Interviews
Tribal Elders and Fire Managers Talk about Traditional Burning
and Wildland Fire
Tony Incashola
Antoine “Tony” Incashola
Antoine “Tony” Incashola has served as Director of the Salish-Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee since 1995. Before that, he served as Assistant Director and in other capacities since the establishment of the Culture Committee in 1975. As Director, he oversees all Culture Committee operations, from the production of books to language work, from archiving oral histories, photos, and songs to the holding of ceremonial events and wakes in the tribal Longhouse.
Mr. Incashola speaks on the Tribe’s behalf at numerous public events throughout Montana and the nation, and served as the first Native American to open a session of Congress with a prayer.
He is a veteran of the Vietnam War and a former Tribal Council member. A fluent Salish speaker, Mr. Incashola is the nephew of Pete Beaverhead, and was raised in part by his grandparents, Polassie Incashola and Agnes Woodcock Incashola, in St. Ignatius, where he still lives today.
Click on a question below to to hear Tony Incashola talk about fire and its traditional use by the Salish and Pend d'Oreille people.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- How was fire used by the Salish as part of their traditional way of life, and what happens culturally when fires are no longer allowed to burn?
- How was fire used in the places your family camped when you were growing up?
- You have said your grandmother burned your family's camp area by the river to rid it of snakes and other pests. Is that right?
- In traditional times, was there a leader in charge of fire?
- What are some of the places where people used fire on the land?
- What has been the consequence of excluding fire?
- Are there place names in our aboriginal territory that refer to fire or the relationship between people and fire?
- Do the place names used for millenia still describe those places?
- How much have these places changed from the way they were in the times of our ancestors?
- Can you talk specifically about how areas have changed because of the lack of fire? What have the elders said?
- From a cultural standpoint, can you say why elders are concerned about the absence of fire?
- How was fire used in warfare during traditional times?
- How was fire used in hunting during traditional times?
- In what other ways was fire used?
- Was fire important socially?
- Was fire or smoke used to communicate?
- How was smoke or fire used for signalling?
- Do you recall your grandparents or your parents talking about the Catholic conception of fire, and how did that affect the Tribal view?
- What role do you think the elders should play in fire management and the reintroduction of fire to the land?
- What advice do you have for land managers as they think about and plan for the reintroduction of fire?
- Is fire important to the Tribe's spirituality?
- Can you talk more about why fire is important to the spiritual life of Tribal people?
- Why is fire preceived as an enemy by so many people?
Harriet Witworth &
Felicite McDonald
Harriet Whitworth and Felicite "Jim" McDonald
Harriet Adams Whitworth, or Alye, (1918-2008) was a revered Salish elder from the Valley Creek-Arlee area. As a girl, Harriet learned much from her yaya or maternal grandmother, Mary Kaltomee or Sackwoman (1845-1957). She had one son from an earlier marriage, and then was married to Fred Whitworth until his death in 2000. They had six children together. For many years, Fred worked as a guide in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, and Harriet worked as a cook on those trips. She also taught Salish in the Arlee grade school. In the 1980s and 90s, she worked as an elder advisor for the Salish-Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee.
Felicite “Jim” Sapiel Pierre McDonald (1922-2017) was a Salish elder and the Senior Translator/Advisor for the Salish-Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee. She is called "Jim" after her paternal grandfather, “Bitterroot Jim” Sapiel, who was married to Ann Calasco. Jim was raised in the Arlee area and grew up in the traditional way, gathering all the seasonal plants and going on hunting trips in the fall, when her family and others would pack over the mountains to the Seeley Lake area. She was a leader in all Salish cultural activities, from language camps to bitterroot ceremonies, from jump dances to powwows. Her beadwork and buckskin clothing are seen at every tribal cultural event. She married Louie McDonald in 1941, and together they raised twelve children.
Tony Incashola asks the questions, and his voice is also heard in this interview.
Click on a question below to to hear to hear Harriet Whitworth or Felcite McDonald talk about fire and its traditional use by Salish and Pend d' Oreille people.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- Introduction by Tony Incashola.
- In what ways did the People use fire?
- Where were the fall hunting places that you know had been burned?
- Can you think of other places in the mountains that were burned, and what changes have occurred after 100 years of being forbidden to burn?
- Can you give an example of how the burning was done?
- Is the Bob Marshall more grown over now than when you were younger?
- Did anyone put the fires out in the old days?
- If they are going to burn again, what do you think would be the best way to do it?
- So opening the woods and burning will help the deer and elk?
- What do you remember about the animal herds from when you were younger?
Michael Durglo Sr.
Michael Louis Durglo, Sr.
Michael Louis Durglo, Sr. (1935-2015) was a Pend d’Oreille elder, raised in the traditional way along the lower Flathead River, and an active member of the Salish-Pend d’Oreille Cultural Elders Advisory Council. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War. Until 2001, he was retired, having worked for over 30 years for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, primarily as a surveyor. He came out of retirement to work as a cartographer for the Tribes’ Indigenous Mapping Project, in which capacity he painstakingly created Salish-language maps of the entire aboriginal territory.
Click on a question below to to hear Michael Durglo talk about fire and its traditional use by Salish people.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- How was fire used by the Salish as part of their traditional way of life?
- What were some of the other uses of fire as a tool?
- How did they know when to burn, and how was the knowledge passed on?
- Can managers today use the same methods to reintroduce fire?
- How have landscapes changed since you were young because of the absence of fire?
- Can you talk more about the difference in attitudes toward fire among land managers today versus that of Indian people, especially in the past?
- What kinds of plants and other things have disappeared because of the lack of fire?
- Do you know of areas that were burned periodically when you were growing up?
Louie Adams
Louie Adams
Louis Adams (1933-2016) was a Salish elder who, in addition to a 35-year career in forestry, served on the Tribal Council for 28 years. He was looked to on the reservation as one of the keepers of the culture and has a degree in cultural preservation from Salish Kootenai College.
Louie said “I spent most of my life on the reservation, also a lot of time in the mountains of Valley Creek, Jocko, and Placid. I also spent some time in my early years in the Bob Marshall country, with many of the old ones that are all gone. My "evening" years are being spent helping anyone requesting help on language, history, traditions, culture, whatever I can remember.”
Click on any one of the questions below to hear Louie Adams talk about fire and its traditional use by Salish people.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- How was fire used by the Salish as part of their traditional way of life?
- When you were growing up, what was the last time you heard of someone using fire in a traditional way?
- What was lost when they put an end to traditional burning?
- You work in forestry. What kinds of changes have you seenin logs compared with when you were younger?
- In your forestry work, do you see evidence of past fires?
- Why is fire so important?
- Did the concept of fire change because of the teachings of the church and its association of fire with hell?
- Are there plants that are now gone because of fire exclusion?
- Have you been to traditional camping areas that havebecome overgrown because of fire exclusion?
Eneas Vanderburg
Eneas Vanderburg
Eneas Vanderburg (1927-2019) was a Salish elder, the grandson of Victor Vanderburg, son of Jerome & Agnes Vanderburg, and elder brother of Joe Vanderburg (see above). Born during a family hunting trip at Seeley Lake, he served in the Army during World War II. He lived at Valley Creek, near Arlee.
Click on any one of the questions below to hear Mr. Durglo talk about fire and its traditional use by Salish people.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- How was fire used in traditional times and how does that contrast with today?
- Why was the burning done?
- What happens now when there is a lightning fire?
- How was fire transported from place to place during traditional times so it could be used as a tool for burning different areas?
- Do you have memories from your childhood about using fire as a tool?
Tony Harwood
Tony Harwood
Tony Harwood is the Fire Management Officer (FMO) and Program Manager of the Wildland Fire Program for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe of the Flathead Reservation. In this capacity he oversees all fire management activities from prescribed burning to wildfire suppression to rehabilitation of lands after a wildfire fire, to public education. Tony grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation but has been working on the Flathead Reserevation since the 1970s.
Click on any one of the questions below to hear Mr. Harwood talk about fire management on the Flathead Reservation.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- How large an influence did traditional burning by Salish and Kootenai people have on the frequency of fire in this area of the Northern Rockies?
- On the Reservation, most people live at lower elevations and on the valley floor. What role does fire play there, and how do you manage fire in that zone?
- What has the consequence of fire exclusion been in the Northern Rockies?
- Can you talk more about the consequences of excluding and suppressing fires for one hundred years or longer?
- What have been some of the ecological consequences of eliminating the role of fire in terms of species (both trees and wildlife) and forest disease?
- How is the Fire Management Program here on the Reservation responding to the consequences of 100 years of fire exclusion?
Ron Swaney
Ron Swaney
Ron Swaney is the Prescribed Fire/Fuels Officer for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation. As such, he plans and implements fuels treatments on the Reservation, using either mechanical means or prescribed fire. Fuels treatments are done for timber stand improvement purposes, to restore fire-dependent ecosystems, to reduce the threat of wildfire to homesor communities, or to improve wildlife habitat for elk, grizzly bear, and other species dependent on fire.
Click on any one of the questions below to hear Mr. Swaney talk about prescribed fire on the Flathead Reservation.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- What is your job here on the Flathead Reservation?
- What is a "prescribed fire?"
- How much prescribed burning do you do each year here?
- When do you do most of your prescribed burning?
- What kinds of areas do you burn with prescribed fires?
- What are some of the benefits you expect to see from prescribed fire?
- Does huckleberry benefit from prescribed fire?
- Does camas benefit from prescribed fire?
- Does aspen benefit from prescribed fire?
- What about big game species? Do they benefit?
- What is your view on the value of prescribed fire as a management tool?
- How large of an impact did traditional Tribal burning have?
Bob McCrea
Bob McCrea
Bob McCrea is the Wildland Fire Operations Specialist. He is in charge of the dispatch of the wildland fire crews and helitack (the helicopters used in fire suppression). He has been fighting fires for 35 years. Bob's family has a history with fire fighting. His father was in forestry and fought fires. Bob got involved when he turned 18 as a smokejumper out of Missoula. Then he came back to work for the tribe. Now his kids are also fighting fire so there are at least three generations of firefighters in his family.
Click on any one of the questions to hear Mr. McCrea talk about prescribed fire on the Flathead Reservation.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- 1 What is your job here?
- 2 Why do we sometimes prescribe fire and other times suppress it?
- 3 What is the fire suppression policy for the Tribal Wilderness?
- 4 Can you ever let a fire burn in the wilderness?
- 5 A lot of people live in the foothills. How does that affect management?
- 6 What is your advice to people who live in the Wildland-Urban Interface?
- 7 Are there dangers associated with reintroducing fire?
- 8 Do you have any words of caution about fire to recreationists?
- 9 Fighting fires is often a multi-generational occupation on the Reservation. Is this true of your family?
- 10 Why do you think firefighting is such an important and common occupation on this and other reservations?
Interviews
Tribal Elders and Fire Managers Talk about Traditional
Burning and Wildland Fire
Tony Incashola
Antoine “Tony” Incashola
Antoine “Tony” Incashola has served as Director of the Salish-Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee since 1995. Before that, he served as Assistant Director and in other capacities since the establishment of the Culture Committee in 1975. As Director, he oversees all Culture Committee operations, from the production of books to language work, from archiving oral histories, photos, and songs to the holding of ceremonial events and wakes in the tribal Longhouse.
Mr. Incashola speaks on the Tribe’s behalf at numerous public events throughout Montana and the nation, and served as the first Native American to open a session of Congress with a prayer.
He is a veteran of the Vietnam War and a former Tribal Council member. A fluent Salish speaker, Mr. Incashola is the nephew of Pete Beaverhead, and was raised in part by his grandparents, Polassie Incashola and Agnes Woodcock Incashola, in St. Ignatius, where he still lives today.
Click on a question below to to hear Tony Incashola talk about fire and its traditional use by the Salish and Pend d'Oreille people.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- How was fire used by the Salish as part of their traditional way of life, and what happens culturally when fires are no longer allowed to burn?
- How was fire used in the places your family camped when you were growing up?
- You have said your grandmother burned your family's camp area by the river to rid it of snakes and other pests. Is that right?
- In traditional times, was there a leader in charge of fire?
- What are some of the places where people used fire on the land?
- What has been the consequence of excluding fire?
- Are there place names in our aboriginal territory that refer to fire or the relationship between people and fire?
- Do the place names used for millenia still describe those places?
- How much have these places changed from the way they were in the times of our ancestors?
- Can you talk specifically about how areas have changed because of the lack of fire? What have the elders said?
- From a cultural standpoint, can you say why elders are concerned about the absence of fire?
- How was fire used in warfare during traditional times?
- How was fire used in hunting during traditional times?
- In what other ways was fire used?
- Was fire important socially?
- Was fire or smoke used to communicate?
- How was smoke or fire used for signalling?
- Do you recall your grandparents or your parents talking about the Catholic conception of fire, and how did that affect the Tribal view?
- What role do you think the elders should play in fire management and the reintroduction of fire to the land?
- What advice do you have for land managers as they think about and plan for the reintroduction of fire?
- Is fire important to the Tribe's spirituality?
- Can you talk more about why fire is important to the spiritual life of Tribal people?
- Why is fire preceived as an enemy by so many people?
Harriet Witworth &
Felicite McDonald
Harriet Whitworth and Felicite "Jim" McDonald
Harriet Adams Whitworth, or Alye, (1918-2008) was a revered Salish elder from the Valley Creek-Arlee area. As a girl, Harriet learned much from her yaya or maternal grandmother, Mary Kaltomee or Sackwoman (1845-1957). She had one son from an earlier marriage, and then was married to Fred Whitworth until his death in 2000. They had six children together. For many years, Fred worked as a guide in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, and Harriet worked as a cook on those trips. She also taught Salish in the Arlee grade school. In the 1980s and 90s, she worked as an elder advisor for the Salish-Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee.
Felicite “Jim” Sapiel Pierre McDonald (1922-2017) was a Salish elder and the Senior Translator/Advisor for the Salish-Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee. She is called "Jim" after her paternal grandfather, “Bitterroot Jim” Sapiel, who was married to Ann Calasco. Jim was raised in the Arlee area and grew up in the traditional way, gathering all the seasonal plants and going on hunting trips in the fall, when her family and others would pack over the mountains to the Seeley Lake area. She was a leader in all Salish cultural activities, from language camps to bitterroot ceremonies, from jump dances to powwows. Her beadwork and buckskin clothing are seen at every tribal cultural event. She married Louie McDonald in 1941, and together they raised twelve children.
Tony Incashola asks the questions, and his voice is also heard in this interview.
Click on a question below to to hear to hear Harriet Whitworth or Felcite McDonald talk about fire and its traditional use by Salish and Pend d' Oreille people.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- Introduction by Tony Incashola.
- In what ways did the People use fire?
- Where were the fall hunting places that you know had been burned?
- Can you think of other places in the mountains that were burned, and what changes have occurred after 100 years of being forbidden to burn?
- Can you give an example of how the burning was done?
- Is the Bob Marshall more grown over now than when you were younger?
- Did anyone put the fires out in the old days?
- If they are going to burn again, what do you think would be the best way to do it?
- So opening the woods and burning will help the deer and elk?
- What do you remember about the animal herds from when you were younger?
Michael Durglo Sr.
Michael Louis Durglo, Sr.
Michael Louis Durglo, Sr. (1935-2015) was a Pend d’Oreille elder, raised in the traditional way along the lower Flathead River, and an active member of the Salish-Pend d’Oreille Cultural Elders Advisory Council. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War. Until 2001, he was retired, having worked for over 30 years for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, primarily as a surveyor. He came out of retirement to work as a cartographer for the Tribes’ Indigenous Mapping Project, in which capacity he painstakingly created Salish-language maps of the entire aboriginal territory.
Click on a question below to to hear Michael Durglo talk about fire and its traditional use by Salish people.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- How was fire used by the Salish as part of their traditional way of life?
- What were some of the other uses of fire as a tool?
- How did they know when to burn, and how was the knowledge passed on?
- Can managers today use the same methods to reintroduce fire?
- How have landscapes changed since you were young because of the absence of fire?
- Can you talk more about the difference in attitudes toward fire among land managers today versus that of Indian people, especially in the past?
- What kinds of plants and other things have disappeared because of the lack of fire?
- Do you know of areas that were burned periodically when you were growing up?
Louie Adams
Louie Adams
Louis Adams (1933-2016) was a Salish elder who, in addition to a 35-year career in forestry, served on the Tribal Council for 28 years. He was looked to on the reservation as one of the keepers of the culture and has a degree in cultural preservation from Salish Kootenai College.
Louie said “I spent most of my life on the reservation, also a lot of time in the mountains of Valley Creek, Jocko, and Placid. I also spent some time in my early years in the Bob Marshall country, with many of the old ones that are all gone. My "evening" years are being spent helping anyone requesting help on language, history, traditions, culture, whatever I can remember.”
Click on any one of the questions below to hear Louie Adams talk about fire and its traditional use by Salish people.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- How was fire used by the Salish as part of their traditional way of life?
- When you were growing up, what was the last time you heard of someone using fire in a traditional way?
- What was lost when they put an end to traditional burning?
- You work in forestry. What kinds of changes have you seenin logs compared with when you were younger?
- In your forestry work, do you see evidence of past fires?
- Why is fire so important?
- Did the concept of fire change because of the teachings of the church and its association of fire with hell?
- Are there plants that are now gone because of fire exclusion?
- Have you been to traditional camping areas that havebecome overgrown because of fire exclusion?
Eneas Vanderburg
Eneas Vanderburg
Eneas Vanderburg (1927-2019) was a Salish elder, the grandson of Victor Vanderburg, son of Jerome & Agnes Vanderburg, and elder brother of Joe Vanderburg (see above). Born during a family hunting trip at Seeley Lake, he served in the Army during World War II. He lived at Valley Creek, near Arlee.
Click on any one of the questions below to hear Mr. Durglo talk about fire and its traditional use by Salish people.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- How was fire used in traditional times and how does that contrast with today?
- Why was the burning done?
- What happens now when there is a lightning fire?
- How was fire transported from place to place during traditional times so it could be used as a tool for burning different areas?
- Do you have memories from your childhood about using fire as a tool?
Tony Harwood
Tony Harwood
Tony Harwood is the Fire Management Officer (FMO) and Program Manager of the Wildland Fire Program for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe of the Flathead Reservation. In this capacity he oversees all fire management activities from prescribed burning to wildfire suppression to rehabilitation of lands after a wildfire fire, to public education. Tony grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation but has been working on the Flathead Reserevation since the 1970s.
Click on any one of the questions below to hear Mr. Harwood talk about fire management on the Flathead Reservation.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- How large an influence did traditional burning by Salish and Kootenai people have on the frequency of fire in this area of the Northern Rockies?
- On the Reservation, most people live at lower elevations and on the valley floor. What role does fire play there, and how do you manage fire in that zone?
- What has the consequence of fire exclusion been in the Northern Rockies?
- Can you talk more about the consequences of excluding and suppressing fires for one hundred years or longer?
- What have been some of the ecological consequences of eliminating the role of fire in terms of species (both trees and wildlife) and forest disease?
- How is the Fire Management Program here on the Reservation responding to the consequences of 100 years of fire exclusion?
Ron Swaney
Ron Swaney
Ron Swaney is the Prescribed Fire/Fuels Officer for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation. As such, he plans and implements fuels treatments on the Reservation, using either mechanical means or prescribed fire. Fuels treatments are done for timber stand improvement purposes, to restore fire-dependent ecosystems, to reduce the threat of wildfire to homesor communities, or to improve wildlife habitat for elk, grizzly bear, and other species dependent on fire.
Click on any one of the questions below to hear Mr. Swaney talk about prescribed fire on the Flathead Reservation.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- What is your job here on the Flathead Reservation?
- What is a "prescribed fire?"
- How much prescribed burning do you do each year here?
- When do you do most of your prescribed burning?
- What kinds of areas do you burn with prescribed fires?
- What are some of the benefits you expect to see from prescribed fire?
- Does huckleberry benefit from prescribed fire?
- Does camas benefit from prescribed fire?
- Does aspen benefit from prescribed fire?
- What about big game species? Do they benefit?
- What is your view on the value of prescribed fire as a management tool?
- How large of an impact did traditional Tribal burning have?
Bob McCrea
Bob McCrea
Bob McCrea is the Wildland Fire Operations Specialist. He is in charge of the dispatch of the wildland fire crews and helitack (the helicopters used in fire suppression). He has been fighting fires for 35 years. Bob's family has a history with fire fighting. His father was in forestry and fought fires. Bob got involved when he turned 18 as a smokejumper out of Missoula. Then he came back to work for the tribe. Now his kids are also fighting fire so there are at least three generations of firefighters in his family.
Click on any one of the questions to hear Mr. McCrea talk about prescribed fire on the Flathead Reservation.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- 1 What is your job here?
- 2 Why do we sometimes prescribe fire and other times suppress it?
- 3 What is the fire suppression policy for the Tribal Wilderness?
- 4 Can you ever let a fire burn in the wilderness?
- 5 A lot of people live in the foothills. How does that affect management?
- 6 What is your advice to people who live in the Wildland-Urban Interface?
- 7 Are there dangers associated with reintroducing fire?
- 8 Do you have any words of caution about fire to recreationists?
- 9 Fighting fires is often a multi-generational occupation on the Reservation. Is this true of your family?
- 10 Why do you think firefighting is such an important and common occupation on this and other reservations?
Interviews
Tribal Elders and Fire Managers Talk about
Traditional Burning and Wildland Fire
Tony Incashola
Antoine “Tony” Incashola
Antoine “Tony” Incashola has served as Director of the Salish-Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee since 1995. Before that, he served as Assistant Director and in other capacities since the establishment of the Culture Committee in 1975. As Director, he oversees all Culture Committee operations, from the production of books to language work, from archiving oral histories, photos, and songs to the holding of ceremonial events and wakes in the tribal Longhouse.
Mr. Incashola speaks on the Tribe’s behalf at numerous public events throughout Montana and the nation, and served as the first Native American to open a session of Congress with a prayer.
He is a veteran of the Vietnam War and a former Tribal Council member. A fluent Salish speaker, Mr. Incashola is the nephew of Pete Beaverhead, and was raised in part by his grandparents, Polassie Incashola and Agnes Woodcock Incashola, in St. Ignatius, where he still lives today.
Click on a question below to to hear Tony Incashola talk about fire and its traditional use by the Salish and Pend d'Oreille people.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- How was fire used by the Salish as part of their traditional way of life, and what happens culturally when fires are no longer allowed to burn?
- How was fire used in the places your family camped when you were growing up?
- You have said your grandmother burned your family's camp area by the river to rid it of snakes and other pests. Is that right?
- In traditional times, was there a leader in charge of fire?
- What are some of the places where people used fire on the land?
- What has been the consequence of excluding fire?
- Are there place names in our aboriginal territory that refer to fire or the relationship between people and fire?
- Do the place names used for millenia still describe those places?
- How much have these places changed from the way they were in the times of our ancestors?
- Can you talk specifically about how areas have changed because of the lack of fire? What have the elders said?
- From a cultural standpoint, can you say why elders are concerned about the absence of fire?
- How was fire used in warfare during traditional times?
- How was fire used in hunting during traditional times?
- In what other ways was fire used?
- Was fire important socially?
- Was fire or smoke used to communicate?
- How was smoke or fire used for signalling?
- Do you recall your grandparents or your parents talking about the Catholic conception of fire, and how did that affect the Tribal view?
- What role do you think the elders should play in fire management and the reintroduction of fire to the land?
- What advice do you have for land managers as they think about and plan for the reintroduction of fire?
- Is fire important to the Tribe's spirituality?
- Can you talk more about why fire is important to the spiritual life of Tribal people?
- Why is fire preceived as an enemy by so many people?
Harriet Witworth &
Felicite McDonald
Harriet Whitworth and Felicite "Jim" McDonald
Harriet Adams Whitworth, or Alye, (1918-2008) was a revered Salish elder from the Valley Creek-Arlee area. As a girl, Harriet learned much from her yaya or maternal grandmother, Mary Kaltomee or Sackwoman (1845-1957). She had one son from an earlier marriage, and then was married to Fred Whitworth until his death in 2000. They had six children together. For many years, Fred worked as a guide in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, and Harriet worked as a cook on those trips. She also taught Salish in the Arlee grade school. In the 1980s and 90s, she worked as an elder advisor for the Salish-Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee.
Felicite “Jim” Sapiel Pierre McDonald (1922-2017) was a Salish elder and the Senior Translator/Advisor for the Salish-Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee. She is called "Jim" after her paternal grandfather, “Bitterroot Jim” Sapiel, who was married to Ann Calasco. Jim was raised in the Arlee area and grew up in the traditional way, gathering all the seasonal plants and going on hunting trips in the fall, when her family and others would pack over the mountains to the Seeley Lake area. She was a leader in all Salish cultural activities, from language camps to bitterroot ceremonies, from jump dances to powwows. Her beadwork and buckskin clothing are seen at every tribal cultural event. She married Louie McDonald in 1941, and together they raised twelve children.
Tony Incashola asks the questions, and his voice is also heard in this interview.
Click on a question below to to hear to hear Harriet Whitworth or Felcite McDonald talk about fire and its traditional use by Salish and Pend d' Oreille people.
Please be patient, videos may take a moment to load.
Loading . . .
- Introduction by Tony Incashola.
- In what ways did the People use fire?
- Where were the fall hunting places that you know had been burned?
- Can you think of other places in the mountains that were burned, and what changes have occurred after 100 years of being forbidden to burn?
- Can you give an example of how the burning was done?
- Is the Bob Marshall more grown over now than when you were younger?
- Did anyone put the fires out in the old days?
- If they are going to burn again, what do you think would be the best way to do it?
- So opening the woods and burning will help the deer and elk?
- What do you remember about the animal herds from when you were younger?
Michael Durglo Sr.
Michael Louis Durglo, Sr.
Michael Louis Durglo, Sr. (1935-2015) was a Pend d’Oreille elder, raised in the traditional way along the lower Flathead River, and an active member of the Salish-Pend d’Oreille Cultural Elders Advisory Council. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War. Until 2001, he was retired, having worked for over 30 years for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, primarily as a surveyor. He came out of retirement to work as a cartographer for the Tribes’ Indigenous Mapping Project, in which capacity he painstakingly created Salish-language maps of the entire aboriginal territory.
Click on a question below to to hear Michael Durglo talk about fire and its traditional use by Salish people.
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- How was fire used by the Salish as part of their traditional way of life?
- What were some of the other uses of fire as a tool?
- How did they know when to burn, and how was the knowledge passed on?
- Can managers today use the same methods to reintroduce fire?
- How have landscapes changed since you were young because of the absence of fire?
- Can you talk more about the difference in attitudes toward fire among land managers today versus that of Indian people, especially in the past?
- What kinds of plants and other things have disappeared because of the lack of fire?
- Do you know of areas that were burned periodically when you were growing up?
Louie Adams
Louie Adams
Louis Adams (1933-2016) was a Salish elder who, in addition to a 35-year career in forestry, served on the Tribal Council for 28 years. He was looked to on the reservation as one of the keepers of the culture and has a degree in cultural preservation from Salish Kootenai College.
Louie said “I spent most of my life on the reservation, also a lot of time in the mountains of Valley Creek, Jocko, and Placid. I also spent some time in my early years in the Bob Marshall country, with many of the old ones that are all gone. My "evening" years are being spent helping anyone requesting help on language, history, traditions, culture, whatever I can remember.”
Click on any one of the questions below to hear Louie Adams talk about fire and its traditional use by Salish people.
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- How was fire used by the Salish as part of their traditional way of life?
- When you were growing up, what was the last time you heard of someone using fire in a traditional way?
- What was lost when they put an end to traditional burning?
- You work in forestry. What kinds of changes have you seenin logs compared with when you were younger?
- In your forestry work, do you see evidence of past fires?
- Why is fire so important?
- Did the concept of fire change because of the teachings of the church and its association of fire with hell?
- Are there plants that are now gone because of fire exclusion?
- Have you been to traditional camping areas that havebecome overgrown because of fire exclusion?
Eneas Vanderburg
Eneas Vanderburg
Eneas Vanderburg (1927-2019) was a Salish elder, the grandson of Victor Vanderburg, son of Jerome & Agnes Vanderburg, and elder brother of Joe Vanderburg (see above). Born during a family hunting trip at Seeley Lake, he served in the Army during World War II. He lived at Valley Creek, near Arlee.
Click on any one of the questions below to hear Mr. Durglo talk about fire and its traditional use by Salish people.
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- How was fire used in traditional times and how does that contrast with today?
- Why was the burning done?
- What happens now when there is a lightning fire?
- How was fire transported from place to place during traditional times so it could be used as a tool for burning different areas?
- Do you have memories from your childhood about using fire as a tool?
Tony Harwood
Tony Harwood
Tony Harwood is the Fire Management Officer (FMO) and Program Manager of the Wildland Fire Program for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe of the Flathead Reservation. In this capacity he oversees all fire management activities from prescribed burning to wildfire suppression to rehabilitation of lands after a wildfire fire, to public education. Tony grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation but has been working on the Flathead Reserevation since the 1970s.
Click on any one of the questions below to hear Mr. Harwood talk about fire management on the Flathead Reservation.
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- How large an influence did traditional burning by Salish and Kootenai people have on the frequency of fire in this area of the Northern Rockies?
- On the Reservation, most people live at lower elevations and on the valley floor. What role does fire play there, and how do you manage fire in that zone?
- What has the consequence of fire exclusion been in the Northern Rockies?
- Can you talk more about the consequences of excluding and suppressing fires for one hundred years or longer?
- What have been some of the ecological consequences of eliminating the role of fire in terms of species (both trees and wildlife) and forest disease?
- How is the Fire Management Program here on the Reservation responding to the consequences of 100 years of fire exclusion?
Ron Swaney
Ron Swaney
Ron Swaney is the Prescribed Fire/Fuels Officer for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation. As such, he plans and implements fuels treatments on the Reservation, using either mechanical means or prescribed fire. Fuels treatments are done for timber stand improvement purposes, to restore fire-dependent ecosystems, to reduce the threat of wildfire to homesor communities, or to improve wildlife habitat for elk, grizzly bear, and other species dependent on fire.
Click on any one of the questions below to hear Mr. Swaney talk about prescribed fire on the Flathead Reservation.
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- What is your job here on the Flathead Reservation?
- What is a "prescribed fire?"
- How much prescribed burning do you do each year here?
- When do you do most of your prescribed burning?
- What kinds of areas do you burn with prescribed fires?
- What are some of the benefits you expect to see from prescribed fire?
- Does huckleberry benefit from prescribed fire?
- Does camas benefit from prescribed fire?
- Does aspen benefit from prescribed fire?
- What about big game species? Do they benefit?
- What is your view on the value of prescribed fire as a management tool?
- How large of an impact did traditional Tribal burning have?
Bob McCrea
Bob McCrea
Bob McCrea is the Wildland Fire Operations Specialist. He is in charge of the dispatch of the wildland fire crews and helitack (the helicopters used in fire suppression). He has been fighting fires for 35 years. Bob's family has a history with fire fighting. His father was in forestry and fought fires. Bob got involved when he turned 18 as a smokejumper out of Missoula. Then he came back to work for the tribe. Now his kids are also fighting fire so there are at least three generations of firefighters in his family.
Click on any one of the questions to hear Mr. McCrea talk about prescribed fire on the Flathead Reservation.
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- 1 What is your job here?
- 2 Why do we sometimes prescribe fire and other times suppress it?
- 3 What is the fire suppression policy for the Tribal Wilderness?
- 4 Can you ever let a fire burn in the wilderness?
- 5 A lot of people live in the foothills. How does that affect management?
- 6 What is your advice to people who live in the Wildland-Urban Interface?
- 7 Are there dangers associated with reintroducing fire?
- 8 Do you have any words of caution about fire to recreationists?
- 9 Fighting fires is often a multi-generational occupation on the Reservation. Is this true of your family?
- 10 Why do you think firefighting is such an important and common occupation on this and other reservations?
© 2021 Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes | Contact Us
© 2021 Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes | Contact Us