For millennia, fire has played an important role   in shaping the composition, structure and processes of most native ecosystems in Oregon and Washington.  Since the late 1800s, grasslands and forests have been changed due to wildland fire exclusion and practices such as livestock grazing and logging.  As a result, fires now burn differently across natural landscapes — less often, more uniformly and with greater intensity.

Unnatural fire behavior has severe effects.  Ecosystem changes resulting from either fire exclusion or unnaturally severe fires threaten native species and ecological systems, especially species and systems already in decline due to other land use pressures, while also putting communities at risk.

Historical photos of Northwest forests show towering trees with large, park-like open spaces where shrubs, wildflowers and grasslands thrived. Today these forests are much denser; few old-growth trees remain and in many places grasses and wildflowers are scarce. These forests are now at risk of unnaturally severe wildfires that can explode into the crowns of the trees, killing entire stands and destroying habitats. Current land managers are working to restore the open ponderosa pine habitat and its resilience to fire. Thinning stands makes it possible to reintroduce low-severity prescribed fire. These controlled surface fires open the forest floor and recycle nutrients, renewing the native diversity of grasses, shrubs and wildflowers.

NETWORK LONG-TERM VISION:

Fire Learning Network sites generate high-leverage products that directly address the barriers in each landscape that inhibit the restoration of fire-adapted ecosystems. Further, they address technical gaps in federal land management and build consensus by bringing landscape analysis techniques to collaborative partnerships.