In recent years, California wildfires have taken on increased severity and reshaped the landscape. California Spotted Owls in the state’s central and southern forests—have been feeling that heat: Destructive megafires burned more of their habitat in 2020 and 2021 alone than in the previous 35 years. Experts say these growing disasters represent the most urgent threat to the birds. Recognizing this mounting menace—along with other hazards—the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year announced plans to give the birds Endangered Species Act protections. Yet the California Spotted Owl’s best hope, counterintuitively, may also lie in fire. Research increasingly suggests that lower-severity burning not only inoculates many drier forests against destructive megafires, but also creates the mosaic of habitat types that the birds gravitate toward. …fire will frame the future for these birds, either devouring the forests they need to survive or clearing a path toward a safer future.