Fire In Our DNA with Elizabeth Azzuz and Margo Robbins

Good Fire Podcast by Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew KristoffStories of Indigenous fire stewardship, cultural and social empowerment, and environmental integrityFire In Our DNA with Elizabeth Azzuz and Margo RobbinsEpisode highlightIn this episode, Elizabeth Azzuz and Margo Robbins talk about restoring cultural fire in their tribal territory and across the world.ResourcesCultural Fire Management CouncilElizabeth AzzuzMargo RobbinsThe California Endowment: Building Healthy CommunitiesIndigenous Peoples Burning Networkhttps://www.elementalfilm.com/“Firelighters: Fire is Medicine” movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AskCYsXWKpA&t=1sSponsorsCanada WildfireIndigenous Leadership InitiativeQuotes05.06 - 5.27: “Fire has an amazing effect on not just the land and the health of the land and the resources that it produces but it is in fact a way to bring health back to our communities.” 05.57 - 06.07: “Fire is one of the ways to reconnect us to the land around us and our ancestors and our cultural lifeways.” 19.00 - 19.05: “It seems like, oftentimes, women are the movers and shakers in the community.” TakeawaysMeet Elizabeth Azzuz (1.45)Elizabeth Azzuz is a Yurok Tribe member, a descendent of the Karuk Tribe and has ties to the Metis Nation as well. She began burning at age 4 when her grandfather decided to teach her after watching her play with matches. She’s always loved what fire can do to restore the environment and provide food, medicine and basket materials. She takes great joy in training younger generations to carry this knowledge forward. Meet Margo Robbins (02.57)Margo Robbins is the executive director of Cultural Fire Management Council (CFMC) and is a member of the Yurok Tribe. As a basket weaver, she saw the tradition dying out because of regulations preventing cultural burning on their land, which is required to reproduce new single shoots of hazel needed for weaving the frames of baskets. She was about to become a grandmother and wanted her grandchildren to be carried in traditional baskets. So, she conveyed this to The California Endowment.Loss of cultural identity (04.32)As a CFMC cofounder, Margo realized that many young Indigenous people are losing their connection to their identity as Yurok people, which manifests in unhealthy behaviours like using drugs and alcohol. She emphasizes that working with fire is in their DNA as a people and their true calling. Before working in fire, she worked in the school system and used to include information on fire in her lessons as well. Now her focus is on restoring the land and helping other tribal people reclaim their fire traditions as well.“We didn’t take no for an answer” (07.44)Margo marvels at how the fire-creation stories of many different tribes have a l