Has FAC always been a part of your job? No. In 2012, I moved to Idaho to manage the Flat Ranch Preserve. At that time, the Idaho Chapter of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) was not involved in collaborative forest restoration, nor did we have a… Read More

Did you know they have federally listed endangered green pitcher plants in the mountains of north Georgia? Me neither. I learned this (and got to see some of these carnivorous plants) while participating in the 12th annual Southern Blue Ridge… Read More

The first thing I did at work last Thursday was smash my ring finger in the door of a truck. I got out to open a gate, and my finger decided to stay with the door as I slammed it shut with my other hand. I didn’t know it was possible for a door to… Read More

May 6th marked the 4th annual National Wildfire Community Preparedness Day (Prep Day). The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a primary catalyst of this event each year; through State Farm, they provide $500 grants for community events… Read More

PERFACT stands for “Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted Communities Together.” While it’s a long and perhaps obscure acronym, the partnership’s components will be familiar to many in the fire world. The Fire Learning Network… Read More

An Idyllic Colorado Community with a Looming Threat Palmer Lake is a small community of 2,500 residents in the foothills of the Colorado Front Range. The town contains historic homes that date to its founding in 1871, when the area was a summer… Read More

How did you start working on FAC? I started working on fire adapted communities (FAC) at the Santa Fe County Fire Department (SFCFD) in 2008. I was hired as a temporary fuels crew member under a New Mexico Collaborative Forest Restoration Program… Read More

In the prescribed fire world, there are some conflicting truths. On the one hand, prescribed fire is an incredibly place-based practice — if you don’t have a sense of local weather patterns, fuel conditions, laws and regulations, and culture, you… Read More

The more I’ve learned about fire, the more I’ve grown concerned about the lack of prescribed fire in the San Francisco Bay Area (Bay Area), where I live. Most of my go-to spots for recreation are densely vegetated with invasive grasses, French… Read More

Last week was filled with firsts: my first time in Nebraska; my first time trying Mountain Dew, Rocky Mountain oysters and runzas (a Nebraskan spin on a sandwich); my first time tagging the ear of a newborn calf; and my first time touring cattle… Read More