Fire in Nature: A Fire Activist's Guide

Fire in Nature - A Fire Activist’s Guide is about the role of fire in nature’s ecosystems and the damage being done to global ecosystems, property, and loss of life, by a culture of fire exclusion and fire suppression. In this book the author begins with the important role that fire has played in shaping the evolution of our forests, savannas, and grasslands, going back hundreds of millions of years. Next he outlines the important role that man himself has played as he evolved out of fire sculpted grasslands of Africa to become a global indigenous native landscape artist out of survival necessity. After these native land managers were almost wiped out by disease and conflict during the period of the European conquests, fuel accumulations began to build due to the loss of these native managers in light fire ecosystems, leading to more and more catastrophic fire. In turn, in a vicious cycle, misguided European land managers began to fearfully exclude and suppress fires in light fire ecosystems. This misguided policy has led to the widespread global destruction of tens of millions of acres every year by catastrophic wildfire caused by these ever growing fuel accumulations not being removed by light restorative fires that maintain healthy light fire ecosystems. Lastly the author recounts his own immersion in the battle to get light fire back into nature’s ecosystems in the 20th Century, and offers solutions to transform a dysfunctional and misguided culture of fire suppression into a culture of good fire management. Keywords: Birdsong Nature Center, Tall Timbers Research Station, wildfire, prescribed fire, terrorists, terrorism, conflagration, crown fire, Nature Conservancy, Firewise, fire management, fire suppression, global warming, arson, lightning, land management, forest, ecosystem, ecology, fire ecology, old growth forest, grasslands, United States Forest Service, United States Parks Service, Australia, indigenous, endangered species, Ponderosa Pine, Longleaf Pine, fire exclusion, aboriginal, prairie, savanna,

Ed Komarek Jr. was born into a family of early ecologists and associates who understood the important role fire played in global ecosystems. This small group of people began to battle against U.S. Forest Service Smokey the Bear fire suppression propaganda and policy. The effort was funded by wealthy plantation owners in the Southeastern United States who were fearful of losing their game and forests by fire exclusion. Ed grew up being mentored by his fire ecologist father and his father's associates just as the struggle really began heating up in the 1950s and 1960s against fire exclusion. Young Ed (Eddie) lived and breathed fire research and fire management during his early years, and now wishes to pass on to new generations the knowledge he gained during that period, and to the present day in the book Fire in Nature - A Fire Activist's Guide.