/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/00/b7/00b7300b-1cb4-4fb1-9d2f-1d6951f10521/opener-aprmay2023_e06_wildfires.jpg "Science: California Embraces the Strategy of Combating Wildfires with Controlled Burns")
Photographs and accompanying text were provided by Andria Hautamaki. Jeff Greef had to evacuate his Northern California cabin when the Dixie Fire threatened the area. He had watched the sky darken with smoke and had taken precautions such as building the cabin with fire-resistant materials and thinning the surrounding forest. The Plumas Underburn Cooperative is one of many Prescribed Burn Associations (PBAs) that help landowners manage fires safely and effectively. With the state of California having 22 PBAs, Lenya Quinn-Davidson, a fire expert with the University of California Cooperative Extension, explains that communities are desperate for solutions. Before the arrival of European settlers, Indigenous people would intentionally ignite fires to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires. With a changing climate and less controlled fires, the federal government spent $4.4 billion on fire suppression in 2021, almost double the previous year. However, state and federal agencies are planning more prescribed burns with the help of a trained professional called a “burn boss.” These prescribed burns can improve the habitat for wildlife, restore forest vitality, and reduce the buildup of hazardous fuel. The Plumas Underburn Cooperative conducts a “pile burn” on a steep hillside to reduce fuel available to a wildfire, and the Mendocino County PBA introduces a mosaic pattern in brush-covered land to change how it burns and encourage plant and animal variety. Kyle Farmer, a rancher in Mendocino County and founding member of the Mendocino County PBA, uses the practice to sustain the family’s cattle and lamb operation and pre-emptively uses prescribed fire to clear the land of thick underbrush. With the landscape becoming progressively fragmented, it is harder to perform controlled burns and save vulnerable structures in the event of a wildfire.
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