During Summer 2021, Dr. Erica Tom, Director of Native American Studies, was awarded a Central Valley Community Foundation $5,000 grant to complete Good Fire, a short documentary on the North Fork Mono Tribe's use of fire to restore the land amidst a time of drought, megafires, and climate change. This film was a collaboration with Emily Alejandrino from the California Department of Water Resources and Chairman Ron W. Goode of the North Fork Mono Tribe. This Spring 2022, Erica co-organized and moderated a panel Deep Dive: Benefits of Cultural & Prescribed Burning through the Center for Environmental Inquiry featuring Dr. Tony Marks-Block, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, Geography, and Environmental Studies Department at CSU East Bay, Dr. Peter Nelson (Coast Miwok and tribal citizen of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria), Assistant Professor, ESPM and Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley, and Brian Peterson, Consulting Fire Ecologist at Audubon Canyon Ranch. Erica continued her research on cultural burning with a team of students during the same semester, with the support of a $2,000 grant from the Center for Environmental Inquiry. Her documentary short Good Fire is selected to show at the Pune International Film Festival in India, and is a finalist at the 55th Annual Humboldt International Film Festival.
Left image: Student research team - Katie Fortunati, Celia Salazar, Jayline Alvarado, Eva Austin, and Morgan Stewart
Right image: Chairman Ron W. Goode and Dr. Erica Tom