Living with Fire
Little Things Matter Most: Preparing Your Home for Embers from Wildfires
The Next Step in Maintaining Defensible Space By Mitchell Danforth, Community Fire Resources Coordinator,Trees Foundation Summer is here, and as we all know, so is wildfire season. Often wildfires are depicted as an indomitable force that sweeps across the landscape, leveling all in its path like a lava flow, and the homes left standing are…
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Prescribed Fire:
An Indigenous Perspective
By Margo Robbins, Cultural Fire Management Council The following is a transcript of the talk given by Margo Robbins during a webinar hosted by Trees Foundation on Oct. 3rd, 2021 titled “Pathways to Fire Resilience.” She refers to some photos from her slideshow that don’t appear here, but you may watch her full presentation with…
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The Buckeye Ridge Prescribed Fire:
A Nonprofit’s Perspective
By Ali Freedlund, Mattole Restoration Council Charged into the marrow of my life is how I felt participating in the Stansberry Ranch’s 109-acre prescribed burn that occurred in February just outside Honeydew, California. The Buckeye Ridge burn was supposed to happen in the fall of 2020, but the river was the force that prevented it.…
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The Oak Knoll Prescribed Fire:
A Landowner’s Perspective
By Mitchell Danforth Wildfires represent the single greatest threat to most of our inland communities, especially in recent times, as fires have grown in size, intensity, and damage to people and property. It is critical to acknowledge that fires are not good or evil, they simply are—and like floods, landslides, snowstorms, and earthquakes, how we…
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The Old Briceland Ridge Prescribed Fire:
An Ecological Field Observer’s Perspective
By Kyle Keegan Ecological Restoration Is Not a Race: Lessons from Western Pond Turtle It was a 70-degree afternoon in February 2022 on Old Briceland Ridge: 1,960 feet of elevation amidst stands of Douglas-fir, scattered Tanoak, and Chinquapin. Winds were light out of the southwest, and relative humidities were in the high 40s. Fire had…
Read MoreAncient Eel River
Whale song interrupted by tectonic collisions. Crushing pressure of oceanic plates giving birth to a new land; accretion and incision; upthrusted matrix of igneous, submarine and metamorphic rocks: sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, clay. Earth, Air, Water, Fire. Green serpent, a temperate rainforest organism unfurled, grasping boundaries of Pacific coastlines. Outstretched arms of ancients holding sky-gardens of…
Read MoreA New Hope: The Northern Mendocino Ecosystem Recovery Alliance
Trees Foundation is thrilled to welcome Northern Mendocino Ecosystem Recovery Alliance (NM-ERA) into our Fiscal Sponsorship umbrella. Fiscal Sponsorship is one of the primary ways that Trees Foundation supports the North Coast grassroots environmental community. It allows groups to move swiftly forward in accomplishing their objectives, while we handle the 501(c)3 bookkeeping and financial reporting…
Read MoreRestoring Fire Resilience in the Mattole River Headwaters
Sanctuary Forest By Ash Brookens, Tasha McKee, and April Newlander Sanctuary Forest (SFI) holds title to more than 800 acres of forestland in the Mattole River headwaters. The group is committed to stewardship practices that will reduce wildfire risk and promote forest health, as well as improve streamflows and riparian habitat. In February 2022, SFI…
Read MoreOrganizing for Fire Preparedness in Southern Humboldt
Southern Humboldt Fire Safe Council By Gail Eastwood Are you ready for another fire season? The Southern Humboldt Fire Safe Council has been active all winter with fuel-break planning, neighborhood organizing, and community education. Here are some highlights of what we’ve been up to: We’re in the planning stages of an ambitious regional fuel break…
Read MoreCommunity Organizing for Fire Resilience
The following is a partial transcript of the “Pathways to Fire Resilience” webinar held on Oct. 3rd in lieu of an in-person Trees Foundation 30th Anniversary event, which was postponed due to COVID-19 concerns. Ali Freedlund was the first presenter, followed by Margo Robbins, Lenya Quinn-Davidson, Tim Bailey, Will Harling, and Cybelle Immitt. To view…
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