Fire
Fire is in North America’s nature. From the southeast pine flatwoods, across the Great Plains, over the Rocky Mountain forests, and up the Pacific coast, fire has shaped the landscape for millennia. It maintains grasslands, savannahs, meadows, and forest health. Countless species of plants and animals depend on these fire-created habitats to survive, like the endemic Florida Scrub Jay.
In the early 20th century, European settlers began suppressing fire. Without it, forests grew unnaturally dense, and eventually fires became larger and more severe. A new era of megafires now threatens vast swaths of forests, the rivers that flow from them, and the wildlife that inhabit them.
Today, land managers, firefighters, and scientists are working desperately to restore fire to fire-dependent ecosystems. In forests, this requires first thinning them to pre-suppression densities. Then, firefighters can introduce fire under conditions that keep the fire low in intensity.
Done properly, prescribed fire is often the most effective tactic for restoring fire resilience, combatting invasive plants, and promoting biodiversity. When we return natural fire, the land rebounds with abundance.
A firefighter ignites a prescribed burn on The Nature Conservancy's Agate Desert Preserve in White City, Oregon. Prescribed burning helps control invasive grasses and promote endangered native vernal pool plant species at the preserve.
Florida scrub habitat flourishes at Archbold Biological Station in Venus, Florida. The Florida scrub—a threatened ecosystem—depends on frequent fires to prevent tree encroachment.
A Florida Scrub Jay—banded by ornithologists who study this endangered and endemic species—forages at Arcbhold Biological Station. It is one of several species found only in the Florida scrub.
A mosaic of burnt and unburnt forest and meadows grow in Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado. Forests of Colorado and the West have been shaped by fire for millennia. These fires kept the forest structure diverse and resilient to fire.
Henderson's shooting stars grow in a forest opening in Jackson County, Oregon. Downhill, overly dense Douglas-firs shade out all understory plants.
Douglas-firs stand marked for removal as part of a restoration thinning in a fire-suppressed, overly dense forest in Jackson County, Oregon. As forests become more dense and homogenous, wildfires are becoming larger and more severe.
The Cache la Poudre River fills with sediment running off slopes denuded by the Cameron Peak Fire in Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado. Following large, severe wildfires, erosion threatens water quality.
A white sucker lies dead in the Cache la Poudre River in Fort Collins, Colorado, after a rainstorm washed extreme amounts of sediment, ash, and debris from the Cameron Peak Fire into the river. Wildfires can impact water quality miles away.
Keith Perchemlides, an ecologist for The Nature Conservancy, monitors forest canopy over a stream above Ashland, Oregon. There, a collaborative has invested in forest restoration to protect the city's water supply from severe fire impacts.
A logger thins an overly dense, forest near a home on private land in Larimer County, Colorado. Forest thinning is often required before reintroducing fire to fire-suppressed forests. This prevents the fire from becoming severe and uncontrollable due to accumulated fuels.
A U.S. Forest Service firefighter ignites a prescribed burn in an area that had been previously thinned in Roosevelt National Forest. The burn is part of a coordinated effort to restore forest health and protect Red Feather Lakes, Colorado.
A prescribed fire burns Florida scrub habitat at Archbold Biological Station. The station conducts prescribed burns every year to maintain the endangered scrub ecosystem that it protects and studies.
A prescribed fire burns a pine flatwood at Audubon's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Collier County, Florida. Without frequent fire, the flatwoods fill with shrubs and invasive plants, and biodiversity decreases.
Low flames from a prescribed fire consume litter around a ponderosa pine in Jackson County, Oregon. Prescribed fire allows for low-intensity fire to reduce surface fuels without extensive tree mortality.
Prescribed fire consumes medusahead, an invasive grass, on The Nature Conservancy's Agate Desert Preserve in White City, Oregon. Fire is an important strategy for combatting prolific invasive grasses in order to protect rare and endangered vernal pool species on the preserve.
A firefighter soaks a smoldering tree during the mop-up phase of a prescribed burn at Archbold Biological Station. Prescribed burning allows fire to preform its beneficial effects under optimal conditions.
Balsamroots bloom in extreme abundance the year after the Cameron Peak Fire in Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado. Species in fire-dependent ecosystems have a natural resilience to fire and often flourish after fire under appropriate conditions.
Balsamroots bloom below a prescribed burn in Jackson County, Oregon. As more people move into Western forests, prescribed burns have become essential for allowing fire to remain a part of the landscapes that depend on it.