffer in silence (44.34)
Ryan explains that the lifestyle of wildland firefighters is extremely underrepresented and misunderstood, which he discovered only when he began working as one. There is a lack of mental health support along with the physical demands of the job, and the toxic masculinity that prevents them from changing this. He believes “everyone deserves an adequate workplace dynamic and environment” and is working towards shedding light on these issues in the industry.
Man enough (49.41)
Ryan is learning to know when to step back and be a good ally for Indigenous women so that he doesn’t shadow their wisdom. He finds the concept of masculinity has been morphed and manipulated in today’s patriarchal society by settler colonialism but needs to be reframed as being able to take care of the community and the people and to step back so others who have more knowledge can step into leadership positions. This includes educating oneself on others’ vulnerabilities and access issues.
Going back to matriarchal societies (52.19)
Ryan talks about how the materialistic characteristics of fire suppression negatively impact and harm others, especially being a white male-dominated industry. However, he is happy to see more Indigenous women and non-binary folks breaking down barriers and emerging as leaders in cultural fire practice and considers it a privilege to learn from them. He talks about coming from a matriarchal community but “the white man’s agenda” disrupted those social dynamics. Fire teaches how to treat other life elements.
Fire suppression is not working (56.43)
Ryan points out how the next generation is actively seeking a new solution because suppressing fire is not working. FireGeneration is creating a social transformation movement, talking about the matriarchal component of Indigenous ideology and taking pride in their culture. It is difficult to undo “the very violent and oppressive norms that we have been handed through elements like genocide, colonial erasure, Indigenous and cultural erasure and as well as the boarding school eras”, he says.
There’s enough space (59.40)
Ryan admits that even though he is Indigenous, being a heterosexual male means he has privileges, and he works to understand how to create space for those who don’t, uplift their voices and find where he fits in that space. “The point of prioritizing women in these spaces isn’t to deprioritize men, it’s to create space”, he observes. Undoing colonial harms helps us understand cultural fire and the natural environment as well.
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