Fire Management as a Conservation Tool – February 5

Wednesday, February 5th, 2020 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Gene Albaugh Community Room at the Madelyn Helling Library

980 Helling Way, Nevada City, CA 95959

The first quarterly presentation of the Yuba Bear Watershed Council is coming up next week. Join SYRCL and other presentors on Wednesday, February 5th from 10am-12pm at the Madelyn Helling Library in the Gene Albaugh Community Room. This meeting is for anyone working on or interested in the health of the Yuba and Bear watersheds. Speakers will present on fire management as a conservation tool.

Meeting Agenda

10:00 – Welcome

10:05 – Introductions/Calendar Sharing/Elections

10:10 – Fire Science February
Moderator – Chloe Tremper, President, Yuba Bear Watershed Council

10:15 – Phil Saksa, Director of Research for Blue Forest Conservation
Phil Saksa is Chief Scientist at Blue Forest Conservation, bringing 15 years of experience in ecosystem services and watershed management to inform conservation finance efforts on public lands. With technical expertise in environmental sensor networks, data processing, and ecosystem modeling, he works with academic and other research groups to support land management and policy decisions. Phil was previously with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute at UC Merced, where he focused on impacts to water supply and security from forest management, wildfire, and climate in California’s Sierra Nevada. He currently leads Blue Forest’s assessment of environmental and economic benefits created by restoration projects that are funded through the Forest Resilience Bond, a financial investment tool for wildfire and climate resilient landscapes.

11:00 – Short Break

11:10 – Andrew Salmon, Forest Health Watershed Program Coordinator for the South Yuba River Citizens League
Andrew Salmon graduated from the University of CA Berkeley in 2019 with a master’s in Environmental Planning. As a member of the Riverlab Research Group, he focused on wildland urban interface fire effects on receiving waters. During his studies, Andrew worked for the Stephens Wildland Fire Science Lab in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service Sierra Cascade Ecology Program examining post-fire conditions in Plumas and Lassen National Forests. Andrew now works as the Forest Health Watershed Program Coordinator with the South Yuba River Citizens League.

11:30 – Shelly Allen, Fire Management Officer for the Tahoe National Forest
Shelly Allen, the Fire Management Officer (FMO) for the Tahoe National Forest is one of two female Forest level FMOs in the US. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region. Shelly grew up around wildland firefighting, as her father was a smokejumper in McCall, Idaho, who gave up a high school teaching career in order to fight fire for the Forest Service full-time. Shelly began working in wildland fire right out of high school, as a seasonal, during summer breaks from college. Shelly moved into fire management in 2005, moving from the Payette, to the Uinta-Wasatch Cache, and then to the Tahoe.

11:45 – Questions
Question and answer session with presenters.

12:00 – Adjourn

Details