Chad Hanson, Ph.D., is a research ecologist with the John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute. A leading expert on fire ecology in conifer forest ecosystems, especially those of the western U.S.A. and California, he is the co-editor/co-author of _The Ecological Importance of Mixed-Severity Fires: Nature's Phoenix_, and has penned many scientific studies on a wide range of aspects of fire ecology.