Tending Fire: Coping with America’s Wildland Fires

Stephen J. Pyne9781559635653, 1559635657

From experience with a “hotshot” crew fighting fires at Grand Canyon National Park over many seasons, Pyne (life sciences, Arizona State U.) situates US debates over let burn/controlled burn fire management policies for public lands in historical and ecological contexts. In a timely analysis as continuing drought in the West magnifies the problem, he proposes viewing fire more deeply as a phenomenon subject to biological controls rather than as a force to be subdued by physical means.