Nature Conservancy staff members work at hundreds of priority conservation sites across the globe where fire is a significant issue. We work to maintain fire’s role where it benefits people and nature, and keep fire out of places where it is destructive. To restore and maintain healthy ecosystems, the Conservancy burns about 100,000 acres of our own land every year and assists in prescribed burning on over 150,000 acres each year on the lands of our partners.

The Conservancy has developed an approach called Integrated Fire Management (IFM), which provides a framework for evaluating the social, economic and ecological impacts of fire and helps people generate practical solutions to managing fire-related threats to nature. We are helping local communities implement Integrated Fire Management at high-priority landscapes through our support of Fire Learning Networks in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Flint Hills, Kansas © Kevin Sink

Our international and U.S. fire training programs trained 1,300 people in ecological fire management over the last three years, including representatives from land management agencies and governments, NGO staff and local communities. Through science-based, collaborative assessments, we are improving our understanding of the ecological and social costs and benefits of fire.

We also work to influence the development of fire-related agreements and policies that recognize fire’s natural role in many places and the importance of fire as a conservation issue, and encourage more funding for fire as a land management consideration.

We partner with others to help raise awareness of the social and ecological consequences of altered fire regimes and its importance as a conservation issue to garner support for effective policies and actions. For more information about The Nature Conservancy's high-level fire partnerships and strategies visit our web site on nature.org.

The Nature Conservancy is an international, nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of biological diversity. Our mission is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive.