Fire is a key issue in this region because of its widespread effects on biological communities. Species adaptations to fire are many and varied; depending on the plant communities present in a given fire regime, fire can help to induce seed release, flowering or fruiting in shrubs, and seral changes in stands with trees having fire-resistant or growth-related fire adaptations. Fire also helps to clear fuel buildup in under stories, cleanse areas of disease and insect outbreaks, and/or cycle nutrients into the soil. The Pacific Northwest Node helps provide access to data, information, and other resources to enhance sharing of fire research for management decision making.

Prompted by resource interests (i.e., timber extraction) and social objectives (e.g., protection of homes built along the urban-wildland interface), suppression dominated fire management policies in the U.S. for much of the 20th century. While it remains a prevalent management response in this country, the link between suppression-related fuel build-up and catastrophic wildfires has seen growing recognition, and the advancement of fire science has improved the capacity of managers to address individual fires with more discretion depending on their specific ecological and social contexts.