Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Talking Fire with "Acorn Lady" Lois Conner Bohna

12/10/2016

Lois Conner Bohna | Photo: KCET

Lois Conner Bohna, The Acorn Lady, is a North Fork Mono artist and cultural educator who lives and works in Coarsegold, in the Sierra Nevada foothills. We spoke with her during our filming of Tending The Wild. This is a partial transcript of that conversation.

What is a cultural burn?

A cultural burn is a fire that you set on purpose. Last February, we didnt get a drop of rain. What a waste, because we should have been burning, but you cant burn because [the Forest Service] doesnt want you to, you can get in a lot of trouble setting the woods on fire, especially for a cultural burn.

What is the importance of cultural burning?

Fire is so beneficial to us; [it] creates new life. Youve got the fire and then before too long, youve got new life springing up almost immediately. Fire and water, theyre inseparable. If we could have a fire, it [would] bring the springs back, the water level comes up, so the springs hold more water. Youve got to have fire. Water alone won't do the trick.

I remember where there used to be sedge growing, and then wed come back a year later and those plants had disappeared. Ive watched the environment change in many places all because of water.

The meadows and the high country are the big [issue], thats the thing we really want to protect and weve got encroachment, those trees they just grow in on the meadow. They just keep growing and growing and growing and before you know it the meadows gone. Its changed from meadow to forest land, so its very subtle and everywhere you go in the high country you see it happening, so its pretty sad. Fire alleviates all that.

--

--

What effects do fire suppression and tree overpopulation have on on the land?

Our environment is out of balance. Not only are plants are out of balance, but the animals are out of balance This land is, I hate to say it, but [it's] pretty much dead. My grandmas and aunties taught me how everything needs to be in balance. Your body is in balance, you have two eyes, two arms, two feet, two kidneys, everything in your body is in balance.

My grandmother used to keep a set of clippers in her apron when she went out and walked around. She would look at her environment and say, That tree doesnt belong there, and shed cut it off. There are literally thousands of little bitty of cedar trees coming up. My grandmother would have never let that happen, never. She took care of her environment. She couldnt burn very often. Shed burn little brush piles but she said, Honey, we just cant burn like we used to. She said our trees are sick because we cant burn. If your equilibrium gets off you arent moving forward too long, youre going to be falling over.

Watch the Cultural Burning segment of Tending The Wild

Like right now, you see all these dead cedar trees down there. If a fire started over on the highway and came this way, I hate to say it, but youre going to get very warm because these trees are going to torch and theyre going to kill all these black oak trees. Its going to be unstoppable unless theyve got a DC-10 up there, then they can stop it.

Everything pretty much revolves around the oak tree.

Live oak? That tree will burn green. When it gets dry in the summer, it doesnt burn, it explodes because it has so much oil in it, in the leaves, it literally explodes. Most of these hillsides around here are all live oak. In the town of Oakhurst, people have got their houses built under live oak trees. The potential for disaster is unbelievable. You tell them to cut them down, [and they say] its green, it wont burn. They just wont listen.

I think our environment is just about to tip over, and thats really really sad. When I say tip over its all going to get destroyed by fire. Wildfires just destroy, they kill. But try having this conversation with the Forest Service, then you hear a lot of snickering going on in the room.

How does the forest agency feel about cultural burning? What are the effects not having cultural burns?

The oak trees are going to go away. We have got to get our spiritual act together and start showing our appreciation, but our hands are tied because we have to answer to the Forest Service if they say no burning. They wasted a beautiful February. Not a drop of rain in February. You ask them, why didnt you burn? Burning costs a lot of money. Burning is expensive. My travel chairman, Ron Goode, hes managed to get some grants and weve done some restoration and some burning. Not much.

Lois Connner Bohna peels acorns. | Photo: KCET

Whats the importance of oak trees and acorns in your culture?

What we care about is our oak trees. That was our staff of life. Everything pretty much revolves around the oak tree. And, acorns unite people to me, it's a sacred food. Its just fantastic for the human body. Its one of the healthiest foods you can eat.

It is difficult to find acorns because the trees are unhealthy and there's competition from other trees taking their water. There are five of us in the North Fork area that gather acorns and we cant even find enough for ourselves at this point. Youve got all this duff on the ground, the bugs are just horrible and as soon as the acorns come on, the bugs just attack the trees.

A long time ago, there were more oak trees. A lot have died. A lot. We dont know what to do, but Mother Nature is trying to take care of herself by killing off these extra trees that dont belong here to help out. As I said earlier, my grandmas would not allow their environment to look this way. Theyre going to eat or cut trees, prune them. When they would go through, theyre going to burn. Their number one thing was their oak trees. That sustained not only them but the squirrels and the squirrels provide for the other animals. Everything was in balance a long time ago. Now, it is totally out of balance. So, it all comes back
LINK: https://www.kcet.org/shows/tending-the-wild/its-all-about-fire-a-talk-...
See more stories from kcet

Most recent headlines

09/11/2025

Dalet Unveils Agentic AI Media Workflows at IBC2025

Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...

18/10/2025

NESN Taps Harmonic for Primary Live Sports Distribution

New England Sports Network (NESN) has chosen Harmonic, working with Astound Business Solutions, as its enterprise technology partner to transform primary distri...

18/10/2025

DirecTV Launches Gray's Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network

NEW ORLEANS, La. In the run-up to the start of the NBA season, WVUE-TV and Gray Local Media have announced a deal with DirecTV that will greatly expand access t...

18/10/2025

Berklee Celebrates 40 Years of the Fall Together Concert

Berklee Celebrates 40 Years of the Fall Together Concert Faculty composers Bob Pilkington and Greg Hopkins are among the featured artists for this year's ...

17/10/2025

NEP Group Receives New Equity Investment From 26North Partners LP, Co-Investors

NEP Group Receives New Equity Investment From 26North Partners LP, Co-InvestorsCarlyle remains the largest shareholder as the company prepares for the futureBy ...

17/10/2025

Apple Lands Five-Year Deal for F1 Distribution in the U.S.

Apple Lands Five-Year Deal for F1 Distribution in the U.S.Besides airing on Apple TV, the sport will be amplified on other Apple servicesBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Ed...

17/10/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Marshall Electronics' Bernie Keach on the Future of PTZ Cameras

SVG Sit-Down: Marshall Electronics' Bernie Keach on the Future of PTZ Camera...

17/10/2025

L2 Productions' REMI Facility in Austin Can Produce Content From Anywhere

L2 Productions' REMI Facility in Austin Can Produce Content From AnywhereMusic festivals, sports events are produced via flypacks and remote control roomsBy...

17/10/2025

Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Sarah Dowland, the Filmmaker Behind Sue Bird: In The Clutch

By Lucy Spicer One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...

17/10/2025

Cooper Raiff Returns to the Sundance Film Festival With His Independent Series Hal & Harper

(L-R) Christopher Meyer, Addison Timlin, Cooper Raiff, Lili Reinhart, Alyah Chan...

17/10/2025

Ferramenta de arte da capa de playlists do Spotify chega ao Brasil com uma noite de autoexpresso

M sica e arte se uniram em uma noite especial na semana passada na ZIV Gallery, ...

17/10/2025

Spotify's Custom Playlist Cover Art Tool Arrives in Brazil With a Night of Self-Expression

Music and art came together for one special night last week at ZIV Gallery, an i...

17/10/2025

Spotify and FC Barcelona Extend Partnership Through 2030

Spotify and FC Barcelona are extending our partnership through 2030, continuing a collaboration that's redefining how fans, players, and artists connect. Th...

17/10/2025

Sports Fishing Championship Deploys DigitalGlue Storage Platform

MURRIETA, Calif. The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC) has deployed DigitalGlue's creative.space storage platform to streamline video production by centrali...

17/10/2025

TV Ad Impressions for Football Spiked in Q3

BELLEVUE, Wash. Football continued to cement its reputation as a bulwark of TV advertising in Q3 2025 with new data from iSpot that showed both the NFL and coll...

17/10/2025

Reeling in the Chaos Sports Fishing Championship Simplifi...

The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC), the premier competitive saltwater fishing series, has transformed its production workflow by adopting creative.space, the...

17/10/2025

QuickLink Unveils StudioPro Version 4 With Major Enhancem...

QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning multi-camera video productions and remote contribution solutions, announces the release of StudioPro Version 4, ...

17/10/2025

Westcoast Pixel dazzles with dynamic 3D video projections

Although the annual Grammy Awards celebration is best known for recognizing achievements in the recording industry, the show often proves a visual spectacle as ...

17/10/2025

Alex Dunfey Promoted to CTO at OpenDrives

OpenDrives, Inc., a leading provider of software-defined data storage and data services, has promoted Alex Dunfey to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) from his for...

17/10/2025

University of Arizona Scales Up Broadcast Capabilities Wi...

The University of Arizona (UofA) has significantly upgraded its broadcast communication infrastructure with the integration of Riedel Communications' advanc...

17/10/2025

NESN Redefines Regional Sports Video Delivery with Harmon...

Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that New England Sports Network (NESN), owned by Fenway Sports Group and Delaware North, has selected Harmonic as its en...

17/10/2025

Austin PBS Expands Facility-Wide Production Communication...

Austin PBS has recently upgraded its facility-wide communications infrastructure, deploying Clear-Com 's Eclipse HX, FreeSpeak II beltpacks, and V-Series ...

17/10/2025

ZEISS Opens BETA Registration for CinCraft Virtual Lens T...

ZEISS announces an open call for the closed BETA testing phase of CinCraft Virtual Lens Technology, the innovative digital tool that brings authentic lens chara...

17/10/2025

Lightware powers hybrid learning transformation at Centri...

Situated in the town of Kokkola, Centria University of Applied Sciences offers higher education across five core fields: engineering, business, social and healt...

17/10/2025

Pebble to automate CobbTV

Public information channel in Georgia, USA, to implement a powerful, simple, and cost-effective playout automation platform. Pebble, the leading automation, co...

17/10/2025

HBO Maxs Global Expansion Surpasses 100 Market Milestone

HBO Max is reporting that it has launched in 15 new markets, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Macau, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Ukraine, boosting the streaming serv...

17/10/2025

Netflix Expands Into Video Podcasts With Spotify Deal

Netflix said it will make a major push into video podcasts, inking a wide-ranging deal with Spotify through which it will offer 16 podcasts in the U.S. starting...

17/10/2025

Viamedia Rebrands as Viamedia.ai

Lexington, Ky. As part of a push to highlight its advanced advertising capabilities, Viamedia has launched a new AI-powered ad tech platform and officially rebr...

17/10/2025

QuickLink to Showcase StudioPro Version 4 at NAB Show New York

NEW YORK QuickLink has announced the release of StudioPro Version 4, which the company is calling the most significant upgrade yet to its flagship video product...

17/10/2025

Apple, NBCU to Launch Apple TV, Peacock Streaming Bundles

NEW YORK and CUPERTINO, Calif. Apple and NBCUniversal said they will sell Apple TV and Peacock streaming bundles to U.S. subscribers starting Oct. 20....

17/10/2025

Q&A with Boston Conservatory Choral Conductor Stephen Spinelli

Q&A with Boston Conservatory Choral Conductor Stephen Spinelli How his research into the lost manuscripts of composer Florence Price led to a Grammy-winning c...

17/10/2025

Netflix ISP Speed Index for September 2025

Back to All News Netflix ISP Speed Index for September 2025 Product 17 October 2025 Global Link copied to clipboard This month, 1% of Internet Service Pro...

17/10/2025

Open Source AI Week - How Developers and Contributors Are Advancing AI Innovation

NVIDIA's on the ground at Open Source AI Week. Stay tuned for a celebration ...

17/10/2025

The Engines of American-Made Intelligence: NVIDIA and TSMC Celebrate First NVIDIA Blackwell Wafer Produced in the US

AI has ignited a new industrial revolution. NVIDIA and TSMC are working togethe...

17/10/2025

Showcasing global expertise in safety and risk management

Gexcon is a trusted safety and risk management partner for complex, high hazard environments. ICG has been a dedicated marketing partner to Gexcon since 2018, b...

17/10/2025

Kingfishr, David Walliams, Baz Ashmawy and Celine Byrne among the guests on this week's Late Late Show

Here is your host, Patrick Kielty! After an incredible breakthrough year, Kingf...

16/10/2025

SVG Sit-Down: FUJIFILM Execs on GFX ETERNA 55 Camera, Importance of Shallow-Depth-of-Field Production

SVG Sit-Down: FUJIFILM Execs on GFX ETERNA 55 Camera, Importance of Shallow-Dept...

16/10/2025

Squash's Most Ambitious Broadcast Production To Be Deployed at Comcast Business U.S. Open

Squash's Most Ambitious Broadcast Production To Be Deployed at Comcast Busin...

16/10/2025

Main Street Sports Group Inks Deal With Omaha Productions, Launches Original-Content Division

Main Street Sports Group Inks Deal With Omaha Productions, Launches Original-Con...

16/10/2025

A Historic Precursor? FIFA, HBS, DAZN Offer an Inside Look at Production of FIFA Club World Cup 2025

A Historic Precursor? FIFA, HBS, DAZN Offer an Inside Look at Production of FIFA...

16/10/2025

Prime Video Offers Sneak Peak at New NBA on Prime Studio

Prime Video Offers Sneak Peak at New NBA on Prime StudioThe massive 13,000-sq-ft, two-story studio features a LED regulation half court and hoopBy Jason Dachman...

16/10/2025

SVG Remote Production Forum Draws Record Crowd for Visit to PGA TOUR Studios, Deep Dive Into REMI Workflows

SVG Remote Production Forum Draws Record Crowd for Visit to PGA TOUR Studios, De...

16/10/2025

BitFire's Ben Grafchik on How Growing Cloud Workflows Are Impacting the Live-Sports World

BitFire's Ben Grafchik on How Growing Cloud Workflows Are Impacting the Live...

16/10/2025

CultureCon Uncut' Video Podcast Returns for Season 2 With Host Imani Ellis

In 2017, Imani Ellis launched CultureCon, a conference that's become a must-attend event for more than 10,000 diverse creatives and Black professionals to c...

16/10/2025

Fresh Spins on Holiday Standards: The 2025 Spotify Singles Have Arrived

It might still be a little early to break out the tinsel and mistletoe, but Spotify's already queuing up some holiday magic. This year's Spotify Singles...

16/10/2025

Spotify to Publish First Independent Author Releases Through Audiobook Selects, With More Planned Ahead

Earlier this year, our in-house publishing imprint, Spotify Audiobooks, put out ...

16/10/2025

L3Harris Integrates VAMPIRE Aboard GM Defense's Infantry Squad Vehicle

VAMPIRE has been integrated onto GM Defenses Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV), providing a mobile solution to effectively and affordably counter small drone threat...

16/10/2025

Unseen and Unmatched: L3Harris Marks a First in Infrared Tracking Technology

The AgilePod mounted on the host aircraft....

16/10/2025

Consumer attitudes toward in-car entertainment and media preferences highlighted in new Gracenote automotive report

60% say infotainment systems are a critical purchasing or leasing consideration,...