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A B S T R A C TWe examined traditional knowledge of fire use by the Ichishikin (Sahaptin), Kitsht Wasco (Wasco), and Numu (Northern Paiute) peoples (now Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, CTWS) in the eastside Cascades of Oregon to generate insights for restoring conifer forest landscapes and enhancing culturally-valued resources. We examined qualitative and geospatial data derived from oral history interviews, participatory GIS focus groups, archival records, and historical forest surveys to characterize cultural fire regimes (CFRs) -an element of historical fire regimes-of moist mixed conifer (MMC), dry mixed conifer (DMC), and shrub-grassland (SG) zones. Our ethnohistorical evidence indicated a pronounced cultural fire regime in the MMC zone, but not in the two drier zones. The CFR of the MMC zone was characterized by frequent (few-year recurrence), low-severity burns distributed in a shifting pattern. This regime helped to maintain forest openings created by previous ignitions, resulting from lightning or possibly human-set, that had burned large areas. The CFR was influenced by the CTWS traditional knowledge system, which consisted of four elements: fire use and associated resource tending practices, tribal ecological principles, the seasonal round (the migratory pattern to fulfill resource needs), and culture. Thinleaf huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum), a cultural keystone species, occurs primarily in the MMC zone and was a principle focus of traditional fire use of the CTWS peoples. Fire was deployed to maintain shrub productivity and site access for harvesting. Cessation of fire use by ∼1940 has caused a decline in huckleberry productivity throughout much of the historical harvest zone. Our findings about CFR scale show how a nested, multi-level framework (patch-and landscape-levels) may be employed to reintroduce fire and thereby promote forest restoration and enhance culturally-valued resources. Our findings also highlight the utility of engaging the communities that hold traditional knowledge in the forest management and planning process. pattern of natural ignitions (e.g., lightning-ignited fires) and that of the

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This article explores the changing relationships between the USDA Forest Service and 10 small, forest-based communities in the Northwest Forest Plan area in Washington, Oregon, and California. Interviews with 158 community members and agency personnel indicated that community member interviewees were largely dissatisfied with the agency’s current level of community engagement. Interviewees believed that loss of staff was the primary factor contributing to declining engagement, along with increasing turnover and long-distance commuting. Interviewees offered explanations for increasing employee turnover and commuting, including lack of housing, lack of employment for spouses, lack of services for children, social isolation, improving road conditions making long-distance commuting easier, agency incentives and culture, decreasing social cohesion among agency staff, unpaid overtime responsibilities, and agency hiring practices. Community member perceptions regarding long-term changes in community well-being and agency-community relationships were more negative than agency staff’s perceptions. Study Implications: We found evidence that staffing declines, turnover, and long-distance commuting may contribute to decreasing agency engagement in some communities, and that diminished engagement by federal forest management agency employees may contribute to negative attitudes toward the agency. Agency employee interviewees suggested that incentives (i.e., promotions, opportunities to live elsewhere), internal conflicts, and a lack of opportunities and services for their families are reasons that staff commute from neighboring communities or leave their jobs. Our findings suggest that the USDA Forest Service may improve agency-community relationships by supporting its staff in ways that reduce turnover and long-distance commuting and incentivize community engagement.