Healing the Land with Acorns
Kathy McCovey, a Karuk tribal member, tosses black oak acorns to reseed her land in Happy Camp, California, days after a wildfire destroyed her retirement home. A former U.S. Forest Service anthropologist, McCovey belongs to a Karuk team that sets controlled fires to reduce underbrush, the fuel for future fires. Last year California expanded the use of prescribed burns, an important victory for Native peoples. For Kathy, planting acorns is an act of Karuk sovereignty, and more importantly, one of healing.