Yosemite (1887) by Thomas Hill
The Illilouette Creek Basin is a landscape shaped by fire as much as the Valley was by ice. This forest pocket surrounded by granite outcrops allows fire to be naturally contained without concern of spreading outside of the basin. In the 1800s, fires were viewed as damaging to the environment, so fire management turned to fire suppression, allowing small trees to grow and overcrowd the forest floor. By the 1960s, the consequences of fuel loading started to become apparent, and in 1972, the Park began to experiment to learn how fire could restore landscapes and how nature would recover all on its own.
Read the article Pyrocene Park to learn more about fires' long history in Yosemite and why managers are bringing it back.