Untrammeling the wilderness: restoring natural conditions through the return of fire

Within many designated wilderness areas, the intentional exclusion of fire has clearly altered ecological processes and thus constitutes a fundamental and ubiquitous act of trammeling. Through a framework that recognizes four orders of trammeling, the authors demonstrate the substantial, long-term, and negative effects of fire exclusion on the natural conditions of fire-adapted wilderness ecosystems. In order to untrammel more than a century of fire exclusion, the implementation of active programs of intentional burning may be necessary across some wilderness landscapes.

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Boerigter, C.E., Parks, S.A., Long, J.W. et al. Untrammeling the wilderness: restoring natural conditions through the return of human-ignited fire. fire ecol 20, 76 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00297-5