A U.S. government researcher claims that Native Americans in California used fire to control the availability of plants they used for food, fuel, tools and rituals.

Frank Lake, an ecologist at the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Station, said the Sacramento Valley and Miwork lands were a fire and flood system 10,000 years ago.

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He believes that to maintain the blue and valley oak they relied on, Native Americans need an anthropogenic fire system.

An anthropogenic fire refers to a man-made fire that alters a landscape in a way that will better suit human needs.

Lake explained that fire exerts a powerful effect on the ecosystem, including the quality and quantity of available water in a watershed.

He said that up until now, contemporary tribes continue to effectively use fire to maintain their natural resources.

He added that Native Californians staggered their burns from 5 to 10 years to create mosaics of forest at different stages. This practice added a lot of diversity in a short proximity area of the same forest type.

He believes that understanding the tribal use of these environments has relevance to contemporary forest management and restoration of endangered ecosystems.

By working closely with the different Californian tribes, the government can fulfill the public's needs for a trustworthy protection of life, property and resources, he said.

He also said that by aligning tribal values with public values, one can produce a more resilient landscape.