WHAT: A regional gathering for community wildfire practitioners to share best practices and skills, and identify common challenges, needs, and priorities for collaboration.
WHERE: Gualala Community Center, 47950 Center Street, Gualala, CA WHEN: February 8-10, 2019
“The California Fire Safe Council and the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network (FAC Net) are organizing a regional event for community organizations from 16 counties around Northwestern California to come together and learn from each other the most effective ways to prepare their communities to be wildfire resilient,” said Tracy Katelman, Executive Director of the California Fire Safe Council. “We have around 60 people coming from Fire Safe Councils, Firewise USA sites, forest collaboratives, watershed councils and other local organizations, and fire adaptation practitioners and leaders working to prepare their communities for the eventuality of wildfire.”
This year’s gathering, Michelle Medley-Daniel explained, is based upon previous events held in northwestern California. “The purpose of the event is to create relationships and connections among fire adaptation practitioners from Northwestern California, to share best practices and skills, and identify common challenges, needs, and priorities to assist their communities in becoming more fire resilient.”
The event is intended to result in the following outcomes:
- ● Create new connections and foster relationships among regional practitioners.
- ● Share best practices and skills for fire adaptation and community resilience.
- ● Identify common challenges, needs, and priorities.
- ● Identify next steps in collaborative efforts and/or peer networking.
The event is being co-hosted by the FAC Net, a national partnership that brings people together to advance the tenets of the Cohesive Strategy: resilient landscapes, safe and effective fire response, and fire adapted communities. This gathering will help connect community leaders in California with others around the country.
For further information, please contact Tracy Katelman, tracy@cafiresafecouncil.org or Michelle Medley-Daniel, michelle@thewatershedcenter.com. For more information on the California Fire Safe Council, visit: www.cafiresafecouncil.org, and the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network, visit www.fireadaptednetwork.org.
This event is supported in part by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between The Nature Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior through a subaward to the Watershed Research and Training Center. It is cosponsored by the California Fire Safe Council, a leader in encouraging grassroots movements which make communities more Fire Safe, Firewise and Fire Adapted.
