Jameson Karns

Sir Dietrich Brandis (1824–1907), often called the “Father of Scientific Forestry” in South Asia, played a formative role in the development of fire ecology and colonial forest administration. Drawing on local knowledge rather than strictly European models, he promoted the establishment of forestry schools led by native experts. His work in creating the British Imperial Forest Service influenced both South Asian forestry practices and the training of the first generation of American foresters.

Speaker Biography

Jameson Karns – Assistant Research Director, The West on Fire

Jameson Karns is the Assistant Research Director of The West on Fire. He earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Ph.D., from the University of California, Berkeley. Before pursuing an academic career, he spent more than a decade working as a wildland firefighter in California. His research and writing explore how ideas and practices of forestry moved across borders, focusing on the global intersections of colonial forestry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Recommended Reading

Guha, R. (1996). Dietrich Brandis and Indian Forestry: A Vision Revisited and Reaffirmed. Village Voices, Forest Choices - Joint Forest Management in India. M. Poffenberger and B. McGean. Delhi, Oxford University Press.

Hesmer, H. (1975). Leben und Werk von Dietrich Brandis: 1824-1907. Opladen, Westdt. Verl.