When we picture a forest fire, most of us imagine devastation, a tragedy for wildlife and ecosystems. But what if that perception is wrong? In his thought-provoking book, A Beautifully Burned Forest - Learning to Celebrate Severe Forest Fire, Richard L. Hutto invites us to reconsider everything we think we know about wildfire. Through decades of research and vivid storytelling, he reveals that severe fires are not ecological catastrophes but essential processes that sustain biodiversity and shape resilient landscapes.
In this book, Hutto dismantles the “good fire/bad fire” narrative and critiques management practices such as pre-fire thinning, prescribed burning, fire suppression, and post-fire salvage logging. These interventions, he argues, often undermine ecological integrity by preventing the creation and maintenance of unique postfire conditions. Instead, Hutto advocates for ecosystem-based management that embraces severe fire as a natural and necessary disturbance, while focusing firefighting efforts on human safety rather than forest suppression.
The book highlights how burned landscapes provide critical habitat for fire-dependent species such as the Black-backed Woodpecker, Bicknell’s geranium, and even fire-adapted fungi like morel mushrooms. Through compelling evidence and personal anecdotes, Hutto makes a powerful case for valuing burned forests as ecological treasures rather than treating them as wastelands.
- Your book argues that severe fires are ecologically beneficial. What was the most surprising discovery that changed your own perception of burned forests?
Richard Hutto: The most surprising discovery was that there were so many bird species that were relatively restricted to burned forest conditions. That finding reflected just how important burned-forest conditions are, and how land managers ought to be working to maintain such conditions in perpetuity.
- Many species, like the Black-backed Woodpecker, are nearly restricted to burned habitats. How can these indicator species help shape future forest management policies?
RH: A relatively restricted distribution means one and only one thing—if we value maintaining the variety of life on Earth, we must maintain the conditions needed by all the species with which we share this planet. In many cases, that means altering business as usual. I’m suggesting that minor changes in the way we manage mixed-conifer forests in the West could go a long way toward keeping our ecological systems intact.
- You critique practices such as salvage logging and prescribed burning in mixed-conifer forests. What alternative strategies would you recommend to balance ecological integrity with public safety?
RH: Widespread salvage logging has nothing to do with public safety; it’s all about “salvaging” some wood to avoid what would otherwise be a financial loss from that burned patch of forest. If the public began to see burned forests as ecological gains to be weighed against those losses, and if they understood that there are plenty of green trees to harvest sustainably, then we might get somewhere.
Prescribed burning also has little to do with public safety, especially when conducted far from human communities. Research clearly shows that safety is all about homes and their immediate surroundings. Prescribed burning is also ecologically inappropriate in forest types that were never dominated historically by low-severity, understory fire. For western mixed-conifer forests, that management activity is inappropriate on either count.
- Public messaging around wildfire has long emphasized fear and suppression. How can scientists and agencies effectively communicate the ecological necessity of severe fire to the public?
RH: We need a combination of two things: (1) better education about how we can live in relative safety even though our world has always, and will always, burn severely; and (2) how our world (and numerous plants and animals with which we share our world) needs fire as much as it needs sunlight and rain. We need to celebrate fire in the same way we celebrate other natural phenomena and organisms that have the potential to hurt us.
- Climate change is altering fire behavior across the American West. How should our understanding of historical fire regimes inform management decisions in an era of unprecedented environmental change?
RH: I think we need to better convey exactly what it is about fire that is affected by climate change. My understanding is that fire frequency and the average fire size might be increasing, but the proportion of a burned area that burns severely is not that different from historical norms (at least in the mixed-conifer forests of the West). The only way we can address those changes if we don’t like them is to address the causal agent, which is climate change. Cutting and prescribed burning will do little to address what many see as a climate-induced fire problem. It’s time for real international cooperation in cutting greenhouse gas emissions…nothing else will address the changes in fire behavior we’re experiencing today.
By reframing severe wildfire as a vital ecological force, A Beautifully Burned Forest challenges us to rethink land management, conservation priorities, and even our emotional response to change. Hutto’s book is a reminder that nature’s processes are often more complex and more beautiful than our cultural narratives allow.
Book Reviews
“Anyone with an interest in our forests and wildfires—in other words, every single person living in the American West—should read A Beautifully Burned Forest. It’s a fairly quick read that will change the way you view and understand our spectacularly diverse region. Especially in this day where misinformation rules, Hutto’s book is a valuable step in creating an educated public that insists on smarter management of the lands that sustain us.” (fathersonbirding.com, October 30, 2025)
“I think it would be difficult after reading Hutto’s book to see the burnt forest landscape as anything but wonderous and beautiful. The Beautifully Burned Forest is a book that I wish I could get into the hands (and, of course, hope they read it) of every politician, agency land manager, and conservation organizations. It will surely make you exclaim as Hutto did every day in class—'Isn’t this cool!’” (George Wuerthner, The Wildlife News, thewildlifenews.com, September 21, 2025)
“This book, by the leading fire ecologist Dick Hutto, will transform your view of forest fires … Many species of birds, plants, and mushrooms are adapted and virtually confined to particular stages of post-fire succession … Read this beautifully written book, about beautifully burned forests! You’ll come to love natural species-rich forest mosaics.” (Jared Diamond, Professor of Geography, UCLA. US National Medal of Science, 1999. Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of “Guns Germs and Steel” and other internationally best-selling books)
“Dr. Richard Hutto's "A Beautifully Burned Forest" is a triumph, and a must read for anyone who cares about and wants to better understand forests, wildlife, and the natural world. Artfully weaving solid science into compelling narrative prose, Dr. Hutto tells us the real story about fire in our forests, the many animal and plant species that have evolved to depend on the unique forest habitat created by high-intensity fire, and the dangerous policies that stem from the outdated thinking that only live, green trees matter in our forest ecosystems.” (Chad Hanson, Ph.D., Wildfire Scientist with the John Muir Project, and author of “Smokescreen: Debunking Wildfire Myths to Save Our Forests and Our Climate”)
Poster photo credit: Richard L. Hutto