"We are experiencing now the fires of the future.” - CAL FIRE Chief Ken Pimlott
Four years in the making, “Wilder Than Wild: Fire, Forests, And The Future” is an award-winning one-hour documentary that reveals how fire suppression and climate change have exposed Western forests to large, high severity wildfires, while greenhouse gases released from these fires contribute to global warming.
"We are losing forests at a rate which is causing them to be a contributor to the problem of global warming,” says Mary Nichols, Chair of the California Air Resources Board. This vicious cycle affects us all with extreme weather and more wildfires, some of which endanger highly populated wildland-urban areas.
Landscapes that store water and carbon, produce oxygen, and feed and shelter a diversity of wildlife are also at risk. According to fire historian Stephen Pyne, “Forests should be renewable, but with climate change and all the other problems that are going with it, we could see a large-scale conversion of forest – the equivalent of clearing it.”
Highlighting these issues with personal experience, filmmaker Kevin White takes us on a journey from the Rim Fire of 2013, which burned 257,000 acres in the central Sierra, to the wildfires of 2017 and 2018, which were among the deadliest and most destructive in U.S.history.
Along the way, we learn how prescribed fires can reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire, we see a California tribe renew their tradition of cultural fire, and we meet stakeholder groups working with scientists and resource managers to build consensus on how to restore and manage the lands we love and depend on.
Resources
Visit the film website to read articles and scientific studies to help you better understand the causes and consequences of today's Western megafires.
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