Amanda Monthei
@amonthei.bsky.social
Writer, communicator, creator of Life with Fire Podcast. Mostly writing, talking and thinking about wildfire resilience and land stewardship. www.amandamonthei.com
Judge hands down 50-year sentence to defendant Ines Soto, whose wife Elizabeth was sentenced to same prison term
Seven more sentenced to prison over protest outside Texas detention center
theguardian.com
The death of 3 firefighters in Colorado is yet another tragic reminder that our ability to suppress wildfires is completely outmatched by conditions on the ground. These landscapes have changed, and humans simply can't contend with wildfires fueled by climate change, beatle kill & high winds.
Hey fire nerds, any of you coming to Missoula for the Forest Ecology conference next week??
An important idea I've heard from @amonthei.bsky.social is "unsuppressability." Many are possessed of the VERY mistaken notion that all wildfires CAN BE suppressed. But 4 a select few, there is no technology on Earth that can stop them. Humility is part of the path out of the wildfire crisis.
Massive atmospheric river heading towards the PNW this week, bringing a half inch of rain a day to some areas and up to five inches of rain total in places. These types of storms destabilize slopes that are susceptible to landslides, which includes slopes that have been destabilized by fire!
Great interview with @riverselby.bsky.social on her new book HOTSHOT, which is now very much on my list. Follow @amonthei.bsky.social’s Life With Fire if you are interested in thoughtful conversations about wildfire.
Braiding The Personal with the Ecological, with HOTSHOT Author River Selby
Podcast Episode · Life with Fire · 10/17/2025 · 1h 9m
podcasts.apple.com
Was talking to a groups of 50-ish year old women at a concert last night. They asked what I did and I told them about my wildfire work. One went “OH! I just read a series of *spicy* novels about hotshots! I learned so much about firefighting from it!” Is smut an underrated form of #scicomm? lol
Thank you @amonthei.bsky.social for a very thoughtful conversation about the north rim situation. If you care about our terrible relationship with fire and getting more good fire on the ground, this is the podcast for you. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/l...
The Social Contract of Managing Fire with Stephen Pyne
Podcast Episode · Life with Fire · 07/17/2025 · 45m
podcasts.apple.com
Medical debt shouldn’t ever be a thing in a developed country. No other Western industrialized nation has it.
My Roman empire is that some version of the headline below could happen in almost every county in the US right now if it experienced a disaster. We need to sit with that and then figure out how to do better—quickly. abcnews.go.com/US/hard-hit-...
Hard-hit Texas county had no flood warning sirens despite years of discussions
State and local officials in Texas have come under scrutiny over the lack of sirens in place to warn people of impending flash flooding.
abcnews.go.com
Anyone know where to find smoke data or live-ish prescribed fire/wildfire maps for (northern) Spain? Was great weather for burning today and I biked by at least two sizable burns, was hoping to find more info about them!
I just finished up a month-long podcast series (supported by @fireaside.bsky.social), all centered on Community Wildfire Resilience. My approach to this conversation was to start as big as possible—with community resilience policy in California—and end at the community/implementation scale.
Due to DOGE cuts, RIFs and early retirements, the Forest Service has lost 1600 red-carded individuals and five complex incident management teams (the teams that manage the large, complex incidents that you see on the news) ahead of what is expected to be an active wildfire season.
The home insurance crisis is coming to a town near you. Reporting by @murphywoodhouse.bsky.social! www.boisestatepublicradio.org/politics-gov...
A home insurance crisis is building in the Mountain West. State leaders are struggling to respond
Homeowners insurance is getting more expensive and harder to keep. Lawmakers in our region introduced more than a dozen policy proposals in response this year.
boisestatepublicradio.org
Center for Biological Diversity (@biologicaldiversity.org) recently published an opinion piece: "‘Active management’ harms forests — and it’s about to get a whole lot worse." Given that this article has considerable bearing on my profession, allow me to offer a different point of view. 🌎🍁🔥🌳
‘Active Management’ Harms Forests — And It’s About to Get a Whole Lot Worse • The Revelator
Forest management approaches promoted as “resilience,” “restoration,” “fuel reduction,” and “forest health” often degrade natural systems and reduce carbon stocks.
therevelator.org
One reason the feds aren't discussing the situation & planning with state/local resources is because they aren't allowed to do so. Seeing it all laid out in this article is bracing. We are already well behind the curve & stand no chance of getting ahead of the 2025 fire year. Prepare accordingly.
Alexandra (Alex) Duggan@alexdugganreports.bsky.social · last yr.NEW: No fuel for chainsaws. Expired medical supplies. The approaching wildfire season is going to be even riskier for firefighters this year - among the staff cuts from the Trump admin also lies cuts to supply funds firefighters need immediate access to. www.spokesman.com/stories/2025...
Still amazed that these two maps are not making more news and generating more public comment. Especially given the intentionally degraded capacity of the federal wildland fire service.
New paper alert -- Gavin Jones strikes again! Key findings: • Fire-driven complete loss of mature forest habitat in California is possible by 2100 under 'business as usual'. • Active forest restoration could slow or reverse trends of mature forest loss. 🧪🌍🔥
Collapse and restoration of mature forest habitat in California
Mature and old-growth forests provide critically important ecosystems services and wildlife habitats, but they are being lost at a rapid rate to uncha…
sciencedirect.com
A powerful piece by @amonthei.bsky.social about the daunting future of natural disasters.
Reality Check: We're On Our Own
Thoughts on preparing our communities to lose federal funding for disaster preparedness, response and recovery.
open.substack.com
Something I think about a lot: We will never be able to prevent wildfires. Sorry, we just won't. Humans on the whole have dumb and sometimes malicious tendencies. It's well past time to accept this reality, from coast to coast, no matter how "at-risk" your community is.
The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · last yr.A 19-year-old New Jersey man has been charged with arson for allegedly starting a fire in his state that has burned 15,000 acres, destroyed a commercial building and could turn New York-area skies into a smoky haze.
My staunchly conservative father—who used to call me a treehugger for ordering a salad at dinner—is now talking about food dyes and GMOs. Consider this a strong indicator that RFK's messaging has reached the last offline holdouts in the rural Midwest.
Just noticed I have two new podcast reviews. It's all about balance!
Here is the statement that I just got from NIOSH on the status of the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer, perhaps the most ambitious effort to date to understand the firefighting-cancer connection. This is a huge deal.
Who wants to come on Life with Fire to talk about the policy/capacity/infrastructure limitations of Trump's plan to increase logging on public lands? Would also love to get some input on what we actually *should* be worried about with that USDA memo so we can be more targeted than "STOP LOGGING!"
A local conservation organization is promoting a book club that's preparing to read a Chad Hanson book. I've already sent them an email telling them this is embarrassing. Now considering a covert book club infiltration to subtly espouse the benefits of active management for forest health.
just want to shout out the one guy in Arizona who listens to all of my podcast episodes religiously the day they come out and immediately messages me his thoughts about it. Robert, if you follow me here, just know you're keeping this ship afloat my man.
New Life with Fire episode is live today! I spoke with Collin Haffey—the @wadnr.bsky.social Post Fire Recovery Program Manager—about all things post-fire, including the common gaps that communities face in effectively recovering from wildfire. Listen here: lifewithfirepodcast.com/episodes/aft...
Ep. 73—After The Fire with Collin Haffey
Today’s episode is all about post-fire—how to plan and prepare for post-fire challenges like debris flows and landslides, how to recover at a community and landscape scale, how to maintain a love of p...
lifewithfirepodcast.com
I just want to draw attention to the catastrophic ice storm in Northern Michigan right now. My family lives there and they are nearly out of gas to fuel their generators. Temps in the 20s tonight, in the teens tomorrow night. Power outages expected for at least another week.