A Northern California tribe works to protect traditions in a warming world

Fallen tree trunks and branches cover a road during the Oak Fire near Midpines, northeast of Mariposa, Calif., on July 23, 2022. (David McNew/AFP via Getty Images)

The Oak Fire, which burned roughly 20,000 acres west of Yosemite National Park last summer, was devastating to the area's Indigenous tribes — including the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation. The tribe is headquartered in Mariposa, California, a small town in the Sierra Nevada foothills close to the national park.

"It really hit our community hard," said Tara Fouch-Moore, a member of the Southern Sierra Miwuk's tribal council. "We lost 127 households."