Where Science Meets Indigenous Culture: IRC’s Partnership in WUICAN

Drought, wildfires and extreme heat increasingly threaten Southern California communities, especially in the region’s wildland‑urban interface, where neighborhoods meet flammable native chaparral, coastal sage scrub and grasslands. In response to these growing challenges, the Wildland‑Urban Interface Climate Action Network (WUICAN, pronounced “We Can”) was created.

WUICAN centers its work on the ancestral lands of the Gabrieleño Tongva, Juaneño, Acjachemen, Luiseño, Payómkawichum, Kumeyaay, Serrano, Maara’yam, and other Serrano people, also known as the Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Diego counties in Southern California.

With initial funding from the University of California Office of the President, WUICAN formally launched in September 2023 and has since established itself as a values‑driven regional network of more than 20 organizations. Together, universities, tribes, land managers and community groups built a shared governance structure grounded in equal representation, consensus-based decision‑making, community data ownership and joint financial planning. Through this structure, WUICAN delivers justice‑centered climate research and programming across Southern California’s wildland‑urban interface.

IRC is an active partner, participating in land tending events and leading wildfire prevention education and stewardship activities. IRC works with WUICAN partners to develop culturally responsive scientific solutions with at-risk communities, including initiatives like habitat restoration, community stewardship training, traditional ecological knowledge integration and interfaith climate collaboration.

One of IRC’s major contributions is the Loma Ridge Global Change Experiment (LRGCE), conducted on OC Parks land managed by IRC. The location is also on the ancestral lands of the Tongva and Acjachemen Peoples. IRC and its partners help host long‑term UCI research designed to understand how local ecosystems respond to environmental change. The experimental plots test water and nitrogen inputs across grassland and coastal sage scrub, two dominant vegetation types in Southern California. The experiment’s goal is to accurately anticipate how climate change may reshape the local wildlands, understand all the potential impacts, and inform future conservation strategies.

IRC also partnered with WUICAN to create community publications, including a draft guide to help Tribes implement cultural burns and a zine series promoting native plants and wildfire resilience. These materials were shared at IRC outreach events and youth programs, inspiring new generations of scientists, educators and civic leaders. In total, WUICAN partners delivered climate education to K–12 students and adults, hosted more than 30 field trips and workshops, produced a documentary, WUICAN Together We Can!, highlighting Indigenous stewardship, published over 30 research articles and essays and organized Elemental Conversations and a Climate Action Festival exploring water, soil, fire and air through science, faith and art.

Another major contribution is IRC’s role in co-hosting the Land Forward Conference with Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples and Laguna Canyon Foundation. Held on November 6-7 at the Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences & Engineering in shared Acjachemen and Gabrielino Tongva homelands, the gathering created space for meaningful engagement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, centering dialogue around cultural understanding, land rematriation, re-indigenization of stewardship practices, and pathways toward collaboration. 

Throughout the conference, participants engaged in panel discussions and facilitated conversations that highlighted successes, challenges, and opportunities for land rematriation and a variety of co-stewardship models. Speakers emphasized the importance of centering Indigenous sovereignty in the Landback movement, stewardship practices reflecting the land as culture and medicine, the significance of cultural burning, and Indigenous futurism. By the end of the event, participants expressed a renewed sense of commitment to advancing culturally informed stewardship practices. The conference served as an important step towards building lasting relationships that support both community resilience and the protection of California’s lands and waters.

Now entering its next phase, WUICAN is positioned as a catalyst for coordinated climate action across Southern California. The network offers a shared space for collaborative governance, solutions‑based research, action planning, and community‑driven climate priorities. IRC is proud to continue this partnership and support the communities they serve. As WUICAN seeks new funding to sustain its work, those interested in supporting these efforts can donate to IRC to help advance initiatives like this or reach out to Victoria Lowerson Bredow, Director of Engaged Scholarship & Co-Director of the Research Justice Shop, at vlowerso@uci.edu.

This work was supported by a California Climate Action Matching Award (Grant #R02CM7042) from the University of California Office of the President.