The first documentary history of wildfire management in the United States, Burn Scars probes the long efforts to suppress fire, beginning with the Spanish invasion of California in the eighteenth century and continuing through the US Forest Service’s relentless nationwide campaign in the twentieth century. The Forest Service argued that suppression was critical for good forest management, especially but not exclusively in the American West. In recent years, suppression has come under increasing scrutiny as a contributing factor to our current era of megafires.
Join us for an online presentation with Dr. Char Miller, author of Burn Scars, as we discuss the many historical efforts to suppress fire, focusing also on the Indigenous practice of cultural burning as part of traditional stewardship.
Char Miller is the W. M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis and History at Pomona College. His most recent books include Natural Consequences: Intimate Essays for a Planet in Peril, West Side Rising: How San Antonio’s 1921 Flood Devastated a City and Sparked a Latino Environmental Justice Movement, and Theodore Roosevelt: Naturalist in the Arena. Miller is a Senior Fellow at the Pinchot Institute for Conservation, Corresponding Member of the Society of American Foresters, and a Fellow of the Forest History Society.
The program will take place online over Zoom. Registration is required.
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Register for Burn Scars: Author Talk with Char Miller
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Accessibility
Pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of Sunnyvale will make reasonable efforts to accommodate persons with disabilities. If you require special accommodation, please contact the library at 408-730-7300 or chat with a librarian at least three days in advance of the program.
