Living with Fire

University of California Web Resources

California Fire Science Consortium

They make fire science available to a broad audience. Visit their website to check out webinars, research briefs, or to “ask an expert” if you have a burning fire science question!

UC Berkeley Center for Fire Research and Outreach

They provide a forum for coordinating emerging research and tools on wildfire in California. The center facilitates working groups on fire research and management.

Northern California Prescribed Fire Council

They are a collaborative group of prescribed fire practitioners, researchers, tribes, land managers, and others who work together to increase the responsible use of prescribed fire in the region. They hold meetings twice a year, and are currently working on some exciting projects that could help private landowners and NGOs use fire. The Council is working with The Nature Conservancy and Cal Fire to plan a prescribed fire training exchange in Northern California. 

Living with Fire is a challenge in the Sierra Nevada. We live in a fire-adapted ecosystem where wildfires used to burn naturally every 8 to 35 years depending on elevation. Since we started suppressing wildfire over a hundred years ago, Sierra Nevada forests and woodlands have gotten overly dense with vegetation creating fires that move more quickly and kill many more trees than before. Residents of the Sierra must learn to live with fire by living in fire resistant homes with defensible space, and by promoting community-wide fuel breaks and landscape-wide forest restoration with fuels reductions to reduce the risk of wildfire.