During Carol Ekarius’s early years in Colorado, the Buffalo Creek Fire burned just under 12,000 acres — and at the time was considered a huge, catastrophic fire. Now fires in the west are consuming hundreds of thousands of acres, and doing inestimable damage to property, livelihoods, and ecosystems. A long-time farmer-rancher, Ekarius has been involved in fire management and mitigation and watershed restoration. She has written nine books for small-scale agrarians, and worked with organizations focused on watershed restoration and sustainable agriculture. She is director emerita of Coalitions & Collaboratives (also known as Co-Co), and of the Coalition for the Upper South Platte, and she helped found the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
Landscape photo by Kaushal Subedi on Unsplash
