About the WVFC
The Willamette Valley Fire Collaboration (WVFC) centers Indigenous peoples in building regional fire capacity and is dedicated to uplifting native fire stewards on their homelands. The program exists to serve communities across a shared, fire-adapted landscape in carrying out prescribed and cultural fire and all other actions required to prepare for and maintain a healthy relationship with fire in our communities. Fire has an intrinsic relationship with place and is a vital part of ongoing stewardship.
Why Prescribed Fire?
Ecological burning in the Willamette Valley plays a vital role in restoring native prairie, oak savanna, and woodland habitats. Many native plants are adapted to an intermittent, low-intensity fire return interval that maintains open landscape. Without fire, these plants are often shaded out by other native and non-native woody shrubs and trees that also compete for soil nutrients and water.
Seasonal round lifeways of Kalapuyans included the use of fire to benefit the growth of first foods and plants used in basket making and to clear vegetation, add nutrients to the soil, and reduce pest populations. The return of pyroculture to landscapes from which it has been remove is an important part of an ongoing decolonization process and repair in the stewardship of our local landscapes.
Funding
We are a fully grant-funded program powered by our community. We have been generously funded by:
- Oregon Conservation Corps
- McKenzie River Trust
- Long Tom Watershed Council
- Upper Willamette Soil & Water Conservation District
- Coast Fork Willamette Watershed Council
… and others. We are always looking to cultivate connections that support our work!
Partners
WVFC works closely with The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, other area Tribes, and over 30 regional partners to uplift Indigenous people who are reclaiming their rightful role as managers of their homelands. We focus on women and two-spirit individuals, who are most underrepresented in fire professions. In our first year, WVFC hosted seven Indigenous people in year-long workforce training and ecocultural crew member positions and helped ~30 Tribal members reconnect with fire and cultural burning. In 2022, we worked with regional partners to burn 675 acres, 150 of which were led by the WVFC. In our second year, even with early rain conditions, we burned 350 acres with the help of partners and volunteers. In a landscape of more than two million fire-adapted acres, we are the only dedicated prescribed and cultural burn program in the region.
(541) 305-3918
