|
To our FUSEE supporters, The Golden State has been plagued by recurring wildfire catastrophes almost every year for the last two decades, facing the trifecta of wicked problems that will challenge fire managers for generations to come: accelerating climate change, the legacy of industrial forestry, and sprawling rural development. There is a growing debate over which of these three factors is THE main driver causing California "megafires," but they all combine synergistically in ways that defy quick, cheap, easy, or singular solutions. Predictably, proponents of industrial logging and/or militaristic firefighting demand less environmental regulations and/or more taxpayer money to advance their false solutions to the wildfire crisis. It should be self-evident that the fire exclusion paradigm predicated on systematic fire prevention and suppression is failing and falling. How will it all end, and what will replace it? That is a major part of FUSEE's mission to provide a vision for the future, inspired by the legacy of Indigenous people's land stewardship with fire and coupled with modern fire ecology research: an old/new paradigm of ecological fire management. FUSEE at Work This year, FUSEE has been doing what we can with a skeleton crew left in the office: our staff, interns, and half of our board have been out all summer on fires! We've been giving lots of interviews to reporters covering wildfire incidents and issues. Check out our media outreach work in FUSEE in the News. We've also been working to advance progressive policies, beginning with efforts to undo the new Forest Service chief's panicked resurrection of the 10 am Policy to attack all fires. We have also been helping to improve the National Prescribed Fire bill that will be coming to a vote later this fall. The pandemic has put in crimp in some of our public gatherings and canceled many fire conferences, but we've been appearing in webinars hosted by partner organizations and community groups who are interested in FUSEE's message on how we can relearn to live and work with wildfire. This summer's wildfire season came on early and active, and in California, it seems like it will never end. Our hearts go out to all those whose lives have been impacted by evacuations or the tragedy of losing their home or business. It's when things feel hopeless that we need hope the most! FUSEE provides a hopeful message that we can change our relationship with wildland fire so it ceases to be an "enemy," and becomes an ally in community safety and ecosystem sustainability. With the coming of the fall rains cooling the flames and washing the smoke out of the skies, we look forward to putting some good fire on the ground with prescribed burning. Thanks to all of our supporters sending donations or buying bandanas to help us carry the torch for safe, ethical, ecological fire management. Every bit counts! Yours, Timothy Ingalsbee, Ph.D.
Executive Director, FUSEE
|
