Ishkode
A collaboration of fire knowledge carriers, practitioners, and researchers working to restore fire to Great Lakes Forests
Restoring relationships among people, fire and pines.
The iconic pine stands of the Great Lakes Region are often held up as the embodiment of wild and untrammeled lands. Our research conducted over the past decade shows this is not the case. Rather, fires intentionally set by Indigenous caretakers shaped the forest, plants, and lands to promote abundance, diversity, and resilience. The pines of the Great Lakes Region represent reciprocity, not wilderness.
Read on to learn more about the history of fire in Great Lakes Forests and the research that is helping create a movement of picking up the torch, again, and working to restore fire to places and forests dear to the hearts and minds of those who live in this beautiful region.
Our Collaboration
We represent a diverse network of fire knowledge carriers, researchers, and practitioners working to weave Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science to share a more complete understanding of the past, present, and future relationships among Great Lakes cultures and landscapes. The outcome of our work will be reduced barriers and greater capacity to restore cultural fire to the forests of the Great Lakes Region.
Great Lakes Fire Science, Media & Resources
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Publications
Access to peer-reviewed publications and research briefs that support this work.
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Audio, Video, and Lectures
Find podcasts, interviews, and films that dive into the history of people, fire, and pines in the Great Lakes Region.
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Creative Writing
Check out essays, magazine articles, and other pieces written for the general public.
New Releases!
Ishkode: A story of fire
An illustrated children’s book that shares a multi-generational story of people, fire, and pine in the Great Lakes Region. Available at independent book stores in Wisconsin and Minnesota and online from Black Bears and Blueberries Press.
A Wilderness Act
A short film exploring the tension between the lived history of Great Lakes Indigenous land stewardship practices, including fire, and Western notions of Wilderness. Screening at the Minnesota and Wisconsin film festivals in spring of 2025