Fellow Story

Melinda Adams podcast: When Fire Speaks: Traditional Ecological Practices in Action

Melinda Adams recently spoke to the Climify podcast about the value of a place-specific, Indigenous-led stewardship approach to burns.They summarize:

“How do we learn from the land and its lineage?

In this special bridge episode, Dr. Melinda Adams—Indigenous scholar, ecologist, and cultural fire practitioner—explores how place-specific, Indigenous-led practices are the key to stewarding and restoring our shared lands. Dismantling the rhetoric of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), Adams teaches a more actionable approach to controlled burning—Humble Fire—that reframes fire as a “more-than-human relative,” from which we must actively listen and learn. This “storytelling on the land” calls us to defer to Indigenous ways of being in our interventions and return to the land, assessing how our ancestor responds and applying what we learn to ensure our collective future.”

Learn more and listen to the podcast here.