Opening Plenary Session, December 3, 8:30am - 10:10am
Kevin Robertson, Fire Ecology Research Scientist, Tall Timbers Research Station
Welcome to New Orleans
How well do you know our city? Here are some fun facts to quiz your knowledge and help you know this great town just a little bit better.
Kevin Robertson is the Fire Ecology Research Scientist at Tall Timbers Research Station. He received his BS in Botany from Louisiana State University and his PhD in Plant Biology at the University of Illinois. He studies ecosystem, plant community, and plant population ecology of southeastern U.S., fire regime effects on plants and their soils, and remote sensing of fire and natural communities. He mentors graduate students through university adjunct faculty appointments and provides education and outreach on a wide range of topics relating restoration, management, and ecological understanding of southeastern U.S. fire-dependent ecosystems.
Latimore M. Smith, The Nature Conservancy (retired)
A Brief Overview of The History And Current State of Wildland Fire in Louisiana
The majority of Louisiana was historically occupied by fire-created and maintained natural habitats, including longleaf pine woodlands and savannas, shortleaf pine – hardwood woodlands, and coastal marshes. Fire regimes differed among and within these habitat types, but all depended on fires originating from lightning and Native Americans to sustain essential characteristics. There is little question that most of the landscape in the state, over 15 million acres, commonly burned in a single year in the time before 1800 CE. Today, public and private managers are applying fire to these fire-dependent habitats to promote biodiversity restoration and conservation, and achieve various management objectives, despite ongoing challenges of the modern world.
A gifted botanist and plant community ecologist, Latimore M. Smith spent more than 15 years with the Louisiana Natural Heritage Program (LNHP) in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, identifying and documenting the diversity and ecology of natural habitats across the state. He was the first to recognize and formally describe longleaf pine flatwood wetlands, as well as one of the first to articulate their ecological importance and need for conservation. For over 17 years as the former Director of Stewardship and Restoration Ecologist for the Nature Conservancy’s Louisiana Field Office, he dedicated himself to conserving, restoring, and managing many of the state’s premier natural areas, including the globally rare longleaf pine ecosystem. He led the development and implementation of comprehensive conservation plans that covered thousands of acres at multiple sites.
Morgan Varner, Director of Research & Sr. Scientist, Tall Timbers Research Station
Morgan Varner is the Director of Research and a Senior Scientist at Tall Timbers where he directs fire research on tree mortality and prescribed fire science and is heavily engaged in U.S. fire policy. Before Tall Timbers, he worked in USDA Forest Service R&D in Seattle and for 12 years was a professor at Virginia Tech, Humboldt State, and Mississippi State. He serves as Vice President of the Association for Fire Ecology and Co-Chair of the 11th International Fire Congress in New Orleans.
Philip Juras, Artist
In Flame and in Flower: Picturing Forgotten Landscapes of the Eastern U.S. and the Phenomenon that Sustains Them
Historic fire adapted grasslands and woodlands east of the Mississippi River have been largely forgotten by the current inhabitants of the region. The amnesia is understandable. Most of these pyric ecosystems and the fires that sustained them disappeared generations ago, while today the pervasiveness of mesic, closed canopy forests leaves little room to imagine anything else ever existed. Artist Philip Juras works to revive the memory of these environments through his paintings of rare ecologically intact remnants, successful restorations, and long-lost grassland and woodland scenes. Drawing upon extensive natural and cultural history research as well as his experience as a wildland fire “lighter”, he presents images that celebrate these landscapes, both in flame and in flower.
Philip’s paintings celebrate the aesthetics of fire adapted environments from Florida to Wisconsin. He has had solo exhibits at the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Illinois State Museum, the Telfair, Morris, and Marietta-Cobb museums in Georgia, and other institutions. He has published three books in conjunction with those exhibits. He holds degrees in fine art and landscape architecture from the University of Georgia and has volunteered since 2010 as an “ecoburner” (FFT2) with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and The Nature Conservancy.
PBA Takeover: Prescribed Burn Associations, December 4, 8:30am - 10:10am
Lenya Quinn-Davidson, Director, UC ANR Fire Network and Program Director, Women-in-Fire Training Exchange (WTREX) Program
True to form: The vision and spirit of the PBA movement
Across the United States and throughout the world, people are coming together to reclaim their right to fire and rebuild local fire cultures. This movement is bubbling up in a diversity of landscapes and communities, and each place has its own local flavor and approach. However, the vision behind this work is naturally unifying, evoking the inherent connection of people to place and the role of beneficial fire in its restoration and maintenance. This presentation will introduce the day’s plenary session, speak to the spirit and core values of the PBA movement, and invite the audience to rethink their assumptions about how prescribed fire should look and feel.
Lenya Quinn-Davidson is a Fire Advisor and the Director of UCANR’s Fire Network. Lenya’s primary focus is on the human connection with fire, and increasing the use of prescribed fire for habitat restoration, invasive species control, and ecosystem and community resiliency. Lenya works on prescribed fire issues at various scales, including locally in Humboldt County, where she works with private landowners to bring fire back as a land management tool; at the state level, where she collaborates on policy and research related to prescribed fire, and helps inspire and support prescribed burn associations; and nationally, through her work and leadership on prescribed fire training exchanges (TREX). Lenya is passionate about using prescribed fire to inspire and empower people, from rural ranchers to agency leaders to young women pursuing careers in fire management, and everyone in between.
Andrea Bustos, Prescribe Fire Training Specialist and Fire Practitioner, The Watershed Research and Training Center and José Luis Duce Aragüés, Prescribe Fire Training Specialist and Fire Practitioner, The Watershed Research and Training Center
The Doers: Disseminating Community-Based Fire Synergy
As we see the world engulfed in wildfire news, there is also a large almost imperceptible world that is moving fire universally: community-based fire movement.
In an amazing and fascinating global ‘fire journey’, we have concluded that contemporary fire is based on 4 pillars in an era of Neo-Pyrocolonialism: the high cost of the debatable and paradoxical suppression lobby; the Western science dominance; idea of a privileged professionalism of certifications and degrees; and the concentration of policy makers in centralized institutions. We need to change our ‘anchor point’ and invest in community, traditional knowledge and cooperative approach to fire.
Anonymous and committed local leaders, the emerging driving forces of that transformation (PBAs members in USA, pastores (shepherds) in Portugal or Navarra, llaneros (plains dwellers) in Colombia, community moradores y moradoras in Oaxaca or in Imbabura, articulated under the same feeling and responsibility of reciprocity, are the perfect example that ‘fire is for everyone’; the doers!
As a Prescribed Fire Training Specialist at the WRTC, Andrea focuses on prescribed fire and land management. Throughout her career, she has developed a deep understanding of landscape interactions, which are crucial for fire and landscape management actions aimed at reducing fire risk. Andrea is an enthusiastic, self-motivated, and progress-driven fire practitioner. As a native Spanish speaker, she brings a unique perspective and valuable experience to her role. Throughout her journey in fire management, Andrea has discovered that fire is not only a powerful tool for land management but also a means of social assertion and defense for communities and their landscapes. She is currently working alongside a team of inspiring professionals who share her passion for nature. These skills and experiences will undoubtedly bring value to the WRTC, CalPBAs, CAL-TREX, WTREX events.
José Luis Duce Aragüés (he, him) is a fire practitioner from Spain, learning, sharing, and developing his fire career working in the WRTC’s Fire Management Program with an incredible group of lovely people. José started his passion for fire crew in his hometown back in the 90s, and since then he has been learning and practicing fire in different parts of the world and ecosystems. “As a fire student, what I have learned is that fire belongs to people, to communities, and to the landscape. So, here I am, offering my responsibility to give Nature back, what She has given to us, and honoring the incredible mentors I have had in my life and sharing my little experience and knowledge.” José is based now in California, learning and trying to find ways to add, improve, and develop local capacities and empower charismatic leaders who want to take the torch and share what they know and feel.
Ben Wheeler, Wildlife Biologist, Pheasants Forever, Inc
A Tale of Two Fires
Different fires in the same place can look, feel and behave differently. They can both be successful in different ways, ecologically and culturally. They can be received differently by practitioners and the larger community alike, and they can persist differently, giving hope to land productivity, conservation initiatives, and cultural practices. Ben will compare fire programs in the Great Plains, and share insights on how a Nebraska PBA built capacity, community support, and sustainability over the years.
As a private land wildlife biologist, Ben works closely with landowners, farmers, ranchers, and other community members to promote, coordinate, and deliver meaningful and healthy prescribed fire programs throughout central Nebraska grasslands. In addition to assisting with several area Prescribed Burn Associations, Ben co-founded and has coordinated the Loup TREX program since 2009. Ben is passionate about helping areas achieve their fire goals by engaging and empowering people to become an active part of their community’s fire story. He has shared his experience in Nebraska with several other areas around the U.S. that are looking to also develop successful and sustainable private land fire programs.
Courtney Locklear Steed, Founder and Director, Cultural Burn Association
Courtney Locklear Steed is a member of the Lumbee Tribe and serves as the founder and director of the Cultural Burn Association and SETA (SouthEastern Tribal Alliance) Fire, both based in Prospect, North Carolina. Prior to her work with the Cultural Burn Association, she studied at UNC Wilmington and Appalachian State University and worked in the field of prescribed fire through a number of partnerships with agencies and other non-profit organizations. Courtney is deeply committed to revitalizing Indigenous fire practices as a way to restore ecological balance and support community healing. Her work is rooted in preserving intergenerational knowledge, building relationships across tribal nations, and reclaiming fire as a tool for care, connection, and culture. Through her leadership, Courtney is helping heal ancestral lands and honor Indigenous traditions through fire-focused ecology.
Emilio Sweet-Coll, Founder, Los Angeles Prescribed Burn Association
Emilio Sweet-Coll (he/him) is a queer trans Mexican-American animator, community organizer, and fire practitioner. He was born and raised in San Francisco, CA and is based in Los Angeles. Sweet-Coll’s animation work is focused on visualizing how he “sees” sound with movement, and on using animation and video as educational and cultural tools. As a musician, he plays son jarocho with collectives in Pacoima and El Sereno and has played keys and electric bass in various bands. In his community organizing work, Sweet-Coll has coordinated a team of abolitionist artists in a successful campaign to stop LA County’s jail expansion plan and done eviction defense and housing rights work with the Los Angeles Tenants Union. His current work as founder of the Los Angeles Prescribed Burn Association focuses on connecting community to land through prescribed fire.
Closing Plenary Session, December 5, 8:30am - 10:10am
Will Harling, Restoration Director, Mid Klamath Watershed Council
The Future of Fire in the Western U.S.
Will tells the stories from the last three fire seasons in the Klamath Mountains (2023-2025), addressing many topics that expose both the broken fire management system we currently operate within, and sometimes around, and also, based on the deep history of fire and fire culture in this place, how we can work together to fix this broken system and reconnect severed human fire relationships both on our home landscapes, and around the world.
Will is born of one of the most dynamic fire environments in North America: the Klamath Mountains of far northern California. Perhaps nowhere else is the folly of fire exclusion policies more clear, contrasted by historic and contemporary indigenous fire practices in the region that provide a blueprint for how we can live with fire in the West. Will has worked closely with and supported Tribal partners and communities to revitalize cultural and prescribed fire practices, and engaged with state and federal fire managers to inform wildfire management with science and traditional knowledge. Will is a co-lead of the Western Klamath Restoration Partnership.