We’ve all watched in horror as wildfires blackened millions of acres out west, leaving many homeless and destroying habitat on an unprecedented scale. Join us to learn what role fire has played in Maine’s landscape across the millennia and how it can be used as a management tool to facilitate agriculture, reduce fire danger, maintain rare habitat, and more. We’ll also learn whether changes to Maine’s climate are affecting the risk of fire and associated need for more active land management.

A panel of experts will be our guides to fire in Maine. James Francis Sr. of the Penobscot Nation will talk about indigenous use of fire and how its use and purpose varied across place. Aliesha Black, Forest Ranger with the Maine Forest Service, and Nancy Sferra, Director of Land Management for The Nature Conservancy in Maine, will share their work using prescribed burning as a management tool and what we need to understand about the role of fire in Maine’s landscape.

Our co-host for this panel presentation is our community partner Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, which hosted a prescribed burn on one of its properties in 2010.