By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Growing up in Nlaka\u02bcpamux and syilx territories in the 1970s, Joe Gilchrist can\u2019t remember a single summer when wildfire smoke ever trapped him indoors. The Merritt, B.C., region\u2019s semi-arid landscape still saw scorching summer temperatures back then, he recalled, but not the record-breaking fire seasons of recent years. \u201cThat was thanks to our work that the Indigenous ancestors did on the land,\u201d said Gilchrist, a Secw\u00e9pemc Nation member who now lives on Skeetchsn Indian Band\u2019s reserve with his daughter. \u201cThen, everything was still fairly spaced out; the fires were easier to handle.\u201d Although settlers\u2019 wildfire suppression efforts had become the dominant form of land stewardship when he was young, Indigenous communities in the Nicola Valley were still using fire to \u201ccleanse\u201d the… <\/p>\n
By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Growing up in Nlaka\u02bcpamux and syilx territories in the 1970s, Joe Gilchrist can\u2019t remember a single summer when wildfire smoke ever trapped him indoors. The Merritt, B.C., region\u2019s semi-arid landscape still saw scorching summer temperatures back then, he recalled, but not the record-breaking fire seasons of recent years. \u201cThat was thanks to our work that the Indigenous ancestors did on the land,\u201d said Gilchrist, a Secw\u00e9pemc Nation member who now lives on Skeetchsn Indian Band\u2019s reserve with his daughter. \u201cThen, everything was still fairly spaced out; the fires were easier to handle.\u201d Although settlers\u2019 wildfire suppression efforts had become the dominant form of land stewardship when he was young, Indigenous communities in the Nicola Valley were still using fire to \u201ccleanse\u201d the... <\/p>\n