Journal Article

Untrammeling the wilderness: restoring natural conditions through the return of human-ignited fire

Long, Jonathan W., Hankins, Don L., Coop, Jonathan D., Armstrong, Melanie, Parks, Sean A., Boerigter, Clare E.

2024

Overview

Historical and contemporary policies and practices, including the suppression of lightning-ignited fires and the removal of intentional fires ignited by Indigenous peoples, have resulted in over a century of fire exclusion across many of the USA’s landscapes. Within many designated wilderness areas, this intentional exclusion of fire has clearly altered ecological processes and thus constitutes a fundamental and ubiquitous act of trammeling . Through a framework that recognizes four orders of trammeling , we demonstrate the substantial, long-term, and negative effects of fire exclusion on the natural conditions of fire-adapted wilderness ecosystems. In order to un trammel more than a century of fire exclusion, the implementation of active programs of intentional burning may be necessary across some wilderness landscapes. We also suggest greater recognition and accommodation of Indigenous cultural burning, a practice which Tribes used to shape and maintain many fire-adapted landscapes for thousands of years before Euro-American colonization, including landscapes today designated as wilderness. Human-ignited fire may be critical to restoring the natural character of fire-adapted wilderness landscapes and can also support ecocultural restoration efforts sought by Indigenous peoples.

• Publisher: Springer International Publishing,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Biomedical and Life Sciences / Burning / Ecology / Fires / Forestry / Forum / Indigenous peoples / Indigenous Stewardship: Addressing the fire crisis in the western USA / Life Sciences / Lightning suppression / Native peoples / Shape recognition / Wilderness / Wilderness areas