“From a human perspective that makes things much scarier, because nature wants to go. It wants to be burning because those plants are going to do better if they have fire exposure from time to time.”
First of all, I want to say that my thoughts are with everyone in California that is currently displaced because of the fires. I also want to send out a huge thank you to all of the amazing men and women that fight fires like this when they arise. If you would like to come on the show and tell your story, we would love to have you.
In today’s episode I speak with Tyler Cross who is a prescribed burn crew member for a nature conservation company. It seems counter intuitive when it damages homes and encroaches on urban areas, but fire can be a really good and natural thing. Tyler will tell us why prescribed burns can be a good thing, and how certain pockets of nature thrive with regular fire.
“The world we live in is no longer really set up to allow nature to take its course. We’ve covered everything [with pavement, buildings, etc…]. The general prevailing ethic is that we should help it along a little bit. We can recreate the conditions that would occur naturally.”
“If you’ve only experienced campfires and things, a camp fire just sort of burns for a long time and gets smaller and smaller and smaller. These larger fires, when they’re out of fuel they just extinguish. The active flame front might be feet across, and then it just goes out.”
Interview Contents
3:45 - Why do we burn land on purpose?
7:00 - The causes of fires in urban areas.
12:00 - Ecosystems where fire naturally exists.
16:00 - Examining the history of fire in the U.S.
24:30 - Do controlled burns go against the idea of letting nature be nature?
29:00 - Coexisting with nature.
33:30 - Doing controlled burns in urban areas.
46:00 - How prescribed burns are done.
1:01:00 - The lifestyle of a burn crew member.
1:11:45 - Advice for people that would like to do this for a living.
THIS EPISODE WAS MADE WITH THE SUPPORT OF
Kevin Cole
Marcus Batson
Roxanna
Michelle & Jim Wortner
Janelle Swanson
Jimmy Seymour
