'Farmers cut down trees at the end of the dry season and then burn them right before the rains start. 'Slash-and-burn agriculture has been practiced for thousands of years in forests around the world, especially in the tropics,' Sills said. Conger Professor and director of international programs in the Department of Forestry and Environmental. These fires, however, are often deliberately set as part of slash-and-burn agriculture-a method of growing food in which farmers and cattle ranchers deliberately cut down and burn forestland to clear it for crops and livestock, according to Dr.
Similar to the United States and Canada-where wildfires are typically caused by humans-the fires in the Amazon are nearly all man-made. We spoke with some of our own researchers in the College of Natural Resources to learn more about the fires and what's at stake. The fires are destroying the homes of Indigenous tribes, threatening millions of animals, and even darkening the skies over major cities.
