Healing the land after wildfires: Lessons from St'at'imc Nation
'We’re going to end up sacrificing our way of life so the next generation has one,' says Michelle Edwards
*Originally published on Feb. 26, 2024.
In 2021, a deadly heat dome produced a devastating wildfire season across British Columbia.
While immediate media coverage often focuses on evacuations and the numbers of homes destroyed, many First Nations say what these fires do to the land in their territories — and the cultural lives of their communities — is often overlooked.
IDEAS visited St'át'imc territory around Lillooet, B.C. to learn how 21st-century wildfires are reshaping the landscape — and their consequences for plants, animals, and humans alike.
This two part-series follows a post-wildfire research project led by northern St'át'imc Nations — Ts'kw'aylaxw, Xwísten, and T'it'q'et-P'egp'íg'lha — alongside the Indigenous Ecology Lab at UBC and the Lillooet Regional Invasive Species Society.
More than two years after the McKay Creek wildfire, the nation and their co-researchers are working to document the effects of wildfires — and to chart a new future based on Indigenous approaches to healing and balancing an ecosystem.
Guests in the two episodes:
Chief Justin Kane is the elected Chief of Ts'kw'aylaxw First Nation.
Michelle Edwards is the Tmicw Coordinator for the St'át'imc Chiefs Council and the former Chief of the communities of Sekw'el'was and Qu'iqten.
Sam Copeland is a senior land guardian for the P'egp'ig'lha Council.
Luther Brigman is an assistant land guardian for the P'egp'ig'lha Council.
Travis Peters is the Heritage Supervisor and Interim Lands Manager for Xwísten First Nation.
Gerald Michel is a council member and the Lands Resource Liaison for Xwísten First Nation.
Denise Antoine is a Natural Resource Specialist for the P'egp'ig'lha Council.
Dr. Jennifer Grenz is an Indigenous Scholar and Assistant Professor in the Department of Forest Resources Management at UBC. She is a Nlaka'pamux woman of mixed ancestry whose family comes from the Lytton and Boneparte First Nations. She leads the Indigenous Ecology Lab at UBC, which works entirely in service to Indigenous communities on land-healing and food systems revitalization projects that bring together western and Indigenous knowledge systems and centres culture and resiliency. She is the author of Medicine Wheel for the Planet: A Journey toward Personal and Ecological Healing.
Virginia Oeggerli is a graduate student in the Indigenous Ecology Lab in the Faculty of Forestry at UBC. She is studying vegetation trajectories (what happens to both cultural and invasive plants) after different burn severities of wildfire alongside St'at'imc communities on the McKay Creek Wildfire.
Dr. Sue Senger is a biologist working with the Lillooet Tribal Council.
Jackie Rasmussen is the executive director of the Lillooet Regional Invasive Species Society.
*This two-part series was produced by Pauline Holdsworth and Philip Coulter.
