photo by: Mike Yoder

Melinda Adams, a University of Kansas assistant professor and member of the N'dee San Carlos Apache Tribe, creates a line of fire during an Indigenous cultural burn at the KU Field Station on Saturday Nov. 2, 2024. Adams is a cultural fire practitioner and scholar whose research focuses on the revitalization of cultural fire (prescribed fire led with Traditional Ecological Knowledge) with tribes in California and more recently with tribes in the Midwest.

Indigenous students at the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University, as well as local residents and tribal community members, took part in a traditional burn on Saturday at the KU Field Station.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Melinda Adams, University of Kansas assistant professor and member of the N’dee San Carlos Apache Tribe, left, and Sheena Parsons, KU Field Station manager, prepare to lead a demonstration cultural fire at the KU Field Station on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Melinda Adams, a University of Kansas assistant professor and member of the N’dee San Carlos Apache Tribe, center right, starts a fire line during an Indigenous cultural burn at the KU Field Station on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.

photo by: Mike Yoder

From left, Sheena Parsons, KU Field Station manager, Melinda Adams, University of Kansas assistant professor and member of the N’dee San Carlos Apache Tribe, and Brett Ramey, Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and a graduate of both the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University, work along a fire line during an Indigenous cultural burn at the KU Field Station on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Jim Pepper Henry, the historic preservation officer for the Kaw Nation, took photographs during an Indigenous cultural burn at the KU Field Station on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Workers at an Indigenous cultural burn at the KU Field Station on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, control the northeast side of a field burn.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Many participants wore heavy-duty boots with tucked-in pants for the Indigenous cultural burn at the KU Field Station on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Participants wait for the start of an Indigenous cultural burn at the KU Field Station on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. Participants included Indigenous students at the University of Kansas, Haskell Indian Nations University and local residents and tribal community members.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Brett Ramey, a graduate of both the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University, carries a ceremonial bundle of smoking sage as he works the burn line during an Indigenous cultural burn at the KU Field Station on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.

photo by: Mike Yoder

The heat of the fire obscures a line of workers during an Indigenous cultural burn at the KU Field Station on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Smoke rises around a participant in an Indigenous cultural burn at the KU Field Station on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Smoking, burnt grasses are all that remain after a demonstration cultural fire at the KU Field Station on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kelly Nalani Beym, Dine-Navajo, participates in an Indigenous cultural burn at the KU Field Station on Saturday Nov. 2, 2024.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kelly Nalani Beym, Dine-Navajo, uses grass bundles to carry the fire to other burn areas during an Indigenous cultural burn at the KU Field Station on Saturday Nov. 2., 2024. Beym is a doctoral student in geography at KU.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Participants in an Indigenous cultural burn at the KU Field Station on Saturday Nov. 2, 2024, take a break to watch the fire. Participants included Indigenous students at the University of Kansas, Haskell Indian Nations University and local residents and tribal community members.