Wildfire strategy doesn’t need a winner – with 3 camps fighting for dominance, the system can’t keep up with the risk

Fire researchers argue that U.S. wildfire strategy has splintered into three competing camps: aggressive suppression, forest thinning and logging, and 'managed wildfire' that lets fires burn under safe conditions. Each camp tends to operate with its own budget, workforce and culture, which the researchers say undermines coordination even though the approaches actually reinforce each other, since fuel treatments make both suppression and safe managed burns more effective.

The piece points to the Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative, which brings together federal and state agencies, utilities and residents to coordinate vegetation reduction and community preparedness as one system rather than separate turf. The researchers note wildfire activity has increased markedly in recent decades, with destruction to communities, damaged water supplies and fatalities, and argue the fix requires coordination long before, during and after fires rather than betting everything on one favored strategy.

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