For generations, Aboriginal Martu people in the northwestern deserts of Australia managed their ancestral lands and shaped their landscapes using fire. Burning small, frequent and low-intensity fires in diverse fire patterns, they promoted the growth of an array of species in what is often called “pyrodiversity.” While research is still mixed on whether pyrodiversity helps promote biodiversity, a recent study found evidence that pyrodiversity practices under active Indigenous stewardship can do so, drawing a reference from findings in Martu communities. These fire practices, also known as cultural burning, first began as a First Nations practice to improve the health of the land and their people. For more than 60,000 years, communities used it to manage land, plants and animals and also to hunt. According to traditional beliefs, there was a time when the Martu people didn’t have fire. It was always spotted in the distance, but when the Martu would hurry to reach it, they found nothing. “The blue-tongued lizard would hide the fire from them and they’d be cold,” Kirriwirri (Mac Gardner), a Martu elder, explained in a documentary, “but the chicken hawk stole it away and gave it to the Martu who became warm, full and fat. And so Martu life with fire begins.” Since then, Martu people, the traditional owners still stewarding this vast arid landscape, held on to their ancient fire knowledge and experience, which included knowledge of the intensity, extent and placement of fires. Their land ranges from patches that are recently burnt to those…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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