With California wildfires becoming a seasonal inevitability, we turn our Indigenous Technologies series to the question of fire ecologies. Join us for a conversation on indigenous fire management and land practices with two indigenous ecologists. We’ll hear from Margo Robbins, cofounder and president of the Cultural Fire Management Council, and Valentin Lopez, chair of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and president of the Amah Mutsun Land Trust.

Robbins is one of the key planners and organizers of the biannual Cultural Burn Training Exchange (TREX) that takes place on the Yurok Reservation and a co-lead and advisor for the Indigenous People’s Burn Network. She comes from the traditional Yurok village of Morek and is an enrolled member of the Yurok Tribe. Lopez is a Native American Advisor to the University of California, Office of the President; the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI); and the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology. He is actively involved in efforts to restore tribal indigenous knowledge and ensure Native history is accurately told.

Presented by the Berkeley Center for New Media and the History and Theory of New Media Lecture Series.