Focal Species and Observing Climate Resilience

The Karuk Áraaraha (people) live along the Mid-Klamath River. The combined effects of climate change and 100 years of suppressing wildfires and cultural burns has led to increased frequency of high severity wildfire. As California copes with this new reality, the Karuk Tribe has responded on many levels, including increasing cultural and prescribed burns on the landscape; producing the Karuk Climate Adaptation Plan (KCAP); and monitoring focal species. The KCAP lays out focal species, which are culturally important plant and animal indicators, and we monitor these through Agroecosystem Climate Assessment plots that combine Western science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK).