The scale and intensity of wildfires has dramatically increased due to drier conditions from climate change and the suppression of natural fires. Women like Lenya Quinn-Davidson, fire advisor to the University of California, Margo Robbins, executive director of the Cultural Fire Management Council, and Katie Sauerbrey, fire programmer for the Nature Conservancy, are part of a larger movement of women and gender non-conforming people working in the field of prescribed burning, the intentional practice of setting fires to maintain the health of forests. Prescribing burning comes from the traditional knowledge and practice of Indigenous Peoples in North America. This practice was disrupted by colonialism when settlers suppressed natural fire. The return to prescribed burning comes at a time when people are desperate for a solution to the catastrophic wildfires raging across the continent. For prescribed burning to be successfully practiced and integrated in fire management plans, Indigenous Peoples, women, and gender non-conforming people must be included and become leaders in the fire industry. Photo credit: Jennifer Osborne/Atmos
