Editing Controlled burn (section)

=== North America ===
The use of controlled burns in North America ended in the early 20th century, when federal fire policies were enacted with the goal of suppressing all fires.<ref name="sciencedirect.com" /> Since 1995, the US Forest Service has slowly incorporated burning practices into its forest management policies.<ref name=":10">{{cite journal |author1=Scott L. Stephens |author2=Lawrence W. Ruth |year=2005 |title=Federal Forest-Fire Policy in the United States |journal=Ecological Applications |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=532–542 |bibcode=2005EcoAp..15..532S |doi=10.1890/04-0545}}</ref>

Fire suppression has changed the composition and ecology of North American habitats, including highly fire-dependent ecosystems such as oak savannas<ref>{{cite web |title=Oak Savannas: characteristics, restoration and long term management |url=https://oaksavannas.org |website=oaksavannas.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Barrens and Savannas communities of Wisconsin |url=https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/EndangeredResources/Communities.asp?mode=group&Type=Barrens%20and%20Savannas}}</ref> and canebrakes,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cockman |first1=Crystal |title=The loss of the great canebrakes |url=https://ui.charlotte.edu/story/loss-great-canebrakes |website=ui.charlotte.edu |publisher=UNC Charlotte Urban Institute}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shoemaker |first1=Cory M. |date=2018 |title=Environmental and landscape factors affecting the continued suppression of canebrakes (Arundinaria gigantea, Poaceae) within restorations of bottomland hardwood forests |journal=The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society |volume=145 |issue=2 |pages=156–152 |doi=10.3159/TORREY-D-17-00011.1 |s2cid=90442090}}</ref> which are now critically endangered habitats on the brink of extinction. In the Eastern United States, fire-sensitive trees such as the red maple are increasing in number, at the expense of fire-tolerant species like oaks.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Highfield |first1=Craig |date=21 November 2018 |title=Foresters' conflicted love for red maple highlights its various roles |url=https://www.bayjournal.com/columns/message_from_the_alliance/foresters-conflicted-love-for-red-maple-highlights-its-various-roles/article_1da6b161-5645-591f-881a-439aa40ccc24.html |website=bayjournal.com}}</ref>

==== Canada ====
In the [[Anishinaabe|Anishinaabeg Nation]] around the [[Great Lakes]], fire is a living being that has the power to change landscapes through both destruction and the regrowth and return of life following a fire. Human beings are also inexorably tied to the land they live on as stewards who maintain the ecosystems around them. Because fire can reveal dormant seedlings, it is a land management tool. Fire was a part of the landscapes of [[Ontario]] until early colonial rule restricted indigenous culture in across Canada.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Christianson |first1=Amy Cardinal |last2=Sutherland |first2=Colin Robert |last3=Moola |first3=Faisal |last4=Gonzalez Bautista |first4=Noémie |last5=Young |first5=David |last6=MacDonald |first6=Heather |date=2022-09-01 |title=Centering Indigenous Voices: The Role of Fire in the Boreal Forest of North America |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s40725-022-00168-9 |journal=Current Forestry Reports |language=en |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=257–276 |doi=10.1007/s40725-022-00168-9 |issn=2198-6436 |pmc=9537118 |pmid=36217365|bibcode=2022CForR...8..257C }}</ref> During colonization, large scale forest fires were caused by sparks from railroads and fire was used to clear land for agriculture use. The public perception of forest fires was positive because the cleared land represented taming the wilderness to an urban populace. The conservation movement, which was spearheaded by [[Edmund Zavitz]] in Ontario, caused a ban on all fires, both natural wild fires and intentional fires.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bacher |first=John |title=Two Billion Trees and Counting: The Legacy of Edmund Zavitz |publisher=Dundurn Press |year=2011 |isbn=9781459701113 |publication-date=2011}}</ref>

In the 1970s, [[Parks Canada]] began implementing small prescribed burns however, the scale of wildfires each year outpaces the acreage of land that is intentionally burnt.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |title=Canada – The Impact of Fire-exclusion Legislation  |url=https://www.iawfonline.org/article/canada-the-impact-of-fire-exclusion-legislation/ |access-date=2024-04-04 |website=International Association of Wildland Fire |language=en-US}}</ref> In the late 1980s, the [[Ministry of Natural Resources (Ontario)|Ministry of Natural Resources]] in Ontario began conducting prescribed burns on forested land which led to the created of a prescribed burn program as well as training and regulation for controlled burns in Ontario.<ref name="pubs.cif-ifc.org"/>

In [[British Columbia]], there was an increase in the intensity and scale of wildfires after local bylaws restricted the use of controlled burns. In 2017, following one of the worst years for wildfire in the province's history, indigenous leadership and public service members wrote an independent report that suggested returning to the traditional use of prescribed burns to manage understory fuel from wildfires.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Abbott |first=George |date=2017 |title=Addressing the New Normal: 21st Century Disaster Management in British Columbia |url=https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/public-safety-and-emergency-services/emergency-preparedness-response-recovery/embc/bc-flood-and-wildfire-review-addressing-the-new-normal-21st-century-disaster-management-in-bc-web.pdf |journal=BC Flood and Wildfire Review}}</ref> The government of British Columbia responded by committing to using controlled burns as a wildfire management tool.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Forests |date=2019-08-12 |title=Prescribed burns reduce wildfire risks {{!}} BC Gov News |url=https://news.gov.bc.ca/factsheets/prescribed-burns-reduce-wildfire-risks |access-date=2024-04-03 |website=news.gov.bc.ca |language=en}}</ref>

==== United States ====
The [[Oregon Department of Environmental Quality]] began requiring a permit for farmers to burn their fields in 1981, but the requirements became stricter in 1988 following a multi-car collision<ref>[http://extension.oregonstate.edu/oap/story.php?S_No=80&storyType=oap&page=4] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060903084945/http://extension.oregonstate.edu/oap/story.php?S_No=80&storyType=oap&page=4|date=September 3, 2006}}</ref> in which smoke from field burning near [[Albany, Oregon]], obscured the vision of drivers on [[Interstate 5 in Oregon|Interstate 5]], leading to a 23-car collision in which 7 people died and 37 were injured.<ref>[http://extension.oregonstate.edu/oap/story.php?S_No=72&storyType=oap&cmd=pf] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060905210932/http://extension.oregonstate.edu/oap/story.php?S_No=72&storyType=oap&cmd=pf|date=September 5, 2006}}</ref> This resulted in more scrutiny of field burning and proposals to ban field burning in the state altogether.<ref>[http://www.westernlaw.org/our-work/field-burning/end-field-burning-in 2008] {{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Mortensen |first=Camilla |title=Blowing Smoke |url=http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2008/07/24/coverstory.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903080648/http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2008/07/24/coverstory.html |archive-date=2011-09-03 |access-date=2011-06-25 |publisher=Eugene Weekly}}</ref>

With controlled burns, there is also a risk that the fires get out of control. For example, the [[Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire]], the largest wildfire in the history of [[New Mexico]], was started by two distinct instances of controlled burns, which had both been set by the [[US Forest Service]], getting out of control and merging.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Romero |first1=Simon |date=21 June 2022 |title=The Government Set a Colossal Wildfire. What Are Victims Owed? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/21/us/new-mexico-wildfire-forest-service.html |access-date=8 November 2022 |work=New York Times}}</ref>

The conflict of controlled burn policy in the United States has roots in historical campaigns to combat wildfires and to the eventual acceptance of fire as a necessary ecological phenomenon. Following colonization of North America, the US used fire suppression laws to eradicate the indigenous practice of prescribed fire. This was done against scientific evidence that supported prescribed burns as a natural process. At the loss to the local environment, colonies utilized fire suppression in order to benefit the logging industry.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vinyeta |first=Kirsten |date=2021-10-12 |title=Under the guise of science: how the US Forest Service deployed settler colonial and racist logics to advance an unsubstantiated fire suppression agenda |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2021.1987608 |journal=Environmental Sociology |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=134–148 |doi=10.1080/23251042.2021.1987608 |issn=2325-1042 |s2cid=244604573|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The notion of fire as a tool had somewhat evolved by the late 1970s as the National Park Service authorized and administered controlled burns.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Rothman |first=Hal K. |title=A Test of Adversity and Strength: Wildland Fire in the National Park System |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |year=2005 |pages=186}}</ref> Following prescribed fire reintroduction, the [[Yellowstone fires of 1988]] occurred, which significantly politicized fire management. The ensuing media coverage was a spectacle that was vulnerable to misinformation. Reports drastically inflated the scale of the fires which disposed politicians in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana to believe that all fires represented a loss of revenue from tourism.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Franke |first=Mary Ann |url=https://archive.org/details/yellowstoneinaft00fran |title=Yellowstone in the Afterglow: Lessons from the Fires |year=2000 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/yellowstoneinaft00fran/page/41 41]}}</ref> Paramount to the new action plans is the suppression of fires that threaten the loss of human life with leniency toward areas of historic, scientific, or special ecological interest.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Forest Service Wilderness Fire Policy |url=http://www.wilderness.net/fire}}</ref>

There is still a debate amongst policy makers about how to deal with wildfires. Senators [[Ron Wyden]] and [[Mike Crapo]] of Oregon and Idaho have been moving to reduce the shifting of capital from fire prevention to fire suppression following the harsh fires of 2017 in both states.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Wyden renews call for Congress to fix wildfire funding |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/wildfires/index.ssf/2017/09/wyden_renews_call_for_congress.html |access-date=2017-12-03 |work=OregonLive.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

Tensions around fire prevention continue to rise due to the increasing prevalence of climate change. As drought conditions worsen, North America has been facing an abundance of destructive wildfires.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mueller |first1=Stephanie E. |last2=Thode |first2=Andrea E. |last3=Margolis |first3=Ellis Q. |last4=Yocom |first4=Larissa L. |last5=Young |first5=Jesse D. |last6=Iniguez |first6=Jose M. |date=2020-03-15 |title=Climate relationships with increasing wildfire in the southwestern US from 1984 to 2015 |journal=Forest Ecology and Management |language=en |volume=460 |pages=117861 |doi=10.1016/j.foreco.2019.117861 |issn=0378-1127 |s2cid=212684658 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2020ForEM.46017861M }}</ref> Since 1988, many states have made progress toward controlled burns. In 2021, California increased the number of trained personnel to perform controlled burns and created more accessibility for landowners.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bill Text – AB-642 Wildfires. |url=https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB642 |access-date=2023-04-28 |website=leginfo.legislature.ca.gov}}</ref>