Photo: MN DNR

From the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources - October 6, 2022

For thousands of years in the Great Lakes Region, Native Americans used fire intentionally to manage the ecosystems they lived in. Now there is a short film (16 min), Oshkigin: Spirit of Fire highlighting this deep, reciprocal relationship with the land and the role fire plays in that relationship. This story is told by Ojibwe wildland firefighters, Fond du Lac elder Vern Northrup and Damon Panek.

Much of the footage is taken right here in Minnesota, with highlights from the 2007 Ham Lake fire in the BWCAW.

Want to use this for a class? 

• Use with PLT's Living With Fire lesson
• Use with PLT's Tree Cookie lesson (students study tree rings)

Get the book that contains these and dozens of other lessons. PLTs Explore Your Environment K-8, or PLT K-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide.