Year after year, wildfires are occurring with greater frequency and intensity across Washington state, presenting a significant problem for the health and wellbeing of people, wildlife and forests. Fire is not new to native landscapes and is in fact essential, but as climate change progresses, hotter and drier conditions exacerbate the issues of overgrown forests, creating kindling for lightning strikes or stray embers.
As this summer's hazing smokey skies demonstrate, the resulting high-intensity wildfires directly threaten people and communities. Communities that are mostly Black, Hispanic or Native American bear the brunt of this impact, experiencing 50 percent greater vulnerability to wildfires compared with other communities. And beyond the immediate vicinity of wildfires, smoke presents a public health concern as it lingers and impairs air quality across great distances.
Communities across Washington are tackling the reality of living on fire-adapted landscapes by working together to prepare for, respond to and recover from wildfire. By incorporating people, infrastructure, cultural resources and natural areas into the preparedness effort, which gets at the heart of protecting local communities most directly impacted by fire.
The hills of Roslyn Ridge during a 33 acre prescribed burn in Kittitas County. Credit: John Marshall/TNC
Alongside these local efforts, conservation has an important role to play in determining Washington’s future with fire and forest health. Indigenous peoples have long used fire to sustain healthy ecosystems, support important resources, but western science has only recently come to embrace fire as an essential tool for forest health.
Washington is home to 2.7 million acres of forest which are dire need of conservation, including active forest management and prescribed (controlled) burns. Controlled burns, which TNC and local partners in Washington’s Eastern dry forest employ are used to help set the forest back into a rhythm where smaller, low-intensity, lower-smoke fires burn through periodically. These forest-health practices return the landscape to a more wildfire-resilient state.
Left untreated, Washington’s forests will continue to threaten the health and well-being of people and the planet. But by implementing proven restoration techniques, TNC, our partners, and local communities can work together to create healthier, more resilient forest landscapes.
