■ Tribes in the Pacific Northwest are enduring drought and wildfires — again.
Largest blaze in U.S. burning in Oregon
PORTLAND, Ore. — Karuk tribal citizen Troy Hockaday Sr. watched helplessly last fall as a wildfire leveled the homes of five of his family members, swallowed acres of forest where his people hunt deer, elk and black bear, and killed a longtime friend.
Now, less than a year later, the tribal councilman is watching in horror as flames encroach on the parched lands of other Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest that already are struggling to preserve traditional hunting and fishing practices amid historic drought. At least two tribes have declared states of emergency amid the devastation.
After last year’s Slater Fire near Happy Camp, California, “We got spread out all over the place,” said Hockaday, who said about 200 homes, including many belonging to Karuk citizens, were burned. “Some people have already sold their property and given up. But the tribe as a whole, we’re trying to build ourselves back and be strong.”
“It’s hard to watch the devastation of what a fire can do nowadays. It’s just crazy — and we just started July,” he added.
Blazes in Oregon, California and Washington state were among nearly 70 active wildfires that have destroyed homes and burned through about 1,562 square miles in a dozen mostly Western states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
In California, a fire was rapidly expanding Wednesday in the Feather River Canyon, about 10 miles from Paradise, the foothill town largely razed by a 2018 wildfire that killed 85 people.
The largest fire in the U.S. on Wednesday was burning in southern Oregon, to the northeast of the wildfire that ravaged Hockaday’s tribal community less than a year ago.
The lightning-caused Bootleg Fire has destroyed about 20 homes with 2,000 more under evacuation, but much of it was burning in remote areas of the Fremont-winema National Forest. On Wednesday, the fire was 5 percent contained.