With forest fires, you can foster an attitude of inclusion or exclusion. An attitude of inclusion recognizes that fire plays an important role in ecologically minded land management. An attitude of exclusion sees all forest fires as destructive. So what are the characteristics of "good" wildfire?
As reported by Robyn Schelenz in the article linked above, “Two hundred years ago, someone walking through Yosemite would not have seen the densely packed forests we now associate with the Sierra Nevada. They would have passed through broad meadows and perhaps have even been drawn to comment, as the Spanish did, on how the land appeared like a ‘well-tended garden.’ In fact, that is exactly what Spaniards were seeing: Indigenous people native to Yosemite and other parts of the world have used fire for millennia to promote healthy forests. Today, the wisdom of that approach is seen as one of the keys to unraveling the deadly cycle of California wildfires.”
We could replace the phrase forest fire with cultural burn, or controlled burns, and that way recognize the wisdom of Indigenous peoples of what is now called California, and elsewhere. Cultural burns have cultural, spiritual, and economic meaning for Indigenous peoples. The practice supports the idea of judging the effects of the changes we make to the environment today by how they will influence people for the next seven generations. Cultural burns also make it possible to harvest certain plants used for basket weaving. In dense forests, trees that send roots down two meters make it impossible for grasses and other low-lying plants to reach water more than 1 meter deep. Dense forests allow fire to travel from treetop to treetop, extending the fire for square miles rather than acres. Says Schelenz, “It is called cultural burning not only because of its spiritual and cultural importance to Indigenous communities, but because the burns are designed to cultivate the biodiverse, sustainable growth that makes landscapes more resilient.”
Changing Attitudes
A series of destructive fires in the Northern Rocky Mountains in 1910 drew newspaper coverage nationwide. Photos of burned trees and buildings were the period’s clickbait. From then until about the 1940s and 1950s, the general public considered all fires bad, even evil. Since then, the idea of controlled burns has taken root and is practiced extensively, if not exclusively, today. But a familiar icon that recommends fire exclusion was born in August 1944. Smokey the Bear’s motto was “Remember… Only YOU can prevent forest fires.” Now it’s up to all of us, from homeowners and indigenous tribes to the U.S. Forest Service to support balanced fire policy.
A recent Stanford study recommends more use of “good fire” to help manage millions of acres of Forest Service land and mitigate increased wildfires driven by climate change and uncontrolled forest undergrowth. The study was a collaboration between Stanford, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Yurok and Karuk tribes of Northern California.
Close to Home
The Contra Costa Resource Conservation District Wildfire Conservation and Resilience website is a rich resource for those who want more fire inclusion and less fire exclusion at the local level. It is also a resource for homeowners who are worried about wildfires in our area. You can find webinars explaining how to live with wildfire risk. The Contra Costa County Wildfire Mitigation Program, supported with Measure X funds, is listed among the resources. You can apply for funds for chipping, dead-tree removal, and shaded firebreaks through that program.
Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash
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