Tribes, Arizona work well in fighting fires. California may offer a model for what's next

Yahoo

26-04-2025

FORT McDOWELL RESERVATION — Eddie Smith heads the first tribal fire department in Arizona that's part of a system that can provide extra equipment and personnel at the push of a button. That agreement, called enhanced mutual aid, comes in handy when the small fire department responds to wildland fires and other emergencies.
A small tribal fire department with just 15 firefighters and emergency personnel in the upper Sonoran Desert would seem to be an unlikely first responder for wildfire, but the Fort McDowell Fire Department is located in a wildland urban interface.
In addition to responding to residential fires, vehicle crashes and medical emergencies in the tribe's 40-square-mile community, the department also serves as a first responder along 32 miles of State Route 87, the Beeline Highway, from Fort McDowell Road to milepost 219 at Sunflower. The department also serves nearby Goldfield Ranch, a community of small ranches and retreats on the reservation's eastern border.
And, as Smith said, Fort McDowell has been involved in battling wildfires along the Beeline, in the desert surrounding their lands and closer to home over the past several years.
"Last year, when the Adams Fire torched 30,000 acres, we and the BIA worked on the northeastern corner of the nation," he said, "and the base camp was set up at the casino."
The tribal fire department is part of a statewide coalition of tribal, state and federal agencies that collaborate to battle wildfires in the state.
Although Arizona is still a bit behind the times in intergovernmental cooperation on wildfire mitigation and prevention, tribal fire departments and wildland fire units work well with their non-Native counterparts in planning and executing plans to fight fires.
Still, just one Arizona tribe currently has an active partnership with the U.S. Forest Service on cooperative land stewardship to address fire risk.
But a recent directive from Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and a bipartisan bill making its way through Congress may provide a new path for interagency fire prevention and mitigation partnerships in Arizona and across the West.
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California is moving toward more intergovernmental partnerships, including wildfire resilience grants from Cal Fire, the state's forestry and fire agency, and a new state law that authorizes agreements with tribes and the California Natural Resources Agency for cultural burning activities.
Robin Bellows, program manager for Cal Fire's Tribal Wildfire Resilience Grant program, said some tribal communities in the state are among the most vulnerable to wildfire because of their remote locations.
However, she said, "Some tribal communities have some of the biggest opportunities for having been fire stewards and land managers for generations."
The Karuk Tribe, which has been at the forefront of returning fire to the lands, was the first tribe to enter into a stewardship agreement with the state in February.
'Our ancestors' relationship with fire is sacred intergenerational knowledge passed down since time immemorial," said Karuk Chairman Russell "Buster" Attebery. 'This victory acknowledges our true sovereignty and supports us in protecting our lands, just as our ancestors did."
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While California increases its prevention and mitigation partnerships with tribes, Arizona isn't quite there yet, says one wildland fire expert.
That's because wildfire management on tribal lands is led by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, said Jonathan Martin, director of Native American forest and rangeland management programming at Northern Arizona University.
"Fighting fires is a huge expense, and tribes haven't been able to create their own programs so they just have to stay in compliance with established federal ordinances," he said. They're linked into agency-level partnerships to fight fire.
Funding from the BIA is earmarked for risk reduction, not cultural preservation, Martin said. That leaves tribes wishing to conduct cultural fire without complying with federal regulations in a quandary, he said, because of how the government structures wildland fire qualifications and maintenance.
"Tribes are almost forced to rely on the BIA and the feds," he said.
A program at NAU is aiming to close the training and workforce development gap. The Arizona Wildfire Initiative supports wildland fire education, workforce development and other aspects of wildfire as a source for tribal fire practitioners and students. The initiative supports Indigenous students, organizations, professionals and tribal nations, as well as partners with federal agencies that serve tribes.
Martin noted one key partnership, the only one of its type in the state: a landscape restoration project between the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the three national forests their tribal lands border.
The project, announced in 2023 and authorized under the Tribal Forest Protection Act, involves the tribe working with Apache-Sitgreaves, Coronado and Tonto national forests, the Arizona Game and Fish and Forestry and Fire Management departments, Salt River Project and a group of nonprofits to reintroduce wildland fire into fire-adapted ecosystems like Arizona's Ponderosa pine forest in a culturally sensitive way.
The partnership, which runs through 2027, will also showcase cultural forest products, medicinal plants, firewood and culturally significant food sources like acorns, berries and wildlife. And the project will also protect and sustain clean water supplies.
"Suppression isn't their first goal," Martin said. "Their first goal is land use."
He also pointed to the recent change in leadership at the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management. State Forester Tom Torres is the former deputy supervisor of Tonto National Forest.
While not specifically addressing the progress of the San Carlos Apache Tribe's program, the Forest Service said that it is working to reduce the risk of destructive wildfire and to restore fire to fire-adapted ecosystems.
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Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins issued a policy memo April 3 to address the ongoing issue of lands at risk of deadly wildland fires and declining forest health. She called for "immediate action ... to mitigate risk, protect public health and safety and critical infrastructure, support local and rural economies, and mitigate threats to natural resources on National Forest Service lands."
Rollins's policy statement also seems to smooth the way for increased tribal partnerships with the Forest Service, states and local partners: "Many States and Tribes have Forest Action Plans that prioritize critical treatment needs, and this memo directs the Forest Service to work with States and Tribes to also prioritize these areas and projects."
Martin said the memo's directive to enter into agreements with tribes was surprising.
"I thought that with the change in administration, the drive to enter into agreements with tribes would go away," he said, "but it's emphasized."
Congress is also addressing forest health and wildland fire reduction. The bipartisan Fix our Forests Act would designate high risk firesheds to be aggressively managed, establish an interagency fireshed center to assess and predict fire probabilities, and direct other efforts to reduce wildfire. And it would support reducing wildfire risks in communities, watershed protection and restoration, advancing wildfire technology and assist wildland firefighters and their families.
Although environmentalists largely oppose the bill because it waives most environmental reviews under NEPA and the National Historic Protection Act and allows more logging on public lands, many Democratic representatives signed onto the bill, which passed the House in March.
The Arizona Wildlife Federation backs the bill, and many other environmental groups support the Senate version, according to a news release by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California.
The Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission, established in 2021, is also still in operation. The commission's job is to form federal policy recommendations and strategies on ways to better prevent, manage, suppress and recover from wildland fires. The commission also makes recommendations for aerial firefighting equipment needs.
In March, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced permanent pay increases for both federal and tribal wildland firefighters across the United States.
'These firefighters endure extreme conditions and grueling work to safeguard our homes, businesses, and natural resources," he said. "This permanent pay increase ensures they are fairly compensated for their sacrifices and strengthens our ability to recruit and retain top-tier talent in this essential profession."
Smith said his small department leverages its capacity by strategic partnerships, including with Fountain Hills. "We do all our training with each other," he said. Fort McDowell recently held a joint wildland fire exercise with the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, its closest tribal neighbor.
Fort McDowell meets with Payson's fire department on wildland issues as well.
Smith arranged for the enhanced mutual aid communications system when he became fire chief in 2022. The department used to have to call Rural Metro's tactical center to call to get assistance from other fire units, he said. "Sometimes we'd have people holding two different phones to work through the mutual aid process," especially when on the scene of an incident.
But Smith, who came from Glendale, had a better solution: join an enhanced mutual aid system. "We pushed to get added to Mesa's system because we had a good relationship with them," he said.
Fort McDowell also joined a regional wireless cooperative to further improve fast communications between first responders in the east and southeast metro area.
And recently, Smith said, tribal fire departments met with state, BIA and Forest Service crews to discuss this year's fire season and interagency cooperation during fires.
Smith was particularly proud of Fort McDowell's latest acquisition: a 3,500-gallon water tender. The truck belongs to Goldfield Ranch's fire district, he said, but "We can use it any way we want."
Debra Krol reports on Indigenous communities at the confluence of climate, culture and commerce in Arizona and the Intermountain West. Reach Krol at [e-mail]. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @debkrol.
Coverage of Indigenous issues at the intersection of climate, culture and commerce is supported by the Catena Foundation.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Fort McDowell Fire Department battles wildfires in Arizona