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Fire in the heart of the Oregon Cascades: exceptional variability in fire across the western Cascades
(Ecosystem Workforce Program, University of Oregon, 2024-08) Coughlan, Michael R.; Cummings, Tressa; Derr, Kelly M.; Johnson, Bart R.; Johnston, James D. (James Daniel); Lewis, David G. (David Gene), 1965-
Wildland fire is a fundamental forest ecosystem process. However, resilience to wildfires is declining in forests of the western US, in part because of the loss of complex and varied forest structures that can reduce wildfire spread and severity. In the past, Indigenous traditions served the ecological and spiritual needs of human communities and landscapes through land stewardship practices such as cultural burning and selective harvesting of natural resources. We hypothesize that these practices played a critical role in the maintenance of fire regimes and resilience of the forest to catastrophic wildfire and climate change broadly. Displacement and genocide of Indigenous peoples and prohibition of their cultural practices led to the diminishment of cultural burning. This, coupled with fire exclusion and suppression policies by federal and state agencies, has contributed to a decline in forest health and a shift toward less resilient landscapes.