A PG&E representative presented a $100,000 Big Check to Russell Attebery, Karuk Tribal Chair, earlier today. Photo: Karuk Tribe.

From the Karuk Tribe:

Today Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) will award the Karuk Tribe $100,000 to develop a plan for addressing infrastructure needs and community protections necessary for the implementation of prescribed burns in eastern Humboldt County. The award will be presented to Karuk Chairman Russell ‘Buster’ Attebery at the Blue Lake Casino’s Sapphire Place Event Center located at 428 Chartin Road, Blue Lake, CA 95525 at 1 pm.

The Karuk Tribe is one of two recipients of PG&E’s Better Together Resilient Communities grants – a program created to support local initiatives to build greater climate resilience throughout Northern and Central California.

“We have used fire as a management tool since the beginning of time,” notes Karuk Ecocultural Revitalization Director Bill Tripp, “but in recent decades, the Forest Service has suppressed nearly all fire activity with disastrous results. Now our traditional knowledge is informing a new approach to forest management that uses fire to reduce fuel loads, improve watershed health, and reduce the risk of catastrophic fires. We welcome PG&E as a partner in this effort.”

The goals of the Karuk project include:

Identifying areas for prescribed burns as part of the Tribe’s Climate Adaptation Plan.

Promoting community resilience to wildfires and climate change at both regional and community levels.

Strengthening the region’s capacity to respond to wildfires in support of local communities in the Mid-Klamath River Basin.

This year’s fire season highlights the need for such programs as well as the value of prescribed fire projects like those the Karuk advocate.