Our Fuels Program works diligently to reduce hazardous fuels on Trust Land throughout the Cherokee Nation. Their efforts are aimed at creating fire resilient landscapes and reducing the number of destructive wildland fires on our lands.
The fuels program uses prescribed burns in the form of pile burning and broadcast burning to reduce targeted areas of overgrown vegetation. These prescribed burns reduce fire intensity in the event of wildfires, making suppression much easier and reducing property loss and environmental damage. This keeps fire personnel safer by making our efforts proactive, rather than reactive.
Reserved Treaty Rights Land (RTRL) Program
Our RTRL Program goes hand-in-hand with our Fuels Program. Where our Fuels Program is almost completely limited to Trust lands, the RTRL Program gives us the ability to work with cooperating landowners to help reduce wildfire risks on lands near or adjacent to tribal lands. These landowners are expected to contribute towards the goals set forth in any plans developed for their property.
This program was created on the premise that much of the land in Cherokee Nation’s 14 county jurisdiction has been left untended. This, in addition to the intensive fire suppression policy of the past century, has created overgrown vegetation that causes a very high fire danger. We believe all land within the Cherokee Nation, regardless of who owns it, is culturally valuable and deserves to be protected from invasive species and destructive wildfires.
