Abstract
Defining fuel treatment effectiveness is challenging in tribal ancestral lands managed for multiple use. We sampled during and one year after the 2015 North Star Fire, which burned 88,221 ha (218,000 ac) of the Confederated Colville Tribal (CCT) ancestral territory. Participatory GIS was used to understand CCT member views regarding the location and effectiveness of fuel treatments within their ancestral territory and also within the Colville National Forest boundary. To help address CCT comments regarding fire effects on cultural plants, we assessed the understory plant species abundance, richness, and diversity within areas treated and untreated prior to being burned by the North Star Fire. The majority of PGIS comments regarding fire effects were supported by our post-fire monitoring results. PGIS comments were organized into management recommendations and desired outcomes. Integrating Traditional Knowledge can improve fuel treatments effectiveness in ongoing adaptive management of forests as social-ecological systems.