Wildfire Smoke Mitigation Design for Rural Indigenous Communities in Northern California

Blue Lake Rancheria (BLR) and Karuk Tribe are two federally recognized Native American tribal communities in California. BLR is located in Humboldt county and comprises 100-acres of land in Blue Lake, CA, adjacent to HWY 299. The Karuk Tribe serves a larger community spanning indigenous territory in two counties, Humboldt and Siskiyou. The BLR and Karuk Tribe have been affected by previous wildfire and wildfire smoke events that have caused infrastructure damage and hazardous air quality levels and impacted community members. The tribal governments are undertaking various prevention and mitigation measures to combat the detrimental effects of wildfire and wildfire smoke, including the implementation of indigenous forest management practices, the establishment of clean air shelters, and a household air filter program to protect the most vulnerable. The tribal governments recently partnered with Humboldt State University's Environmental Resources Engineering department to design an improved air quality monitoring program to better prepare and respond to wildfire smoke emergencies and the associated health impacts. In addition, the preliminary design of air filters for clean air shelters and tribal residences was undertaken. The engineering design process used relied on close collaboration between Humboldt State University researchers and engineers and researchers in both tribal governments. This collaboration allowed the indigenous knowledge, perspective, and experience related to forest management and wildfire mitigation to guide the design work. The partnership and the working relationship established between researchers at BLR and Karuk Tribe and Humboldt State during this project has opened up a funded opportunity to do further collaborative work in wildfire mitigation.