162-Intentional Fire-Shifting Society’s Relationship with Wildfire w/ Marissa Christansen & Chris Anthony

This YourForest Podcast episode, featuring experts Marissa Christansen and Chris Anthony, argues for a fundamental shift in how we handle wildfires. They advocate for "intentional fire" – using practices like prescribed burns and Indigenous cultural burning. This approach helps keep landscapes healthy, reduces the risk of massive wildfires, and even revitalizes cultural practices.
The conversation highlights the need to empower local communities in fire management, evolve the role of firefighters beyond just suppression, and overcome public fear and outdated regulations that hinder the adoption of these beneficial fire practices.

🌟 Key Points 🌟
👉 Intentional Fire is Essential
👉 Decentralized Decision-Making Builds Resilience
👉 Firefighting Culture Must Evolve
👉 Policy Change is Crucial but Slow
👉 Public Perception is a Major Barrier
👉 Insurance and Incentive Structures Must Adapt

💬 Quotes 💬
💬 [00:00:05] Chris Anthony: "The scale of change is occurring faster than our ability to adapt to it, but also to mitigate it. And I think that's where the complexity comes in. So if we continue to use the same tools, the same mindsets, the historical approach or the cultural approach that we've had, that's not going to change what the future is going to look like."
💬 [00:36:47] Marissa Christansen: "It's a good kind of catchall phrase for a bunch of different helpful, beneficial fire types that can be a part of our toolbox. One of those practices is cultural burning by our indigenous tribes, both here in the United States and in Canada. A lot of these tribes have practices that they've been doing for thousands of years, long before we got here, as a way of both demonstrating their cultural norms as well as managing the landscape that they have been stewards of for all this time."
💬 [01:42:08] Matthew Kristoff: “If we can start to understand and realize a cultural reciprocity with fire, all of a sudden, this is just something we talk about and think about and converse about. If everyone's doing it, you're going to see solutions so much faster, that's just that cultural shift is going to be so powerful.”

⌛ Takeaways with Complete Timestamps ⌛
[00:00:00] – Introduction to the Episode & Guests 
[00:03:15] – Defining Intentional Fire
[00:11:23] – The Role of the Climate and Wildfire Institute (CWI)
[00:17:58] – Why Traditional Firefighting Approaches Fall Short
[00:26:27] – Rethinking the Firefighting Workforce[00:36:41] – What is Intentional Fire? Why It Matters
[00:43:12] – Public Perception & Cultural Change
[00:59:14] – Indigenous Fire Stewardship & Policy Progress
[01:03:42] – Regulatory & Institutional Barriers
[01:17:05] – CWI Convenings & Cross-Sector Dialogues
[01:23:02] – Insurance Reform & Risk-Based Mitigation
[01:30:59] – Rebuilding After Fire: Missed Opportunities
[01:35:50] – Unlocking Local Response Capacity
[01:42:44] – Vision for the Future 

🔗 Important Links:
👉 Intentional Fire Website: https://intentionalfire.org/
👉 The Stewardship Project: https://climateandwildfire.org/cwi-projects/the-stewardship-project/
👉 CWI Signature Convenings: https://climateandwildfire.org/our-work/cwi-events/
👉 CWI Blog: https://climateandwildfire.org/blog/

Follow the Guests on:
👉 Marissa Christansen’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissa-christiansen-4784566/
👉 Chris Anthony’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cjanthony/

Sponsors
👉 West Fraser: https://www.westfraser.com/
👉 GreenLink Forestry Inc.: https://greenlinkforestry.com/

Follow YourForest Podcast on:
👉 Website: https://yourforestpodcast.com/
👉 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourforestpodcast7324
👉 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourforestpodcast
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