Join Cary Institute for a science conversation featuring environmental historian Stephen Pyne, a leading authority on the relationship between people and fire, including the history of fire management. He will be joined in conversation by Cary ecologist Winslow Hansen, who directs a national collaborative aimed at reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires.
Fire is often seen as a force of destruction—but it has shaped life on Earth for over 400 million years and remains essential to many healthy ecosystems. Pyne and Hansen will discuss how our relationship with fire has changed, from ancient, mutual dependence to today’s era of megafires—what Pyne has coined the “Pyrocene.”
Drawing on historical insight and case studies from the Western U.S. to the Northeast, they will examine the rise of “bad fire”, why we have too little “good fire” on the landscape, and how climate, fossil fuel combustion, and land use decisions have reshaped fire behavior. They will also explore what it will take to restore a more balanced relationship with fire, and the role that communities, policy, and land stewardship can play.
Pyne is a professor emeritus at Arizona State University and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has written dozens of books on fire history, including Between Two Fires: A Fire History of Contemporary America and The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire and What Happens Next. His work is informed by 15 seasons as a wildland firefighter on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Hansen is a forest ecologist whose work focuses on where and why forests are at risk from disturbance. He has conducted research across western North America, from New Mexico to interior Alaska, and is the founding director of the Western Fire and Forest Resilience Collaborative. A program of Cary Institute, the collaborative is working to advance a fire science agenda co-developed with managers.
This event will be offered in-person at Cary’s Lovejoy Auditorium in Millbrook, NY, and via live stream. During registration, you are welcome to add questions for Pyne and Hansen to inform the conversation.
Support for this lecture has been provided in part by Harney & Sons Fine Tea.
