Bringing back Indigenous-led fire practices and knowledge to restore habitats and preserve wildlife populations is what a Wildland Fire Conference is about. Prince Albert Grand Council and the Muskrats to Moose Project research team are the hosts this week at a fire camp in Cumberland House.

The goal of the M2M research is to co-create knowledge about uses of fire as a tool to rejuvenate the land for the animals it feeds. The researchers have been looking at how burning old grass, trees and shrubs to rejuvenate the land can also bring back the wildlife, with more plentiful food available.

PAGC’s Director of Forestry, Cliff Buettner, says the idea is to bring back this traditional fire practice.  The conference braids cultural burning and western fire science together. Buettner says traditionally the practice would happen in the spring as snow is melting along the shore, before the birds come back to nest.