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  • Home
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  • The Fire MOU Partnership
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The Fire MOU Partnership

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Background

In 2015, twelve organizations comprised of state and federal  land and resource management agencies, environmental groups, and regional prescribed fire councils came together to pledge their commitment to advancing the use of fire for ecological benefit and improved fire management. They included the U.S. Forest Service, Sierra Forest Legacy, Cal Fire, The Wilderness Society, The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, National Park Service, Northern California Prescribed Fire Council, and the Southern Sierra Prescribed Fire Council.


Since then, an additional 25 partners have signed on to the MOU (37 total today). The following agencies and partners are members of the MOU Partnership:


USDA, Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region 

Sierra Forest Legacy

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE)

State of California Sierra Nevada Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy

USDI, National Park Service Pacific Region 

The Wilderness Society 

The Sierra Club

Center for Biological Diversity 

Northern California Prescribed Fire Council 

Southern Sierra Prescribed Fire Council

Pacific Forest Trust

Audubon Canyon Ranch

Pepperwood Preserve

Center for Fire Research and Outreach, UC Berkeley

Center for Forestry, UC Berkeley

USDI, Bureau of Land Management

The California Forestry Association

California State Parks and Recreation 

Central Coast Prescribed Fire Council 

Southern California Edison

Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center

Terra Fuego Resource Foundation

California Wildlife Foundation/California Oaks

El Dorado Air Quality Management District

Butte County Air Quality Management District

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

American Rivers

Placer County Air Pollution Control District

California Indian Water Commission

Yuba Watershed Institute

Defenders of Wildlife

Sagehen Creek Field Station, UC Berkeley 

California Native Plant Society 

California Tahoe Conservancy 

The Fire Restoration Group 

Save the Redwoods League

American Forests

 

Fire MOU Partnership Members Poster 


Background information: 

Read the press release here.

2017 Fire MOU Partnership slide presentation 

US Forest Service All Lands Approach to Ecological Restoration
Region 5 Ecological Restoration Initiative - Leadership Intent
The National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy
Governor Brown's State of Emergency Proclamation and State of California Tree Mortality Task Force
State of California Strategic Fire Plan
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program 


If your organization or agency's work focus includes land use policy, fire policy, or smoke management in California, we welcome you to become a partner in the Fire MOU Partnership. 


First steps to joining the MOU:  


1. Read the Fire MOU 

2. Read the Meeting Notes (Kick-Off Meeting, Feb. 2-3, 2016). The structure of the working groups is detailed in these notes, so be sure to read this before filling out the application form. 

3. Contact Craig Thomas to request the Partnership Initiation Form. Some web browsers no longer support the mailto function. You may have to copy and paste the email address.


Note that the original 2015 MOU lists only the original signatories and doesn't list the partners who have joined since then.


Latest News

 

August 28, 2020  

They Know How to Prevent Megafires. Why Won’t Anybody Listen?  -- ProPublica

This is a story about frustration, about watching the West burn when you fully understand why it’s burning—and understand why it did not need to be this bad. By Elizabeth Weil. Read it here. 


August 23, 2020 

California fires: State, feds agree to thin millions of acres of forests – Mercury News

New plan would last 20 years, reshaping California’s landscape.  By Paul Rogers. Read it here.  


August 20, 2020  

California Looks to Battle Mega Wildfires with Fire  -- Scientific American 

As flames once again rage across the state, officials embrace a counterintuitive firefighting approach. By Jane Braxton Little.  Read it here. 

 

August 13, 2020

Long-Term Strategy to Manage Forests and Rangelands – Press Release from Governor Newsom’s office

In a key step to improve stewardship of California’s forests, the Newsom Administration and the U.S. Forest Service today announced a new joint state-federal initiative to reduce wildfire risks, restore watersheds, protect habitat and biological diversity, and help the state meet its climate objectives.

The Agreement for Shared Stewardship of California’s Forest and Rangelands includes a commitment by the federal government to match California’s goal of reducing wildfire risks on 500,000 acres of forest land per year. To protect public safety and ecology, experts agree that at least one million acres of California forest and wildlands must be treated annually across jurisdictions. Read the press release here. 


June 22, 2020 

Meteorology, Predictive Services and Fire Weather Forecasting: MOU Partnership Virtual Meeting

Monday, June 22, 2020, 3:30 PM  4:30 PM.  Link to agenda and presentations here.  


April 9, 2019  

The Spring Fire MOU Partnership Meeting in 2019 was held at McClellan Wildland Fire Training Center on April 5, 2019.  Download the Presentation PDFs: 


Policy Barriers to Prescribed Fire: Challenges and Opportunities Across the West by Courtney Schultz, Associate Professor and Director, Public Lands Policy Group, Colorado State University.  View Presentation PDF >


Using fire in burned forests: untangling the complex interactions among successive fires by Brandon Collins, Pacific Southwest Research Station and UC Berkeley.  View Presentation PDF >


Pyrodiversity in Sierra Nevada Mixed Conifer Forest by Jamie Lydersen, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Fire and Resource Assessment Program.  View Presentation PDF >


Fire and Reforestation in California by Malcolm North, Research Ecologist, Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station. View Presentation PDF >


Pyrosilviculture by Rob York, Adjunct Assoc. Prof. of Forestry, UC Berkeley. View Presentation PDF >


  

April 26, 2019

Don't miss reading "Planned burns can reduce wildfire risks, but expanding use of 'good fire' isn't easy" by a team of research scientists in The Conversation, an online journal publishing factual news stories written by leading scholars and academics. The conclusion? There are many obstacles to achieving the use of fire to achieve fuels reduction at the level necessary to make a significant difference, but the lack of trained personnel and the funding needed to accomplish the work on the ground is number one.


California Senate Bill 462 aims to address this problem by creating a new training program within California's publicly funded community college system. SB 462 (Sen. Stern) Community Colleges: Urban and Rural Forest and Woodlands Restoration and Fire Resiliency Workforce Program, establishes a model curriculum for a forest restoration workforce. The bill has seen tremendous support from a broad number of sectors, and is moving rapidly through the legislature. 


March 5, 2019

CAL FIRE has released the 45-day report as requested by Gov. Gavin Newsom in January (see last post, below). Download the report here.


January 8, 2019

On his first day of office, newly elected Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order explicitly referencing the fire related issues facing California in the face of climate change--"persistent drought, warmer temperatures, and more severe winds"; the beneficial impact of Native American burning on the landscape in historical times, and pledging additional investments in the 2019-2020 budget to improve fire prevention and management in addition to the $1 billion that will be available starting this year for the purpose of active forest management. The Governor has requested, within 45 days, a report from CAL FIRE with recommendations of the most impactful changes that are necessary to "prevent and mitigate wildfires to the greatest extent possible, with an emphasis on environmental sustainability and protection of public health." Read more and link to the EO here.


December 20, 2018

"Scientists and land managers agree on the importance of reducing flammable fuel in California's vast conifer forests. And they say that fire is the best tool for the job." Read more from science reporter Julia Rosen in the LA Times today in this excellent piece.

  

September 5, 2018

Jane Braxton Little in the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Environment360: Fighting Fire with Fire: California Turns to Prescribed Burning.

 

July 16, 2018   

KQED: Why California's Best Strategy Against Wildfire is Hardly Ever Used

 

July 6, 2018

OP-Ed in Mammoth Times:  

Lions Fire--Coming to terms with fire, smoke, and cultural change in California fire policy

 

June 16, 2018  

Living with Fire: A Little Smoke Now Prevents a Lot More Later Craig Thomas, Jim Branham, and Op-Ed in Fresno Bee

 

February 5, 2018  

Sacramento Bee: Future forest health needs fire to fight fire

 

Read more about the Little Hoover Commission Report  

Fire on the Mountain: Rethinking Forest Management in the Sierra Nevada

 

December 11, 2017  

High Country News: What fire researchers learned from Northern California blazes



Resources

Fire MOU Original Signed (pdf)Download
Fire MOU Partnership Members Poster Mar-2019 (pdf)Download
Fire MOU 2016-02-2-3_MTG SUMMARY-APPENDICES_v2_2 pdf (pdf)Download

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