Prescribed Burn Program Best Practices For Southern Michigan: From Indigenous Partnerships to Communication & Burn Plans

Abstract

Prescribed burning is an important tool for managing diverse landscapes to meet site goals. For a land stewardship organization to establish or update a comprehensive burn program, they must respectfully acknowledge and incorporate the long and complex Indigenous history associated with fire, build successful partnerships and community engagement, and employ best available fire science in planning prescribed burns. Gathering and applying all of the relevant information, processes, and protocols can be a major challenge, especially for organizations with limited resources and capacity. Working together with the Southeast Michigan Land Conservancy (SMLC), we address these needs for a broader audience of southern Michigan land stewards. Specifically, we synthesized a variety of sources and perspectives to provide: 1) A deep understanding not just of fire history in Southern Michigan, but also of the culture, rights, knowledges, and histories of the Anishinaabeg in order to build respectful and informed fire reintroduction partnerships. 2) Guidance and recommendations to engage, communicate, and build trust with a variety of stakeholders, partners, and rights holders. 3) Materials and recommendations to develop an effective and informed Burn Plan, best available information on invasive species, and approaches to increase pyrodiversity. Together, these resources can increase the capacity of any entity to improve or develop their burn program. UNDERSTANDING ANISHINAABE CULTURES AND THEIR HISTORICAL AND CONTINUED FIRE PRACTICES To better educate local practitioners on fire ecology and Tribal entities, we reviewed three main fields: 1) the history of fire use within Southern Michigan, 2) Tribal societal structure and dynamics, and 3) the history of Tribes during European settlement. These three areas of focus provide a framework for establishing partnerships with neighboring Indigenous Tribes that is grounded in a deep understanding of cultural fire, Tribal diversity, Traditional knowledge and Tribal sovereignty. By providing an Infographic and Fire Acknowledgement, both informed by our review, we are establishing stepping stones to repair relationships and move towards a more inclusive return of fire to the landscape. COMMUNICATION AND ENGAGEMENT PLANNING FOR FIRE MANAGERS To fill the gaps in communication and engagement planning for building a prescribed burn program, we created the foundation for establishing a robust communication plan. Specifically, we provide guidance on how to increase public support for burning, pathways to build trust for successful partnerships, and strategies to engage with community, pathways to build trust for successful partnerships, and strategies to engage with community, stakeholder, and rightsholder groups to support a fire program. Throughout, we share a variety of tools for communication and engagement, including communication and notification plan checklists, a community survey case study, and an educational StoryMap, all of which will serve SMLC and other fire management agencies to increase prescribed fire acceptance, implementation, and success. DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE AND INFORMED PRESCRIPTION BURN PLAN To better inform the implementation of prescribed burns, we collaborated with fire practitioners and best available fire science to provide a synthesized Prescription Burn Plan Template and guidance in best burn practices when burning with Species of Concern on site in Southern Michigan. The template is an accessible and innovative planning tool that organizations can customize to small-scale burning and that encapsulates unique features to promote best available fire science and adaptive management. The template also incorporates up-to-date research on incorporating pyrodiversity and burning with animal Species of Concern present. While these resources may be used immediately, we also utilize our entire research throughout the report to provide a guiding framework for land stewardship organizations to move from ad hoc burning to a formalized Burn Program. Our emphasis on moving towards a formalized Burn Program is rooted in the importance of prescribed burning as a long-term, interconnected, and active management tool that is applied on the land in combination with other management strategies for successful restoration and land stewardship.