Mission Statement

The Mission of the Karuk Department of Natural Resources is to protect, enhance and restore the cultural/natural resources and ecological processes upon which Karuk people depend. Natural Resources staff ensure that the integrity of natural ecosystem processes and traditional values are incorporated into resource management strategies.

The Karuk Tribe's Department of Natural Resources (Department) was established in 1989 as a fisheries department with a congressional appropriation of $150,000. Over the past three decades, the Department has grown to staff nearly 70 employees managing 85 project budgets related to 9 integrated program areas. These programs are housed within three primary departmental branches: Eco-Cultural Revitalization, Watersheds and Administrative Operations. 

We are building the Endowment for Eco-Cultural Revitalization and need your help! Click here to donate. 

Good Fire 2 Report Officially Released!

The Karuk Tribe’s Good Fire II Report addresses barriers to the expansion of cultural burning and prescribed fire in the United States and provides recommended solutions. 

Good Fire II builds on the original California-focused Good Fire report, published in 2021. Since its release, Good Fire has been widely cited by academics, lawmakers, and others as a key resource to help advocate and create the enabling conditions for increased use of good fire across California. This updated version takes the recommendations to a larger scale, calling for transformational change at both the state and federal levels, and providing a roadmap to revitalizing the relationship between humans and fire and the systems used to steward it.

Good Fire II was developed to complement the Biden-Harris Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission Report. Bill Tripp, Director of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy for the Karuk Tribe and co-author of Good Fire II, also served as the designated Tribal Government representative on the Commission. Good Fire II provides additional detail to support policy reforms necessary to implement the Commission’s more general recommendations, while supporting Tribal sovereignty and prioritizing Tribal leadership at all levels of stewardship and fire management.

Please feel free to reach out to goodfire@karuk.us with any questions, comments, or media requests.

Click here for a copy of the Good Fire II Report

Click here for a copy of the Good Fire II Executive Summary

Climate Adaptation Plan

I am pleased to announce the Climate Adaptation Plan co-authored by Dr. Kari Norgaard and William Tripp. This effort is the culmination of multiple years of working with federal, tribal, state, NGO, and local partners in recognizing the impacts fire exclusion has had on the Karuk people and the natural environment. Development of a Strategic Plan chapter building on the efforts of the Western Klamath Restoration Partnership to enable large landscape collaborative management throughout Karuk Aboriginal Territory and beyond is the next step in making this plan actionable on the ground.

Thanks,

Bill Tripp

Director

Karuk Tribe, Department of Natural Resources

Click here for a copy of the Climate Adaptation Plan

Eco-Cultural Resources Management Plan

The Department of Natural Resources Eco-Cultural Resources Management Plan (ECRMP) is intended to guide future management of natural resources within the Karuk Aboriginal Territory and beyond.  The ECRMP is an integrated resource management plan (IRMP) developed under the authority of the National Indian Forest Resources Management Act.  Though this Act limits the implementation of IRMP’s to Tribal Trust lands, the authority provided in 43 USC Chapter 35 Federal Land Policy and Management provides for the “Coordination of plans for National Forest System lands with Indian land use planning and management programs for the purposes of development and revision”. 

This should allow for coordination of the ECRMP with the Klamath and Six Rivers National Forests Land and Resource Management Plan revisions that will be occurring soon.  With this coordination we should be able to once again manage the Aboriginal Territory in a manner consistent with our cultural and natural heritage.  The Department of Natural Resources welcomes comments from the Tribal Membership and Descendants to help ensure that the final plan will provide lasting benefits for generations to come.  We will be developing the draft provided below in consideration of the comments received to provide a final draft for council review, NEPA compliance, and approvals.

Click here for a copy of the ECRMP document

Studies, Reports and Resources