Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Paul Hessburg, a former senior research ecologist at the U.S. Forest Service and professor of fire and landscape ecology at the University of Washington, explains how cultural practices in the Pacific Northwest transformed after European settlement — from the controlled fires practiced by Indigenous peoples to facilitate new growth and manage natural resources, to the over-development that has made wildfire seasons longer, more frequent and increasingly destructive.
Paul Hessburg, a former senior research ecologist at the U.S. Forest Service and professor of fire and landscape ecology at the University of Washington, explains how cultural practices in the Pacific Northwest transformed after European settlement — from the controlled fires practiced by Indigenous peoples to facilitate new growth and manage natural resources, to the over-development that has made wildfire seasons longer, more frequent and increasingly destructive.
