Tribally Led Forest Stewardship in the Ancestral Lands of the Northern Paiute Gidutikad Band, Modoc County, California

Published November 14, 2025

Lomakatsi is honored to continue our long-term partnership with the Northern Paiute Gidutikad Band of the Fort Bidwell Indian Tribe to promote forest health and reduce hazardous fuels. The goal is to create a more fire-resilient landscape across the Tribe’s 3,500-acre Reservation and adjacent public lands within their ancestral area in Modoc County, CA.

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We’re working together to finalize and update the Tribe’s Forest Management Plan, which prioritizes long-term ecological forestry and sustainable timber management, wildlife habitat enhancement, and wildfire risk reduction to protect both the ecosystem and the communities on tribal lands and within the nearby town of Fort Bidwell.

Over the summer, tribal corpsmembers conducted survey work across 2,800 acres through Lomakatsi’s Regional Indian Youth Service Corps Program. Into the fall, under the direction of the Tribe and in collaboration with tribal cultural resource specialists and Native-X, Inc. Archaeological Services, tribal members received training in conducting the cultural and heritage surveys required before restoration work can begin.

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In September, 31 members of Lomakatsi’s inter-tribal and Rogue Valley-based crews completed fuels reduction and ecological forestry treatments across 56 acres in three surveyed units. They also accomplished fuels treatments along 8 miles of forest roads to support access in the event of a wildfire and for use as anchor points for future prescribed burns. These treatments included ecological thinning with chainsaws, hand piling, and clearing woody shrubs (check out the photos!).

We extend our gratitude to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for supporting this important work through an Indian Youth Service Corps grant award, the USFWS Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program for funding the cultural surveys, and the Sierra Nevada Conservancy for supporting fuels treatments in partnership with the Modoc Resource Conservation District.

#NativeAmericanHeritageMonth #tribalworkforce #ecologicalrestoration