Help Fight Fire with Fire

We echo the Nature Conservancy in saying that our hearts go out to those affected by the wildfires burning up the American West.

Just as we asked for your help raising money to plant trees in the wake of the fire at the La Flor Wildlife Refuge, the Nature Conservancy is asking for your help restoring forests to reduce the risk of megafires.

As the Nature Conservancy's newsletter points out, "a new study looking back 1,500 years found no evidence for the kind of 'megafires' we are experiencing today. These large, severe wildfires are a new modern reality."

What is to blame for the new reality?

Summarizing last year's big wildfires, the Nature Conservancy's Jon Schwedler explained that "changing temperatures have simultaneously dried out forests and extended the living season for bugs that weaken our trees."

Paso Pacifico founder and director, Sarah Otterstrom, has been studying fires and forests for over a decade. A fire ecologist with an emphasis on climate change, Otterstrom is among the scientists paying attention to the links between carbon emissions and extreme weather events. Otterstrom's studies and her commitment to protecting wildlife habitat and biodiversity, are why Paso Pacifico works to mitigate climate change through reforestation in Nicaragua.