Fire in the "Wilderness"

The West. The Wild. The Wilderness.

Is on fire.

Again.

Do you know that the pristine "wilderness" encountered by the first European colonists to this country NEVER ACTUALLY EXISTED? The "wilderness" as most of our ancestors believed it to be, had actually been MANAGED by Native Americans for millennia. They manipulated the land and the plants and their harvest by controlled burning, pruning, harvesting, and planting for centuries - all while remaining what we would call hunter-gatherers rather than farmers. True environmental stewards.

The current state of our burning forests are partially a result of a LACK of land management, invasive species pushing out the natives and becoming fuel for intense fires, and of course, climate change. Imagine how much less it would cost to manage the land responsibly instead of fighting these fires, risking lives, and property loss.

One resource I can point you to If you'd like to learn more is the book "Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources" by M. Kat Anderson.