Every year, we spend many dry months on edge about wildfires. We refresh our evacuation plans, spend long hours mowing and raking, watch the weather and local reports like hawks, and run around after lightning storms to look for smoke. We think and worry about fire A Lot.
And now, we're talking very seriously about setting fires on Ekone land.
The truth is, fire is incredibly valuable to this ecosystem. Historical records stored in the rings of trees show that prior to 100 years ago, oak-pine forests like Ekone experienced low-intensity fires as often as every 7 years.
These fires release nutrients into the soil, expose mineral soil and promote germination, thin the forest and support a balance of resource availability, and favor the dominance of oaks over pines. (Oaks being a tremendously valuable species for this ecosystem, providing homes and food for many creatures, resilience to fire, pests, and disease, and benefits to soil health.)
A century of fire suppression has led to overcrowded, pine-dominated forests, with oaks shaded out, a reduced diversity of understory species, and a thick mat of needles and leaves covering the soil preventing germination and nutrient release.
Of course, this is also a forest that is more vulnerable to catastrophic fires. The stress of climate change isn't helping.
In 2023 and beyond, we intend to restore low-intensity fire to the Ekone Ranch landscape, in partnership and collaboration with Mount Adams Resource Stewards, Columbia Land Trust, and Yakama Nation.
Will you support our capacity to launch this initiative, with a year-end gift to Ekone's Conservation Fund?
Your investment will pay dividends in this landscape, for the plants, animals, and children who call it home. It'll add to the growing body of knowledge and expertise around prescribed fire. And it'll create just a bit more resilience in this changed and changing world.
Thank You.
With love from your friends feeding the woodstoves at Ekone Ranch. ♥
P.P.S. Conservation Fund donations of $1000+ are recognized on a stone at the cemetery entryway. We'd be so honored to include your name or dedication.
Sacred Earth Foundation stewards 1,263 acres in the upper Rock Creek watershed, and is the home of Ekone Summer Camps and White Eagle Memorial Preserve.
