Let It Burn: How Fire Makes Forests More Resilient

Resilient Futures Podcast · Jun 1, 2026 · 42m

After a decade working across the Southeast, Jordan Youngmann is seeing his hometown in upstate New York through fresh eyes–and his work is just warming up.

Pre-European colonization, forests looked very different: while many people think of this world as a "pristine" landscape, forest systems across North American were highly regulated by Indigenous groups. Today, these systems are largely fragmented by urban and agricultural spaces, but historically, they were managed by harnessing a force of nature: fire.

Many forest species are not only tolerant of burning, they're built for it. If these…