The world of science is full of facts and figures, but behind the study are the people, and in the end, it becomes a question not of how they do science — but why. See more stories here.
Human Elements: Healing forests with fire
By studying how Indigenous societies use fire, ecologist Ernesto Alvarado is learning how we can fight wildfires.
Wildland firefighters execute a controlled burn in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. (Beatriz Costa Lima/Crosscut)
Ernesto Alvarado’s childhood was filled with fire. He learned of its danger and its promise while growing up in Mexico’s Chihuahuan Desert — how it could both destroy the things that grew on the land and bring them back. As a professor of wildfire ecology at the University of Washington, Alvarado now studies Indigenous cultures around the world, integrating and elevating their ecological knowledge to get a fuller picture of how ecosystems work.
