Obi Kaufmann is an American naturalist, writer, and illustrator. Among the books he has authored are The California Field Atlas, a guide to the state's ecology and geography, and most recently The State Of Fire - Why California Burns. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Kaufmann describes the ancient relationship between humans and fire as part of California's natural history, dispelling the widespread misinformation surrounding the nature and effects of large-scale wildfires, and placing them within a greater context as just one phase of the necessary natural cycles of ecosystems.