Firewood Presentation Notes

Presented by Kate Magargals

Firewood is a primary energy source on the Navajo reservation. Even with access to propane or other energy sources, fire wood play a large role in the source of energy on the reservation. Even though we are looking at modern people and culture, we can learn a lot about how they used wood in the past.

"The ecology of contemporary and prehistoric use of wood fuel in the Four Corners Region"

- Firewood: many people have a connection of collecting picking up wood for fire

- Many modern day views of fire burning is a luxury and associated with vacations

- Firewood is a finite resource, although is is able to be reproduced, it can not keep up with the demands of people. Leading to deforestation

- 55% of the world's wood harvested is used for energy but only makes up 9% of global primary energy

despite the ineffeciency of burning wood, 9% is still a lot of the energy that comes from wood

2.8 billion people rely on wood based energy

- 80% of Utah Navajo rely on firewood for domestic energy

- Research Project:

How does the climate affect the woodland ecosystems and biomass harvesting?

Climate team at the University of Utah mapping the climate conditions of the four corners

Extreme drought conditions

Monsoon season is less intense

Climate changes are really going to affect the amount of tree that grow and that means less firewood

Tree Biology/ Ecology Team is mapping the diversity, density,

Hypothesis: precipitation patterns are changes and are causing trees to die out in the Cedar Mesa area

- Recording locals and how they gather their firewood

what tools do they use? where do they go? how far do the travel to get wood?

Look for standing dead trees

this is very hard work and is chore that everyone has to do to meet a basic need of warmth within their homes

With it being such hard work, any health issues could limit the chances for people to get access to firewood resources

Men are the main gatherers of firewood. Many men take contract work, leaving the reservation, making it harder to gather wood for families

Interviewing elders, they learned that once there were many more trees across the Navajo nation and could gather wood within the proximity of their homes

People often have to travel great distances from their homes to gather firewood

- What is the influence of climate change on the Juniper woodland?

- Does the need for firewood vary with environmental, economic, and social factors? If so, what are they and how do they influence firewood consumption?

Groups that collect the most truck loads of fire would were the very low income and the high income

Low income people using it as a main energy source

Higher income homes collect the wood for family of for the use of ceremonial fires

- How doe sthe 'natural' system influence the ability of people to meet their firewood needs?

- How does the 'human' system influence the character of the woodlands?

the right amount of fire wood gathering can actual be healthy for the environment because it removes the dead growth, removing the highest fire risks within woodlands

too much firewood collection can lead to people cutting down green trees and causing deforestation

too little collection of firewood can lead to lots of dead trees at the undergrowth and make the woodlands for susceptable to large fires