Nature Conservancy fire worker Char’rese Finney uses a drip torch to start a controlled burn to manage a longleaf pine forest in central Florida.

Credit: Carlton Ward Jr. / Nature Conservancy

Fire Ecology

Call to action:

Restore the essential role of fire in nature by adopting practices and attitudes that honor its historic part in regenerating land and cultures.

Fire ecology is both a scientific discipline and a cultural attitude focused on the interactions between fire and ecosystems. In the 20th century, fire suppression became the official policy of land management agencies in many developed nations despite scientific evidence and a long tradition of Indigenous fire management that contradicted it. As a result, wildfire gained a negative reputation. Today, fire ecology demonstrates that properly stewarded fire can prevent larger, more dangerous wildfires and acknowledges that Indigenous peoples have practiced sound fire stewardship for millennia, embracing fire’s regenerative properties. This shift in practices and attitudes toward regenerative fire are urgently needed. Widespread land degradation combined with climate change are creating ideal conditions for uncontrollable fire. In many parts of the world, fire seasons are longer, the number of fires has increased, the amount of land burned is more extensive, and the cost of firefighting has risen dramatically. In this crisis, fire ecologists and Indigenous leaders are working together to bring “good fire” back to the land.

Nexus Rating System^Beta

Solutions to the climate emergency have unique social and environmental effects, positive and negative. To develop a broader understanding of the solutions in Nexus, we rate each solution on five criteria.

Sources for each Nexus are graded numerically (-3 through 10), and the average is displayed as a letter grade. You can explore each source in depth by clicking “view sources” below. For more information, see our Nexus Ratings page.

Fire Ecology

8.40

7.70

8.10

0.00

Social Justice
Culture
Women
Biodiversity
Carbon

Reference	Social Justice	Culture	Women	Biodiversity	Carbon
Fire is medicine: the tribes burning California forests to save them	9.0	9.0		9.0
Native American fire management at an ancient wildlandurban interface in the Southwest United States	7.0	8.0		7.0
In California women learn how to protect their ancestral lands with fire	8.0	9.0	9.0
Fire as a key driver of Earths biodiversity				9.0
Fire Ecology in Sweden and Future Use of Fire for Maintaining Biodiversity				7.0
Situating Indigenous knowledge for resilience in fire-dependent socialecological systems	7.0	7.0		8.0
Oak restoration project a step toward returning indigenous fire	8.0	8.0		8.0
Fire and agroforestry revive California indigenous groups traditions	9.0	9.0		9.0
Walking on two legs: a pathway of Indigenous restoration and reconciliation in fire-adapted landscapes	7.0	8.0		7.0
Rekindling the Practice of Cultural Burning: An Act of Climate Hope - resilience	8.0	9.0		8.0
Indigenous Ecologies: Cultivating Fire Plants and Climate Futurity - California Native Plant Society (cnps.org)	9.0	9.0	9.0	9.0
Women in fire: Blazing through barriers US Forest Service (usda.gov)			9.0
Ecology Wildfire Science and Advancing Gender Equity	7.0		7.0
Women of wildfire: revolution superheroes and the case for diversity in fire management	7.0		7.0
The Women Fighting Fire With Fire	8.0	8.0	8.0
Women on Fire lighting up a new path	7.0		7.0
Reimagine fire science for the anthropocene			7.0
Opening Doors for Women in Fire with Melissa Forder			7.0
Women and diversity in the new paradigm of fire science			7.0
	7.8	8.4	7.7	8.1	0.0

Action Items

Individuals

Learn and share the science behind “good fire.” Public perception of fire as a threat shapes policies that hamper fire stewardship efforts. Educating yourself and others about fire ecology can help. Here are some key points to learn about fire ecology and the current state of fire:

Fire ecology is built on three basic concepts: (1) that in certain ecosystems nature needs fire to thrive, called fire dependence; (2) that the history of fire in each ecosystem can help shape its future condition, called fire history; and (3) that fire’s natural role changes depending on the landscape, called fire regime. In a nutshell, fire ecology takes a close look at fire’s relationship with nature to offer a blueprint for smarter fire management.
Decades of fire suppression in forest and grassland ecosystems that depend on natural fire has had devastating consequences, including the creation of densely-packed forest stands that are highly susceptible to catastrophic wildfires and a decrease in natural resilience to fire and other threats to forest and grassland health (see Grasslands Nexus).
For centuries, Indigenous people around the world have understood the importance of fire in caring for the land. Their care and attention is reflected in the words they use to describe fire on the land, including cultural burning, good fire, Indigenous fire, fire-stick farming, and fire as medicine. However, European settlers saw fire as a threat to valuable timber and introduced laws mandating fire suppression (putting out most fires) and fire exclusion (putting out all fires) – practices and policies that are still ingrained in many fire management programs. Even today, some continue to discount the ecological role of Indigenous people.
Scientists have now employed fire ecology to discover that fire suppression and exclusion have created what’s called a fire deficit: the reduction in acreage burned by wildfires over a long period of time that leads to fuel buildup and consequently increases the risk of large, catastrophic wildfires. Some scientists call this the Smokey Bear effect—referring to the country’s longest-running public-service campaign that pushes a message of fire suppression. These scientists recommend moving from a militaristic “war on fire” toward embracing fire’s regenerative possibilities.
Though climate change is not the sole cause of increasingly severe and frequent wildfires, including the historic fires in Canada in 2023, the hotter, drier conditions it creates are a major contributing factor. Wildfires themselves are, in turn, contributing to climate change by releasing massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere—emitting more carbon annually than global road, rail, shipping, and air transport combined. Emissions from Siberia’s fires in 2021 alone were greater than Germany’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions.
Wildfires are now part of a deadly feedback loop: increased global emissions lead to higher temperatures, creating drier, more fire-prone conditions (see Desertification Nexus). This leads to more fires emitting more carbon, and the cycle continues. Better fire management in the immediate term and reduced carbon emissions in the long run, are critical to breaking this cycle and restoring fire’s beneficial role in nature. It all starts with fire ecology.
A hallmark of smarter fire management is prescribed burning: carefully timed, low-intensity fires intended to remove built-up fuel (such as dry underbrush), boost biodiversity, and regenerate grasses and perennials. This practice has been used for millennia around the world by Indigenous people. Unfortunately, in places with a history of fire suppression, the overgrown vegetation that would otherwise have been cleared by fire has created tinderbox conditions that now make prescribed burning riskier.
Another way to put fire ecology into practice is by restoring ecosystems that have become more vulnerable to fire through deforestation and invasive species (see Degraded Land Restoration Nexus). For example, Israeli forest officials are using “tree swapping” to reduce fire risk—removing nonnative Aleppo pines that spark easily in a blaze and replacing them with less flammable olive trees and Jerusalem oak.
Fire ecology has applications across many habitats beyond forests. They can range from “cooler” burns on Mozambique’s savannas designed to cut emissions from larger wildfires to tracking and responding to the impact of fires caused by cattle ranches near the Paraná River Delta marshes of Argentina.

Support the renewal of Indigenous fire stewardship. The suppression of Indigenous fire wisdom and practices has deeply harmed Indigenous communities and culture. Now that fire managers around the world are beginning to recognize the benefits of fire, they are looking to Indigenous leaders to bring ancient wisdom back into practice.

Learn more about the past, present, and future of fire stewardship through the eyes of Indigenous leaders on the Good Fire podcast and from Dr. Frank Lake, a Karuk and Yurok tribe member co-leading the reintroduction of prescribed fire in California’s Klamath River basin.
Follow Indigenous perspectives on current events, especially related to fire practices and policies, through news sources like High Country News.
Join or support collaborative efforts like the Indigenous Peoples Burning Network that are revitalizing traditional fire practices in a modern context. Refer to Key Players below for communities and organizations to support.

Practice and promote fire safety. Bringing good fire back to the land should be left to experts who work in controlled conditions, but we can all play a part in fire stewardship by preventing the start or spread of accidental fires—especially for those who live close to wild places, sometimes called the wildland-urban interface or WUI. According to a report from the WWF, 96 percent of the world's fires are now either deliberately lit or unintentionally caused by humans. You can help drive that number down through safer fire practices—whether it’s at home or on your next camping trip—by using basic fire best practices, such as good campfire etiquette, firework safety, and proper use of combustion engine equipment when in dry conditions.

Vote for policies and leaders that put fire ecology into practice. Keep an eye out for fire-related policies on the ballot and be sure to vote for fire management that is rooted in science. Learn from a few standout case studies in fire management below and check out the Governance section for more information.

India’s efforts to transform forest governance by decentralizing management to local forest-dwelling communities is an attempt to address past forest-rights injustices. While implementation has been flawed, the concept of democratizing forest management could be explored in many contexts, especially those in which Indigenous people have historically been barred from stewarding their ancestral land.
Finland uses a regimen of prescribed burning and compartmentalized reforestation that its Nordic neighbors could learn from, especially Sweden, where fires have burned out of control. This practice has managed to bring down the area annually destroyed by wildfires from 100,000-plus hectares a century ago to less than 1,000 today.
Following the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Australia, authorities imposed a stringent risk-reduction standard on utilities, along with a deadline for meeting them. The state simultaneously beefed up its utility regulator, Melbourne-based Energy Safe Victoria (ESV), which now has four times as many arborists and engineers overseeing power infrastructure as it did in 2009.
The National Prescribed Fire Act of 2021, currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate, aims to greatly expand the number of acres across federal, state, county, and private lands managed with prescribed burns. The proposed legislation also stipulates important employment initiatives to include women, Indigenous peoples, veterans, and formerly incarcerated people in the prescribed-fire-practitioner workforce.

Protect the land you live on. If you live near landscapes that are prone to fire, get to know those places and the people who care for them—from conservation nonprofits to local firefighters. Show your support by volunteering, donating, or spreading the word about their work.

If you don’t live in a fire-prone area, learn where fires are happening around the world and lend a hand by supporting and raising the profile of action campaigns led by local activists. Consider focusing on critically important ecosystems like the Amazon rainforest, whose health impacts ecosystems well beyond itself.

Groups

Indigenous Peoples

Know your rights when sharing fire expertise. Ancestral knowledge and wisdom are critical to bringing fire’s natural role back into balance, and Indigenous people are owed respect and compensation for their contributions. Consider referencing these best practices developed by the Northern Australia Environmental Resources Hub as a baseline for what equitable partnership could look like when sharing fire stewardship practices in order to ensure a mutually beneficial and supportive exchange. A few of the key points:

Require traditional and legal rights to be recognized: Indigenous people should have the option to take the lead on stewarding their ancestral lands.
Ensure the benefits go both ways: Indigenous fire management programs and partnerships can and should deliver environmental, social, cultural, and economic benefits for local Indigenous communities.
Establish an open dialogue: The most effective partnerships provide opportunities for all parties to learn from one another, sharing knowledge among community leaders, land managers, and scientists.

Fire Management Leaders

Partner with fire ecologists and Indigenous fire stewards. The science and wisdom these two groups bring can help turn the tide on the current crisis around wildfires. Take guidance from a network of Indigenous leaders and consider these protocols for Indigenous partnerships based on past programs.

Check out a powerful partnership in action in this video featuring the Northfork Mono Tribe bringing “good fire” to overgrown woodlands.
Learn more about how government officials are partnering with the Karuk Tribe to adapt to climate change in the Klamath River basin.
In Canada, recent research has identified barriers and opportunities for Indigenous-led fire stewardship. A Parks Canada site offers an explanation of the difference between cultural burning and prescribed fire.

Land and Livestock Managers

Apply fire ecology knowledge and practices to your land. The way you care for your land and livestock can help reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire—protecting your livelihood and contributing to the greater good at the same time (see Regenerative Agriculture Nexus and Grasslands Nexus)

Find inspiration in programs across the U.S. that employ goats, sheep, and cattle to eat down plants that would otherwise become fuel for wildfires.
Seek expert guidance to use controlled burns on your land to clear brush that could otherwise catch and spread wildfire. Start by contacting your local land management authority or seeking a prescribed burn contractor database like this one compiled for the Southeastern United States.
In California, a land owner describes his experience in managing the trees on his property according to traditional ecological practices.
Take a training course that integrates Indigenous and Western perspectives on fire science, such as the Fundamentals of Wildland Fire Ecology and Management Program offered by the University of British Columbia.

Governance

Build proactive fire management into policies. Though governments around the world have reason to view fire as an enemy, when properly managed, it has the potential to be an ally in moving toward a regenerative future. Unlocking that potential starts with tapping into fire ecology to inform smarter policies that move from reactive firefighting toward proactive fire stewardship. For example:

Push to allocate more funding for fire ecology research and applications that can prevent catastrophic wildfires rather than pumping all funds into suppression.
Ensure prescribed burns have the proper safety regulations, legal parameters, and public buy-in to be carried out promptly and effectively.
Reference this framework for legislation developed by expert lawyers for guidance on internationally accepted ways to address fire management's cultural, social, environmental, and economic dimensions at all levels.
Check out an example of what this framework looks like in action in Turkey.

Allow Indigenous communities to care for their ancestral land. The majority of Indigenous cultures have occupied their homelands for thousands of years. The cumulative knowledge they have derived amounts to what could be called local or observational science—also called traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) – centuries of insight about how to interact with their homelands for the greatest benefit of the living systems we all depend on. Restoring Indigenous rights to care for their land is not only the right thing to do, but it will also benefit the environment and the surrounding community.

For example, during the 2021 fires in India’s Similipal Biosphere Reserve, satellite images suggested that the areas where tribal communities have been given community forest rights (CFR) to manage the land under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) were the least damaged by the wildfire.
In the U.S., officials are turning to Native Americans to share their expertise on prescribed burning through collaborative efforts such as those led by Lomakatsi Restoration Project, which works across sectors and directly with Indigenous people to restore tens of thousands of acres through both modern and traditional practices.

Deincentivize new development near wildfire-prone landscapes. From the Greek countryside to the arid wildlands of the American West, people settling at the edges of poorly managed ecosystems have created more opportunities for accidental, human-caused wildfires and increased the risk to lives, landscapes, and property. There are several ways for governments to step in:

Address housing crises in established residential areas to prevent sprawl into wildland areas.
Buy out fire-prone neighborhoods. Buyouts are voluntary sales, and the government pays fair-market value. The homes are demolished, and the property becomes open space—an approach that could be effective in the highest-risk areas.
Dissuade developers from building and homeowners from moving to fire-prone areas through higher insurance premiums. For example, bake mandatory third-party insurance into location-dependent property taxes for wildfires.
For communities already based in fire-prone places, governments should enforce defensible space and other fire-safety practices.

Bring more technological innovation to fire management. Powerful technology that can aid in fire management is evolving rapidly, but there are a few gaps that governments can help bridge:

Collect, coordinate, and centralize access to fire data: In 2019, an Australia-based company’s satellites detected the Kincade Fire in California wine country just sixty-six seconds after it started, and the fire was verified within three minutes by the ALERT wildfire system. Fire data like this is being collected around the world, but it needs to be centralized, coordinated and shared more widely so that all can access it. Investing in the technology that sources this data is key as well.
Support localized energy infrastructure: Invest in energy technology that’s less prone to cause wildfires in the first place, such as rooftop solar panels, batteries, and local wind turbines.

Invest in pyrogenic carbon storage. Emerging research suggests that charcoal produced by wildfires (called biochar) could trap carbon for hundreds of years and help mitigate climate change through a process called pyrogenic carbon capture and storage (PyCCS). Governments can fund research, technology, and implementation. See the Biochar Nexus to learn more.

Strengthen protections for fire-prone ecosystems. End cycles of degradation that make areas drier and more fire-prone by strengthening and building upon bedrock environmental laws (such as the Endangered Species Act in the U.S.) that provide critical backstops for ecosystems at risk of catastrophic fire. See the Desertification Nexus and Degraded Land Restoration Nexus for more.

Key Players

Organizations

Association for Fire Ecology (Global) is an international organization dedicated to improving the knowledge and use of fire in land management.

Fire Learning Network (FLN) (U.S.) helps people work together to increase the capacity and social capital needed to build ecosystem and community resilience.

Fire Ecology Research Group (Germany) aims to reduce landscape fires' negative impacts on the environment and humanity and advance the knowledge and application of natural fire's ecologically and environmentally benign role in fire-dependent ecosystems and sustainable application of fire in land-use systems.

Indigenous Peoples Burning Network (U.S.) is a support network among Native American communities that are revitalizing their traditional fire practices in a contemporary context.

New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council (Australia) aims to protect the interests and further the aspirations of its members and the broader Aboriginal community.

Terra Fuego (U.S.) implements landscape level restoration, conservation, and risk reduction to improve the health of forest ecosystems,

Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network (U.S.) exists to support and connect people and communities working on wildfire resilience.

The Nature Conservancy (Global) has conducted controlled burns to restore health and diversity to natural lands for 60 years.

Individuals

Amy Cardinal Christianson is an Indigenous fire scientist for the Canadian Forest Service, cohost of the Good Fire podcast.

Stephen Pyne is a professor of fire ecology and forest management as well as an author of many books on the history of fire policy in the U.S.

Thomas Swetnam is director of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and the Environment.

Sandy Harrison is a professor at the University of Reading in Reading, England. Dr. Harrison’s research focuses on paleoclimates and biogeochemical cycles.

Sylvie Gauthier is a research scientist at the Laurentian Forestry Centre of the Canadian Forest Service and an adjunct professor at the University of Quebec in Quebec City, Canada. Dr. Gauthier’s research focuses on characterizing future fire regimes in eastern Canada and assessing the impacts of fires on forest succession in softwood and mixed Boreal forests.

Mark A. Finney is a top U.S. fire expert who leads the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory in Montana.