Don Hankins

Don Hankins, a professor in the Department of Geography and Planning at California State University, Chico, is an expert in pyrogeography, water resources, and conservation. Don is a Miwkoʔ (Plains Miwok) traditional cultural practitioner. Combining his academic and cultural interests, he is particularly focused on applying indigenous land management practices as a keystone process that aids in the conservation and management of resources. He is currently engaged in fire and water research involving indigenous California and Aboriginal Australian communities.
smoke a CZU

Reading the Landscape for Fire

January 3, 2021 •  by

In the beginning, fire burned the world. Don Hankins’ Plains Miwok ancestors passed on this understanding of fire through generations, and he draws from it as a traditional cultural practitioner pyrogeographer when burning landscapes in California.