Fire Ecology with Dr. Sasha Berleman – Sat, June 24, 11am –12:30 pm. Martin Griffin Preserve, Stinson Beach
Tickets: $20 non-member / $15 member or student / FREE for children under age 18.
Fire plays an integral, yet complicated role in our California landscapes. Audubon Canyon Ranch, through its new Fire Ecology Program, is taking a leadership role in the North Bay working with various agencies and land managers to address hazardous fuel loads and declining ecosystem health through the coordination of cooperative, ecologically planned, scientifically monitored, and safely implemented controlled burns.
In this presentation, we’ll discuss the role of fire in the landscape, how California’s ecosystems coevolved with fire, and how fire suppression has changed our landscapes. We’ll discuss the differences between wildfire and prescribed fire, learn about intricacies of fire behavior, and how prescribed fires are manipulated, controlled, and monitored. Finally, we’ll present the program’s specific short- and long-term plans, objectives, and rationale, and how these will be achieved.
Dr. Sasha Berleman:
As ACR’s Fire Ecologist, Sasha directs our Regional Prescribed Fire and Fuels Management Program. She has been an active participant in Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX) programs since 2010. She is a qualified firefighter with over 600 hours of hands-on prescribed fire experience. Sasha has her PhD in Wildland Fire Science from UC Berkeley, with a focus on prescribed fire, and has been actively involved in fire ecology and fire-use in the North Bay region since 2011, carrying out prescribed fire and monitoring projects at Mitsui Ranch of Sonoma Mountain Ranch Preservation Foundation, Pepperwood Preserve, and Bouverie Preserve.