Key Takeaways: Controlled Burning and Fire as a Stewardship Tool

• Healing the Forest: Fire is a vital natural element that, when managed with care, helps fire-adapted ecosystems regenerate and diversify — and reduces the likelihood of catastrophic wildfires.
• Indigenous Wisdom and Stewardship: By supporting Indigenous leadership and combining traditional ecological knowledge with modern science, we can nurture a more regenerative relationship with the land.
• Science-Backed Restoration: Emerging research, including a 2025 Stanford-led study, affirms that carefully applied controlled burns are effective at reducing wildfire severity and harmful smoke pollution in western U.S. forests.

Controlled Burning and What we Can Learn From Indigenous Stewardship

What if the key to reducing catastrophic wildfire isn’t eliminating fire, but working with it? Cultural burning has been used for millennia by Indigenous peoples around the world to care for the land, and modern research backs it up. A 2025 Stanford-led study found that prescribed burns reduced subsequent wildfire severity by 16% and cut smoke pollution by 14% across the western United States. “It’s not a cure-all, but it’s a strategy that can reduce harm from extreme wildfires when used effectively,” said lead author and postdoctoral fellow Makoto Kelp.

Prescribed Burns vs. Wildfires: Understanding the Difference

At a time when wildfires are increasingly destructive — 21 years of data collected by NASA found that extreme wildfire activity has more than doubled worldwide  — it’s understandable to view any form of fire as a threat. Yet, the distinction between a destructive wildfire and a carefully managed prescribed burn is profound. As put by researchers with USDA Forest Service Research and Development, “The key difference between wildfire and prescribed fires is that prescribed fires are planned in advance. Managers have decision space to initiate a prescribed fire or wait for more favorable conditions.” 

Prescribed burns, also called controlled burns, are intentionally set and carefully managed by trained fire staff to meet specific goals, including reducing built-up fuels, creating space for more biodiverse vegetation and habitats, and improving long-term ecosystem resilience. According to the Northwest Fire Science Consortium, prescribed fire may take the form of broadcast burning, where fire is applied across a planned area such as a forest understory, or pile burning, where vegetation is gathered and burned in stacks. Both approaches are executed under defined weather, fuel, and safety conditions so managers can control where, when, and how intensely the fire burns.

Wildfires are, increasingly, the opposite. According to Brittney Burke, Director of Programs at One Tree Planted, “Catastrophic wildfires, like many of those now occurring in the west, induce widespread tree mortality that results in reduced biodiversity and extensive habitat loss for wildlife, including many threatened and endangered species,” adding that “In addition to habitat loss, large-scale tree mortality can cause a cascade of negative events that further compromise the integrity of local ecosystems.”

For communities, the difference is not just ecological; it is deeply human. Wildfires destroy homes, displace families, expose people to hazardous smoke, and leave lasting emotional, physical, and financial damage. They can also damage culturally important places that hold memory, identity, and connection to nature.

Shifting Perspectives on Fire

For over a century, public policy in the United States has favored fire suppression, a mandate that traces its roots back to the nation’s inaugural 1885 wildland fire control program, which called for extinguishing all fires. While modern understanding has evolved, proactive fire management approaches like prescribed fire have yet to be consistently adopted at the scale experts say we need.  

Today, wildfires are growing larger, burning more intensely, and touching more areas every year, making it harder for nature to recover on its own. From 2001 to 2025, fires drove the loss of 160 million hectares of global tree cover. And in 2024 alone, a record-breaking 13 million hectares were lost, accounting for nearly half of all tree cover loss that year.

Research led by UCLA found that wildfires in the western United States now burn 10 times the acreage they did in 1985, and that high severity fires have increased thirtyfold in California between 1984-2024. “These high-severity, forest-replacing fires used to be uncommon, and now it’s the dominant fire type,” said senior author Park Williams, UCLA professor of geography. 

Climate change is a key factor in this sharp increase, thanks to the atmospheric conditions it drives. During the UCLA study’s 40 year period, warmer and drier conditions directly correlated with high-severity fire. But it isn’t the full story: fire is also more likely to intensify in forests that have the most biomass. The study’s findings suggest that historic fire prevention efforts have, unfortunately, contributed to the problem in California. 

Shifting our perspective means recognizing that fire, for all of its destructive power, is also a natural element that is vital to the lifecycle of many forests. Over thousands of years, many ecosystems have evolved to include a naturally occurring fire regime that triggers seed germination, frees up nutrients, facilitates natural regeneration, and clears competition away so native plants can thrive. 

“The more science has learned about natural ecosystems such as forests of native trees, the more it recognizes the important role fire plays in maintaining them,” said Stephen Arno, a retired US Forest Service research ecologist in an article written for the International Association of Wildland Fire.

The Role of Cultural Burning

While “prescribed fire” is a technical term used by forestry professionals, it exists on the back of a much older, deeper practice: cultural burning.

Cultural burning involves the intentional lighting of smaller, controlled fires to create specific cultural benefits — such as reducing invasive plants, improving forage and habitat for wildlife, and supporting the growth and collection of traditional foods. Cultural burns can also reduce the risk of severe wildfire near communities and sacred places, and improve health, identity, and well-being through the act of land stewardship.

As Frank Kanawha Lake, a research ecologist with the USDA Forest Service and wildland firefighter of Karuk descent, noted in an interview with the History Channel, “[Cultural burning] links back to the tribal philosophy of fire as medicine.” He added that ”When you prescribe it, you’re getting the right dose to maintain the abundance of productivity of all ecosystem services to support the ecology in your culture.” 

According to the Indigenous Association of Wildland Fire, Indigenous communities historically used fire as a tool to enhance the environment and improve their livelihoods. These practices were outlawed for over a century under policies such as the Civilization Regulations. This systemic suppression — which also involved the forced separation of children from their families — severed the transmission of critical knowledge systems. Today, a substantial body of research validates what Indigenous peoples have known for generations.

Reintegrating healthy fire into our landscapes means understanding and respecting these traditions. In our current reality, controlled burning is an important tool, but not a panacea: its effectiveness depends on how, when, and where it is applied, and on the governance structures that guide it. Evidence shows that, when used safely, prescribed fire can reduce wildfire severity, yet it delivers the greatest benefit as part of a broader fire‑management strategy that integrates traditional ecological knowledge with modern science.