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On the winter solstice, the coming calendar change conjures up the image of father time shuffling off as a baby new year crawls onto the scene. This image symbolized FUSEE's recent trip to Washington D.C. with a group of four young fire students and firefighters. Calling themselves the FireGeneration Collaborative (FireGen), one of FUSEE's student staffers sparked a new project that rapidly morphed into a new organization that has the potential to become its own movement. Building upon an invitation to meet with the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, FUSEE helped organize and fund the trip to the nation's capitol. In the span of three weeks hundreds of fire students from across the country offered support, signing onto the FireGen's vision statement and letter to national leaders. The FireGeneration Collaborative had one simple, profound ask: the younger generation and other marginalized communities need a seat at the policymaking table and a voice in decision-making about wildfire programs and strategies. We ventured to D.C. the first week Congress was back in session following the midterm elections. We held long meetings with top policymakers including the Forest Service Chief and the DOI's Director of the Office of Wildland Fire. We had face-to-face meetings with senators who chaired key committees. Every official we met with listened intently to our pitch for inclusion of youth, Indigenous people, and other marginalized communities in developing fire policies. It was not hard to see why: The USFS is failing in its firefighter recruitment and retention efforts, and it will not meet its staffing goals without mobilizing young people. As well, Democratic Senators understood that they owed their majority party status in large part to the youth vote. In one of those miraculous unplanned moments, we were meeting with Nancy Pelosi's staff at the same time she was giving her speech on the House floor passing on her leadership position--to a younger generation. The FireGen was present at an historical moment initiating a generational shift in power, and FUSEE was there by their side helping blaze the path forward. Inspired by FUSEE's vision of a new paradigm of ecological fire management, the FireGen crew had a compelling message: it's going to take more than a modest boost in wages or improved working conditions to mobilize young people to join federal fire crews in the numbers that's needed--it's going to need a change in mission, too. Young people do not want to jump on board the treadmill of endless reactive suppression or be the cleanup crews for industrial forestry's logging wastes. The young generation wants to be part of the climate/wildfire solution, and for that, the very mission and identity of firefighters must change to become something more like stewards in landscape fire restoration and less like soldiers in a forever war on wildfire. The FireGen crew reflected the diversity of America's population that is currently underrepresented in fire management: they were Black, Indigenous, female, and queer, drawn from across the U.S. If the agencies want to mobilize the young generation on the level necessary to dramatically scale up fire and fuels management, they will need to broaden their vision beyond a traditional white male recruiting base. And the young generation is inspired by the example of Indigenous cultural burning putting good fire on the ground. Indigenous perspectives and practices must be centered in policy developments forging the path forward. It will be younger generations who will bear the full weight of the climate crises over their lifetimes while at the same time they will be expected to shoulder the hard work of managing fire and fuels over the next several decades. FUSEE's work helping to launch the FireGeneration Collaborative is one of many initiatives that we are doing to pass the torch to younger fire management workers who will put the paradigm shift into practice. I was honored and privileged to participate in the FireGen's meetings with policymakers, serving as their notetaker. Witnessing first-hand those smart, articulate, dedicated young people speak their truth to power gives me immense hope for the future — and the future is now. Timothy Ingalsbee, Ph.D.
Executive Director, FUSEE
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