Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Learn the critical role fire plays in tending basketry plants and sustaining basket weavers across generations of Indigenous communities in Central California.
OMCA’s latest exhibition, Good Fire: Tending Native Lands, explores how Native communities in Northern California have used controlled fire—often called “good fire” or “cultural burning”—for millennia to care for the land and preserve cultural traditions.
The video takes viewers to a cultural burn in Mariposa, revealing the stark differences between burned and unburned plants. It highlights how fire suppression practices have made it increasingly difficult for weavers to access healthy basketry materials, while underscoring the essential role fire plays in plant health and cultural continuity.
The story features interviews with Theresa Williams and Tracey Williams Hughey, basket weavers of the Western Mono Tribe, as well as Chairman Ron Goode, Tribal Chairman of the North Fork Mono Tribe.
Rooted in Native knowledge and stewardship, the exhibition challenges colonial narratives that have long suppressed Indigenous fire and land relationships in what is now known as Northern California. Good Fire: Tending Native Lands ultimately calls on us to reimagine California’s relationship with fire—honoring Native sovereignty and restoring fire as a force that sustains life.
Build Belonging Together. Visit the Oakland Museum of California – OMCA for short.
w: museumca.org
ig: @oaklandmuseumca
fb: @museumca
e: hi@museumca.org
a: 1000 Oak St., Oakland, CA 94607
Learn the critical role fire plays in tending basketry plants and sustaining basket weavers across generations of Indigenous communities in Central California.
OMCA’s latest exhibition, Good Fire: Tending Native Lands, explores how Native communities in Northern California have used controlled fire—often called “good fire” or “cultural burning”—for millennia to care for the land and preserve cultural traditions.
The video takes viewers to a cultural burn in Mariposa, revealing the stark differences between burned and unburned plants. It highlights how fire suppression practices have made it increasingly difficult for weavers to access healthy basketry materials, while underscoring the essential role fire plays in plant health and cultural continuity.
The story features interviews with Theresa Williams and Tracey Williams Hughey, basket weavers of the Western Mono Tribe, as well as Chairman Ron Goode, Tribal Chairman of the North Fork Mono Tribe.
Rooted in Native knowledge and stewardship, the exhibition challenges colonial narratives that have long suppressed Indigenous fire and land relationships in what is now known as Northern California. Good Fire: Tending Native Lands ultimately calls on us to reimagine California’s relationship with fire—honoring Native sovereignty and restoring fire as a force that sustains life.
Build Belonging Together. Visit the Oakland Museum of California – OMCA for short.
w: museumca.org
ig: @oaklandmuseumca
fb: @museumca
e: hi@museumca.org
a: 1000 Oak St., Oakland, CA 94607
