User:Wormlowly/Native American use of fire in ecosystems

Article body
Between current two paragraphs of section: Grasslands and savannahs

In the Klamath Valley region of northern California, the frequent and low-intensity fire of cultural burns are key to keeping grasslands open that otherwise would be invaded by conifers, which are less fire tolerant than the native oak. As has been found in the Pacific Northwest, the implementation of cultural burning lead by tribal practitioners have been found to facilitate the growth of culturally important plants such as camas, yampa, and tarweed. Camas, yampa, and tarweed are all plants that have been part to several tribes' diets. The Blackfoot, Cree, and Nez Perce tribes would eat the bulbs of the Common Camas (Camassia quamash), which could be steamed or dried to make flour. Yampa, part of the genus Perideridia and also known as wild carrots, are harvested by the Yokut tribe of the San Joaquin Valley, California. The seeds are tarweed are also edible, described as "rich as butter." Burning to keep grasslands open can provide space for diverse flora that grow in very few places, found in the diversity of prairies, like the western lily and Howell's triteleia.

Under the article section heading: Reasons and benefits of burning


 * Assisting in pollination by several species, such as hummingbirds, bees, butterflies benefit from burned soil and charred wood which can serve as spots to nest. The California Tortoiseshell butterfly (Nymphalis californica) and the Ceanothus silk moth (Hyalophora euryalus) are two specific examples of pollinators that can help for some culturally significant plants thrive in intentionally burned land.
 * Increasing the local biodiversity in the understory of forest. Burning has been found to be beneficial in increasing the biodiversity found in the grasslands created beneath the understory of oak tree groves, bringing a greater presence of reptiles, amphibians and small mammals, and the density of blueberry bushes has been found to be benefit from prescribed burning as well.
 * Reinforcing an ecosystem's ability to withstand encroachment of invasive species, which can push out native species.
 * Increasing the frequency of regrowth of beneficial food and medicine plants, like clearing-adapted species like cherry, plum, and others. (adding this new citation to this existing bullet point) Beargrass is a culturally significant member of the Liliaceae family, and the leaves that are produced from a year to three years after being treated with fire are the high quality that are useful to the Karuk people Northern California for traditional basketry.