Allie Weill

Weill is a California fire ecologist and the lead author of a study published in the International Journal of Wildland Fire about how hikers relate to landscapes scarred by flames. She takes pains to prevent fires, but once the smoke clears, she's among the first out there to study, learn, and appreciate the beauty in the blackened landscape.

- Peter Moore

BACKPACKER: In your article you wrote: "Residents of fire-prone landscapes may benefit from...visits to local burn sites throughout the recovery period." How?

Allie Weill: My study came out of the Wragg fire in the California Coast Ranges. It's a popular hiking area that was totally denuded. A friend and I went to scope it out a month after it burned. There hadn't been any rain yet, but there were already little bits of green resprouting here and there, which was pretty incredible. At the same time, the trail infrastructure was destroyed. But when the first rains came in the winter, it was just beautiful. Shrub skeletons were sticking up, with this mossy green underlayer.

BP: So you're a fan of the burned landscape, on some level?

AW: It was so cool. A friend of mine was doing research in Yosemite after the Rim Fire in 2013. The following spring it was just otherworldly to see the shapes of the burned trees on the landscape. I got this idea to survey people about the experience of hiking in that space, as well as whether it prompted people to think about fire more generally, and also just what people knew about wildfire.

BP: What did you find?