Fire is a natural part of the California landscape and plays an integral role in our local ecology. For millennia, Indigenous communities have stewarded the land with fire, but centuries of fire suppression, periods of extreme drought, and an expanding populace into the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) have led to increasingly intense fires that threaten communities. The burning question in recent years has been: how do we protect our communities from fire while also supporting “good fire” on the landscape?
Join a panel of experts from Amah Mutsun Land Trust, Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association, Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County, and Sempervirens Fund at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History for a series of talks exploring this question and the many ways that local groups are managing the landscape both for and with fire.
Below is a recording of the presentation, recorded at the Museum on August 10, 2023.
Resources
- Other fire ecology recordings from the Museum (including those mentioned in the talk)
- Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association
- Volunteer with Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park burn pile program
- Amah Mutsun Land Trust website
- Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County fire resources
- Reducing Wildfire Risk and Improving Wildlife Habitat in Santa Cruz County video from RCD