U.S. wildfire policy and governance increasingly emphasize collaboration among levels of government and between government and non-governmental entities, expanding the roles and duties of nonfederal and nongovernmental organizations, and instituting performance-based measures to improve accountability and control costs. While many changes have been enacted, others have yet to be realized. This paper's purpose is to examine changes in U.S. wildfire governance through three analytical lenses: collaborative public management (CPM), adaptive governance (AG), and historic institutionalism (HI). CPM focuses attention on: structures of interdependence; strategies for pooling resources, monitoring, and accountability; and capacity to attain desired outcomes.