In many forests in the West, wildfires are becoming larger, more destructive and harder to manage. Understanding why can help us better protect the forests we love and the communities that depend on them.
A Long History of Not Enough Fire
It may seem surprising, but one of the biggest drivers of today's wildfire crisis is a long history of excluding low-intensity beneficial fire from many Western forests.
For thousands of years, many Western dry forests—ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer landscapes adapted to long, dry seasons—burned as often as every 5-50 years. Frequent fire from both lightning and cultural burning by Indigenous Peoples helped keep forests open, support habitat for wildlife and reduce the risk of larger, more destructive fires.
The dynamic changed in the late 1800s following decades of forest and fire management practices that, among many things, removed fire from the land. As a result, many forests have been burning far less often than they did historically. Decades without fire allowed trees and brushy undergrowth to accumulate across millions of acres.
How Wildfires are Different Today
The biggest change is not just the number of acres burned, but the intensity. When wildfires occur under today’s hotter, drier conditions, they can burn with far greater intensity than they did historically. Dense vegetation allows flames to spread more rapidly and climb into tree canopies, making fires harder to control and more likely to destroy large areas of forest, damage water supplies, threaten communities and slow forest recovery.
Climate change is making these conditions even more challenging. Unless we significantly increase investments in restoration, mitigation and community resilience, the risk of severe wildfire is expected to continue growing in many Western forests.
Restoring Balance to Forests
Restoration is not about preventing every wildfire. It is about helping forests live with fire again.
Thinning—selectively removing some trees and vegetation to reduce overcrowding—and controlled burning when wildfire risk is low help restore more natural forest conditions, reduce competition for water, improve forest health and lower the risk of catastrophic wildfire. These tools can help protect the places and communities we care about.
Firefighting will always be necessary, but we will not solve the wildfire crisis by putting out every wildfire. Today, far more funding is spent responding to wildfires than reducing the future risk of severe wildfire. Between 2019 and 2023, the U.S. Forest Service spent roughly six times more on wildfire suppression than on proactive measures to reduce wildfire risk, such as thinning and controlled burning.
Creating healthier forests and protecting communities will require greater investments in forest restoration—investments that can generate additional benefits far beyond wildfire risk reduction, from cleaner air to outdoor recreation opportunities.
Five Things You Can Do
Here are some actions you can take to help make your forests, community and household more resilient to wildfires.
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Create defensible space, maintain fire-resistant landscaping, and take steps to make your home more resilient to wildfire.
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Pack a go-bag in case of evacuation. Sign up for emergency alerts. Make sure you have the phone numbers of your neighbors and loved ones. Learn how you can protect yourself from smoke.
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Join a prescribed burn association, volunteer with local stewardship groups, or participate in community wildfire preparedness efforts.
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Contact your state and federal policymakers and encourage greater investment in forest thinning, controlled burning, and community wildfire resilience. These proactive investments can help reduce the risk of severe wildfires before they start.
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Restoration can involve smoke, noise, temporary closures or forests that look different than before. Share what you've learned with friends and neighbors and help grow support for healthier forests.
Continue learning
Our Work in Dry Forests
TNC’s Western Dry Forests Program leads and convenes efforts to restore forest resilience and reduce the severity of wildfires across the West. Learn more about how we’re partnering with state programs and other partners to restore dry forest ecosystems.
Local Stories
What Colorado Trailblazers Teach Us About Wildfire Recovery
Meet our two Phil James Conservation Award winners and discover how they’re restoring Colorado’s ponderosa pine forests.
Planting Trees Can Help Forests After a Fire
It takes many people to plant a forest: people who collect seeds, grow seedlings in nurseries and, after our worst wildfires, plant them wherever nature needs a helping hand.
Measures of Snow
The Nature Conservancy explores how forest thinning and prescribed burning affects western snowpack, water supply and forest resilience.