Scientist Seeking

We are so often afraid of the fire.

It makes sense. Yes, it does warm us; but it can burn us, too. A necessity for survival but can cause death and destruction. So we had to suppress it. Good ol’ Smokey Bear reminding us all that we can prevent forest fires, for decades–most of us completely unaware of the damage we were inadvertently causing. Duff and leaf litter began to pile higher and higher, a thickening layer of decay that prevented new life, sapped resources, suffocated growth.

It always starts with good intentions, but our hubris always gets the better of us. Suppress, suppress, suppress and keep it all under control.

But we cannot stop every fire. And then the forest is ablaze.

The fuel load–years of dead wood, dry leaves, rotting vines–now greater from our obsession with suppression, fueling weeks and months of burning. Ecosystems experiencing major shifts. Disastrous.

And then we learned of an old practice, indigenous wisdom we thought rudimentary: cultural burning. But it’s wisdom for a reason. It is an intentional clearing of the land repeated every so often because some ecosystems NEED the fire. Some species of tree need fire to melt their resins so they can release their seeds. Some species cannot compete with herbaceous plants and need fire to weed out competition. We were scratching our heads looking at a problem we created by ignoring a solution long well known.

Isn’t that just the way it goes?

It always starts with good intentions, but our hubris always gets the better of us. Suppress, suppress, suppress and keep it all under control.

But maybe, if instead, we welcome the fire–because eventually, the fire will come, it always does–it can clear the duff and decay. A smaller, controlled burn that rids us of the uck we carry, giving us a fresh start, room for new growth.