Newsom Diverted Taxpayer Funds That Could Have Stopped Palisades Fires

California Governor Gavin Newsom has allocated millions of dollars to a program that funds Native American “food sovereignty,” owl counting, and “cultural burns,” according to a report published this week.

City Journal noted in particular that the cultural burns are when Native American tribes use traditional fire methods to clear brush and undergrowth from the land to preserve their “close kinship” with plants, animals, and “other natural relatives.”

in which tribal groups use traditional fire techniques to clear brush from the landscape and preserve their “close kinship” with plants, animals, and “other natural relatives.”

Since 2023, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) has distributed roughly $24 million to tribal organizations and nonprofit groups through its “Tribal Wildfire Resilience” program.