Many years ago, an Indigenous Elder opened the eyes of Cochrane-based wildfire specialist Rick Arthur to “the relationship of humanity, fire, and the management of our ecosystems.”  … I’ve asked Rick to share with us some of the Indigenous fire-management wisdom he’s learned over the years. “For thousands of years Indigenous Peoples used fire wisely in landscape management which aided in preventing the megafires we see today,” Rick says. “Our modern forest and park management policies changed the way forests had been managed. This has resulted in a dramatic increase in forest fuel loads which, when coupled with hot, dry weather, results in these extreme fire events…”  Indigenous tradition used low-intensity fires to keep landscapes open, to the benefit of the many species of the forest who got used to low-intensity fires, and to avoid the devastation of the megafires we’re experiencing now.