Fire: An essential ecological process and cultural practice

Fire is an essential ecological process and cultural practice, but can be incredibly destructive across landscapes and urban areas, as we have experienced in the past decade across diverse forests around the world. In British Columbia (BC), Canada, escalating fires have cost billions of dollars to suppress and disproportionately impact Indigenous and rural communities. These extreme events are driven by the combined impacts of climate change and colonization.

In fire-adapted ecosystems across BC, the colonial disruption of cultural burning and the elimination of landscape fires through suppression for more than a century has allowed hazardous fuels to accumulate, increasing ecosystem vulnerability to extreme fires — including old-growth forests and the habitats of many rare and endangered species. Colonial paradigms overlook fire as an essential ecosystem function and part of the solution to mitigate against catastrophic fires and adapt to climate change. This principle underlies the “triple fire paradox”: 1) Attempting to protect fire-adapted ecosystems through control and suppression has increased fire severity and impacts. 2) Restoration of diverse fire across ecosystems is needed. 3) Respecting Indigenous knowledge and revitalizing Indigenous fire stewardship is a key solution.

A paradigm shift to Indigenous-led, proactive fire management centers on risk reduction through fuels mitigation and cultural burning, moving away from fire suppression and forests managed primarily for timber. We will share examples in which First Nations are leading conservation through the revitalization of cultural practices to restore ecosystems. Foundational to holistic restoration is understanding historical fire regimes and the interconnections between Indigenous fire stewardship and ecocultural values, such as understory plants, ecosystem structure, and wildlife habitat. Indigenous knowledge of cultural fire regimes passed down over centuries (e.g., in oral histories and cultural practices) and supported by western science (e.g., tree-ring studies), have recalibrated the understanding of fire-forest relationships in many ecosystems across BC. This knowledge can guide the location, timing, and magnitude of restoration activities, aligning them with historical ecosystem functions to which species are adapted and improving ecosystem resilience to climate change.