Have burned wasteland, will grow.

New Research

Hungry for Morel Mushrooms? Head to Yosemite

It turns out that the shriveled shrooms love forests ravaged by fire

Trending Today

Hearst Castle Has a Brush With California’s Wildfires

Curators were ready to evacuate the Hearst Estate, now a state park and museum full of priceless art, furniture and history

New Research

Researchers Discover the Blue Whirl, a New Type of Flame

Naturally occurring fire tornadoes are scary, but a new clean-burning, controlled version could help clean oil spills

Josh Chase, an archeologist for the Bureau of Land Management and a former wildland firefighter, found that controlled burns can be a way to expose long-hidden Native American artifacts.

Why Archaeologists Are Intentionally Setting Early American Sites on Fire

Archaeologists, who typically consider fire to be a destructive force, are now finding that it can be useful as tool of discovery

Fire tornadoes, or fire devils, often arise during wildfires.

Cool Finds

Hypnotize Yourself With a Slow-Motion Fire Tornado

So hot, it’s cool

Can Cypress Trees Help Suppress Wildfires?

Researchers in Italy and Spain suspect that cypress tree barriers could diffuse forest fires

Trending Today

A One-of-a-Kind Museum Was Just Lost in California’s Wildfires

The JKL Museum of Telephony featured hundreds of old-fashioned phones

A helicopter being used to fight wildfire

Trending Today

Drones Are Getting in the Way of Firefighters Combating Wilderness Blazes

Firefighters need to take to the air to fight fires, but sometimes that air is just too crowded

Flames and smoke cover the hillsides near Yucca Valley in California during a June wildfire.

Anthropocene

Wildfires Are Happening More Often and in More Places

Average fire season length has increased by nearly a fifth in the last 35 years, and the area impacted has doubled

New Research

North America’s Trees Create Some of the World’s Hottest Forest Fires

What makes certain forest fires especially destructive?

A radioactive forest in Chernobyl.

New Research

The Risks of Fire Around Chernobyl

Radioactive forest litter that has accumulated for the past 28 years could fuel massive blazes in the future

New Research

The Forest Service Is Running Out of Money to Fight Fires

Firefighting and prevention costs now blaze through 51 percent of the U.S. Forest Service budget, compared to 17 percent in 1995

Cool Finds

It’s a Wrap! The Forest Service Is Wrapping Historic Structures To Protect Them From Wildfires

Similar protective covering is used as emergency shelters by firefighters

An undated photo of a forest fire in Yosemite

Trending Today

With Wildfire Still Burning in Yosemite, Sequoias, At Least, Are Safe

Up and down the West Coast, extraordinary fire seasons are becoming more common—and making climate change worse

New Research

Yosemite’s Bears Are Raiding Way Fewer Picnic Baskets These Days

Just 13 percent of the bears’ diet comes from human food

Cool Finds

Officially, More People Died Falling Off the Great Fire of London Monument Than in the Fire—But Only Officially

Which makes more sense, considering the fire destroyed nearly 90 percent of the homes in the city

White rhinos help shape the ecosystem by increasing plant diversity and providing grazing patches for other animals.

New Research

Here’s What Might Happen to Local Ecosystems If All the Rhinos Disappear

African landscapes may become very different places if rhinos aren’t there to diversify plant life and create prime grazing spots for other animals

New Research

Ant Larvae Are Used as Living Floaties to Save the Queen From Floods

When the floods begin, the entire colony does its part in forming a living, floating mass, placing the queen at the protective center

Nicaragua stands to lose around one million acres of rainforest and wetlands if the new canal is built.

New Research

Nicaragua Plans to Bisect the Country With a Massive Canal

The canal would cause “tragic devastation” to both the country’s natural heritage and indigenous communities, scientists say

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