A blueprint for fire prevention
Editor’s note: Clear Lake Environmental Research Center in Lake County California received an additional Community Wildfire Defense Grant in round 2 for $8,002,157 to support reducing fuels and restoring fire-adapted ecosystems on private lands and roadways. The sounds of chainsaws and chippers aren’t normally associated with a sense of new life and vitality. But in Lake County,…
#FireAndAviationManagement, #CommunityWildfireDefenseGrants, #California, #Fire, #Firefighters, #InfrastructureInvestmentAndJobsAct
Rising through the ranks
A career day at Chaparral High School in Temecula, California. That’s what changed Cole Weissgerber’s life. Before then, he wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do with his life (who really does know what they want to be at age 17?). But the USDA Forest Service’s presence at the school that day drew Weissgerber into the fire service. Oddly enough, it wasn’t the thought of saving communities or…
#California, #Careers, #WildlandFirefighters
Audio Story: Wandering after Wolves
It appears that your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio. Please use the following download directly link instead.Transcript | Download directly (18 MB)The gray wolf (Canis lupus) became extirpated, or locally extinct, in California in the 1920s. But this large member of the dog family was once a native species in California that ranged widely here and throughout much of the United States. In…
#Wolves, #California
Where the city meets the forest
Los Angeles skyline with the Angeles National Forest in the background. (USDA Forest Service photo by Andrew Avitt)
Editor’s note: The Forest Service, now in its second year of implementing its Wildfire Crisis Strategy, is treating 11 additional landscapes across the country to help reduce wildfire risk to communities. Combined with the initial 10…
#California, #FuelReduction, #ConfrontingTheWildfireCrisis, #Landscapes
Trails in transformation
California Conservation Corps crew member Louie de los Reyes and Inyo National Forest staff member Natalia Muglia use a chain and winch to move a boulder to restabilize a portion of the John Muir Trail within the Inyo National Forest August 17, 2022. The repair project was made possible with…
#California, trail maintenance, #GreatAmericanOutdoorsAct
Many hands tippin’ torches
On several occasions, precipitation pushed the Stanislaus landscape prescribed fire operation outside prescription. Crews turned to prep work within planned burn units. (USDA Forest Service Photo by Deanna Younger)
For a month in early summer 2023, firefighters, caterers, medics and other…