Wildfire Education Academy Invites Residents to Join Virtual Session on Fire Ecology
The second session of the Eastern Sierra Council of Governments (ESCOG) Citizen’s Wildfire Education Academy (Academy) will focus on Fire Ecology, and feature guest speakers from The Fire Restoration Group and the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station. The session is scheduled for Monday, May 16th at 6:00pm.
Craig Thomas started the Fire Restoration Group after his retirement from Sierra Forest Legacy in December, 2018, where he was a co-founder and formerly executive director, and conservation director. Mr. Thomas founded the Fire Restoration Group to expand efforts to integrate fire policy with fire ecology, and to promote science-based management of fire and forests in California.
Malcom North, PhD is a research forest ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station, and an affiliate professor of forest ecology at the University of California Davis. Dr. North’s research includes work on examining forest restoration and ecosystem response, wildlife, wildfire, and forest carbon dynamics.
Details on the Academy and instructions on how to register for the upcoming session can be accessed here. All sessions are recorded, and available on-demand following the live event via the Academy’s website.
Organized by ESCOG and sponsored by Mono County, Inyo County, the Town of Mammoth Lakes, Friends of the Inyo, Mammoth Lakes Tourism, the Mono Lake Committee, the Whitebark Institute, Eastern Sierra Land Trust, several Mono County Fire Safe Councils, and others, the Academy is aimed at reducing the anxiety about wildfire, and addressing and responding to the multitude of questions that residents and visitors have about the topic. The 60–90-minute sessions are held the third Monday of each month at 6:00PM.
Schedule and Topics
April 18: Introduction and the History of Wildfire in the Eastern Sierra and
California, featuring David Carle, author of Introduction to Fire in California.
May 16: Fire Ecology
June 20: Current USFS, BLM, and CAL FIRE 2022 Wildfire Management Plans and Policies
July 18: Current Eastern Sierra Fuels Reduction Treatment and Other Projects
August 15: Home Hardening and Defensible Space Projects
September 19: Smoke, Evacuation, and Other Preparation Procedures
October 17: Insurance Concerns, Local Fire Departments, and Fire Safe Councils
ESCOG is an association of city and county governments created to address regional issues.
