About Us
The Origin of the Southern Sierra Prescribed Fire Council
Our council was born out of the common interest to increase the use of prescribed fire and continue to meet other challenges of implementation of prescribed fire by providing an open dialog between agencies, regulators, tribes, and the public. The Sierra Nevada is a very unique landscape. It is home to the largest network of uninterrupted public lands, which make it a great opportunity for inter-agency collaboration for achieve fire management goals.
In 2011, The California Fire Science Consortium and Sierra Forest Legacy started to discuss the need for doing some outreach on prescribed fire. The Boulder Creek Restoration Project was the catalyst for these discussions (Rx Fire in the Sierra) because it is the largest planned prescribed fire in the Sierra to date. This is a big deal! We sought out the expertise of The Nature Conservancy, Jeremy Bailey and Mary Huffman, and through our conversations we came to the conclusion that there was a need for a prescribed fire council. We recruited fire managers, air quality specialists, and fire researchers to host a Fire and Smoke Symposium. From the Symposium, we concluded that there was true need and desire from those who live and work in the Southern Sierra Nevada to develop a prescribed fire council. And off we went!
We are pleased to introduce you to our Steering Committee and Advisory Board. Without their dedication and thoughtfulness the formation of this council would not have been possible.
Steering Committee - Our steering committee is a diverse group of stakeholders from federal, state, private, NGOs, universities, and tribal representatives.
John Mount, Chair, Central Sierra Historical Museum
Chris Mallek, Vice Chair, Spatial Informatics Group, LLC
Sheri Mace, Administrative Coordinator, UCCE Mariposa
Jared Dahl Aldern, Huntington-USC Institute of CA and the West
Len Nielson, CAL FIRE
Susie Kocher, UCCE Central Sierra
Craig Thomas, Fire Restoration Group
Stacey Sargent Frederick, California Fire Science Consortium
Ryan Aeby, Bureau of Land Management
Stephen Byrd, Southern California Edison
Mark Garrett, UCCE Mariposa
Brittany Dyer, California State Director, American Forests
Renaldo Arroyo, Bakersfield College of Forestry & Natural resources
Advisory Committee - Additional members that have provided support for the formation of the Southern Sierra Prescribed Fire Council and those we continue engagement with for direction and expertise in their fields.
Lenya Quinn-Davidson, Northern California Prescribed Fire Council
Becky Estes, USDA Forest Service
Sue Britting, Sierra Forest Legacy
John Cielnicky, Sierra National Forest
Trent Procter, Pacific Southwest Region 5
Daniel Martinez, San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District
Jeremy Bailey, The Nature Conservancy
Dirk Charley, USDA Forest Service (retired)
Ron Goode, North Mono Tribe
Jon Becknell, Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District
Jim Roehl, Tuolumne County Air Pollution Control District
Robin Wills, National Park Service
Pamela Flick, Defenders of Wildlife
Check out our bylaws and strategic plan.
Interested in being involved? - Contact Us