The community is invited to a presentation on the “Era of Megafires” April 25, at the Flathead Valley Community College, Arts and Technology Building Room 139 at 6 p.m.

The 70-minute multimedia traveling presentation by Paul Hessburg will help our community understand the issues surrounding megafires. The goal of the presentation is for the community to collectively move toward solutions that can change the way it receives wildfire and related smoke. Hessburg has conducted fire and landscape ecology research for more than 27 years.

Wildfire plays an important and integral role in our forested ecosystems. Local fire history records show that the forests have evolved with fire for thousands of years. 

The local people have successfully suppressed 98 percent of wildfires in the greater Flathead Area since approximately 1930, and the resulting accumulation of fuel creates an environment conducive to large fire growth.