The narrative often told--until lately--about the American West implies that it was a great wilderness, full of nature's bounty but empty of people. Yet people not only lived here for thousands of years, they also managed the land actively, through controlled burns and other means.
Those means, especially the use of fire as a tool, have returned to prominence as a way to prevent forests from burning by accident in large-scale fires that destroy people and property. Kathy McCovey knows the issue well; she is anthropologist and archaeologist retired from the Forest Service, a victim of the Slater Fire--she lost her home, and a member.
She visits to talk about the revitalization of burning practices in use for much of human time in our part of the world.