The Tamien Nation, a non-federally recognized Indigenous tribe based in San Jose, has built an emerging model for tribally sovereign cultural fire programs; demonstrating how tribes can rebuild fire capacity through strategic partnership and a commitment to paying fire workers as the skilled professionals they are.

Starting with a 2022 grant to train ten Type 2 firefighters, the tribe secured a $3 million LCI grant in partnership with TERRA, the Tribal Eco Restoration Alliance, to hire full-time fire employees at twice the Department of Forestry’s standard rate with full benefits. Partnerships with California State Parks (including Henry Coe State Park) and contract work burning private landowner properties expand both training opportunities and revenue. The tribe recently received a $6 million grant to purchase 235 acres in the East Diablo Hills, providing their first owned land for cultural burns. With a current crew of five firefighters and a goal of twenty within five years, alongside three trained burn bosses, the Tamien Nation is building capacity not only to steward their own homelands but to support other agencies and tribes in getting fire on the ground across the region.