The Complex Nature of Fire

Historically, fire played a crucial role in maintaining the health and diversity of forests, grasslands and other habitats. Native species, both plant and animal, have adapted to the specific fire regimes of their environments, developing survival strategies and thriving in conditions fire creates. For example, certain species of trees require heat from a fire to release their seeds, and various wildlife species rely on the structure that fire maintains in their habitats, like wild turkeys.

"Most animals on the landscape have evolved to some extent with fire, adapting to the habitat structure that fire creates and maintains, based on the specific ecotype and the historical frequency of fires in those ecosystems,” said Ricky Lackey, NWTF district biologist for Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. “Depending on the region, these animals have become finely tuned to the presence of fire. However, with today's widespread habitat fragmentation, we often have to artificially replicate the natural fire regimes that once occurred, to conserve the wildlife populations and the plant structures they depend on."

David Nikonow, NWTF district biologist for Colorado, Montana and Wyoming, echoed the importance of fire for ecosystem health.

“Fire is critical on the landscape at the right time and place," he said. "It's been here for thousands of years, shaping the ecosystems we see today, and it will continue to be a necessary part of these landscapes."

Human intervention, particularly through fire suppression, has significantly altered natural fire regimes. Forests that once thrived with periodic burns became overstocked and vulnerable to more intense and destructive fires.

Throughout European colonization of North America, fire suppression became a dominant practice, particularly in the early 20th century. The 1930s marked a pivotal moment with the introduction of the USDA Forest Service's "10 a.m. rule," which mandated that any fire should be extinguished by 10 a.m. the following morning. This aggressive approach to fire suppression, driven by the need to protect timber resources and settlements, dramatically reduced the frequency of natural fires. As a result, many forests, especially in the western U.S., became overstocked and dense, with thick understories that historically would have been thinned by frequent, low-intensity fires.

“We’ve created a challenging situation by fully suppressing fires for so long that many areas of the country are not ready to receive fire without some type of mechanical treatment, and then we can reintroduce fire,” said Molly Pitts, NWTF wildfire crisis manager. “I do think that moving forward, there's a lot of opportunity to allow fire to do its natural processes in areas that we've treated or are ready to receive fire, and we need to let that happen.”

Additionally, as the climate changes, so does fire behavior. Rising temperatures and prolonged droughts have created conditions where catastrophic fires burn more frequently. This new era of fire presents significant challenges for land managers and conservationists.

“It seems like land managers spend half of the year putting fires out and the other half of the year talking about how we put fire back on the landscape,” said Patt Dorsey, NWTF director of conservation in the West. “Everything in between focuses on how we get the landscape ready to receive fire and how we build people's acceptance of fire being a good management tool. Maybe we shouldn’t think about good and bad fire — there may be no such thing as bad fire — only landscapes that aren't ready to receive it.”

Balancing the need for fire with the risks posed by a changing climate requires a scientific approach.

"Prescribed fire is one of the cheapest and most effective tools we have to bring areas back to a condition that we want," Pitts said. "Whether it's for hazard mitigation, wildlife habitat or forest health, it truly is a remarkable tool. The key is applying it where and when it's appropriate, ensuring the landscape is ready to receive it."

In contrast to the destructive power of intense and widespread wildfires that can ravage thousands of acres in a short amount of time, prescribed fire is a carefully planned and executed tool used by land managers to achieve specific ecological goals. Prescribed burns are conducted under controlled conditions, with precise parameters set to ensure that the fire produces the desired outcomes without causing undue harm.

There are many benefits to prescribed burns, including reducing fuel loads, controlling invasive species and promoting the growth of native vegetation. They also mimic the natural fire regimes that many species rely on, maintaining the habitats they need to survive. However, as effective as prescribed fire is, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. The success of a prescribed burn depends on a thorough understanding of the specific landscape, the current conditions and the historical fire regime of the area.

While prescribed fires are carefully controlled, natural-ignition fires, such as those started by lightning, present a more complex challenge. These fires are often categorized as wildfires, which can carry a negative connotation, especially when they occur in areas unprepared to receive fire due to decades of suppression and buildup of woody vegetation. However, not all natural-ignition wildfires are inherently bad.

"Sometimes, natural-ignition fires can still be good, providing resource benefits similar to those of prescribed burns," Nikonow said. "These are fires that burn within the range of historic levels of intensity and variation, maintaining the ecological processes that species have adapted to."

A significant challenge in fire management and the discussion of "good" versus "bad" wildfire is public perception. Many people struggle to understand why some natural-ignition fires are allowed to burn while others are extinguished.

"The public often sees fire as a good or bad issue, but the reality is far more complex," Pitts said. "We need to do a better job of educating people about the science of fire and the careful planning that goes into managing it."

This confusion is often compounded by the seemingly contradictory actions of land managers who might suppress a fire in one area while setting a prescribed burn in another.

"Maybe the problem is how we talk about fire," Lackey said. "We label everything that isn't prescribed as a wildfire, which automatically carries the stigma of catastrophe. But some of these fires, even though they weren't started by us, can still be beneficial. Perhaps we need to rethink how we classify these fires."

Specific NWTF efforts, like the Rocky Mountain Restoration Initiative and Wildfire Crisis Strategy, are focused on creating conditions where fires burn at levels similar to historical patterns, providing benefits to local communities and wildlife.

"One of our main goals within the Wildfire Crisis Strategy is preparing landscapes to receive fire," Pitts said. "We're working at a landscape level, and several of the projects under this strategy are large-scale, which is exciting because we've got to get to a pace and scale that makes a difference.”

In addition to wildfire resilience, Dorsey explains the broader benefits of these fire-focused efforts.

"These efforts are building resilience into forested landscapes," Dorsey said. "We're not just preparing for future fires — because it's not a matter of if, but when — but also addressing insect and disease issues. This resilience benefits wildlife habitats, not just for turkeys but for species like elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, the pileated woodpecker and so on."

When fire moves through a landscape, it clears out dense underbrush, dead vegetation, and invasive species that can choke out the diverse plant communities wild turkeys rely on for food and shelter. This process creates a mosaic of open areas and regenerating vegetation, which is ideal for wild turkeys. The open spaces left by fire provide prime foraging grounds where turkeys can easily find seeds, insects and other food sources. Meanwhile, the new growth that follows a fire offers excellent cover and nesting sites, particularly for hens raising their poults. Additionally, fire helps to maintain the early successional habitats, such as grasslands and open woodlands, that wild turkeys need to thrive.

"In the South, without disturbance, vegetation becomes unusable within just a couple of years," Lackey said. "By year three or four, wild turkeys can't even use it in most cases. That's why we're trying to keep fire on the landscape more frequently and expand its use where we can. In addition, we have a huge opportunity to positively impact threatened and endangered species that share the same habitat types as wild turkeys."

Ultimately, the work being done to reintroduce fire into these landscapes is not just about managing risk — it's about restoring a natural process that has shaped the environment for centuries. By embracing the complexity of fire's role in the environment and working to educate the public on its benefits, the NWTF is helping to build a future where fire is recognized as a vital and necessary force in the natural world.