Good Fire: An Interview with Indigenous wildfire expert and scientist Dr. Amy Cardinal Christianson
About this episode
Dr. Amy Cardinal Christianson discusses Indigenous fire stewardship and her work in wildfire management.
Dr. Amy Cardinal Christianson is Métis and grew up in Treaty 8 territory (northern Alberta, Canada). Her family was nîhithawîwin (Woodland Cree/ “N”) speaking. Her Métis relations are the Cardinal (Peeaysis Band) and Laboucane (Laboucane Settlement) families. She currently lives near Rocky Mountain House in Treaty 6 (central Alberta). Christianson was formerly a Research Scientist with the Canadian Forest Service (Natural Resources Canada) and an Indigenous Fire Specialist in the National Fire Management Division of Parks Canada. Christianson works with Indigenous Nations across Canada on fire stewardship practices like cultural burning and collaborates with Indigenous peoples from around the world on decolonising land management. She also studies wildfire evacuations and advocates for Indigenous wildland firefighters. She is the co-author of the books, First Nations Wildfire Evacuations: A guide for communities and external agencies, Blazing the Trail: Celebrating Indigenous Fire Stewardship, and Creating a Cultural Burn Pathway. Christianson also cohosts the Good Fire podcast, which looks at Indigenous fire use around the world. She helped create the Thunderbird Collective and…
People in this episode
Host: Mary Anne Ivison
Guest: Dr. Amy Cardinal Christianson
Topics covered
- Indigenous fire stewardship
- wildfire management
- cultural burning
- land management
- Indigenous relations
Keywords
- wildfire
- Indigenous
- fire stewardship
- cultural burning
- land management
- evacuations
- firefighters
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Canadian Forest Service, Parks Canada, Thunderbird Collective, International Association of Wildland Fire, Natural Hazards Research Australia
Places: Treaty 8 territory, Treaty 6, Rocky Mountain House, northern Alberta, Canada, central Alberta
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