July 30, 2021 • 43 mins
Members of the Living With Fire program’s growing team give their perspective on what it means to “live with fire,” and talk about how they are continuing the program’s mission in new and innovative ways.
For more full episode details including the transcript, visit https://www.buzzsprout.com/1819551/episodes/8946699
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Megan Kay (00:19):
Welcome to the Living with Fire Podcast, where we
share stories and resources tohelp you live more safely with
wildfire.
Christina Restaino (00:28):
My name is Christina Restaino.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (00:31):
My name is Jamie Royce-Gomes.
Jordan Buxton (00:32):
My name is Jordan Buxton.
Tessa Putz (00:33):
So my name is Tessa Putz.
Spencer Houston (00:35):
I am Spencer Houston.
Megan Kay (00:36):
And I'm your host.
Megan Kay on this episode of theLiving with Fire Podcast, we're
going to be introducing you tothe Living with Fire team and
talking about what Living withFire means to us. We're also
going to be talking about theprojects that we're working on
right now to help communitieslive more safely with wildfire.
Christina Restaino (00:56):
So my name is Christina Restaino. I am an
assistant professor at UNR andState Extension Specialist I
focus on wildland fire andforest resource issues, and
(01:16):
yeah, a little bit about mybackground. Have kind of a
classic academic training inecology. Studied forestry at UC
Berkeley, and then went tograduate school at UW in
Seattle, where I studied for mymasters. I did a project focused
(01:39):
on how forest managementtreatments influence resilience
to wildland fire. And then formy subsequent work, I focused on
how forest ecosystems respond todrought throughout the whole the
whole western United States. Andthen went to do a postdoc at UC
(02:03):
Davis, where I started to reallywork more on the science
communication side. I workedthere with the joint Fire
Sciences program that focused oncommunicating wildland fire
science issues to land managers.
And then worked in a little bitof forest and fire policy in
Tahoe for two years after that,and then came here. So I kind of
(02:30):
have a background in AppliedEcology, trying to understand
how land management can be usedto increase ecosystem
resilience, but then have reallywanted to focus on that kind of
tech transfer, sciencecommunication side, and not so
(02:50):
much focus on the research end.
But how can we get people tounderstand what they can do to
live in ecosystems that facefire, drought, climate change,
and have folks better understandkind of the tools in the toolkit
(03:13):
that that land managers use tomanage ecosystems. I also have
just worked a lot, um, trying tokind of bring science outside of
the university into schools, andworking with land managers and
working with nonprofits, andjust working with folks kind of
(03:37):
outside of that traditionalacademic sphere, and kind of
trying to push information out,and then also trying to better
understand what information andwhat what, what information that
folks want to make decisionsabout what they're trying to do,
whether that be a community, ahomeowner, a land management
(03:58):
agency. So what is it that thatfolks need more information
about, and then we at theuniversity can try to to create
that information for folks soreally trying to serve that
conduit between research andscience, land management and the
public.
Megan Kay (04:15):
And that ties into the like the mission of Living
with Fire, which which simplyput, on our website and our
materials is just to help peoplelive more safely with fire. Is
that why you were so attractedto the Living with Fire Program?
Just kind of your interest inscience communication?
Christina Restaino (04:32):
Yeah, so I've always been attracted to a
position in extension going to,to undergraduate at a forestry
school that is a land grantexposed me to extension early
on, and so that their uniquepositions in that they are
(04:58):
positioned. Kind of in thecenter of things, if you will,
where you can be that hub toconnect all the other pieces out
there trying to do the samething. For example, you can
connect private industry andnonprofits and NGOs and state
(05:19):
government, local government andthe federal government, tribes,
universities, you can really bethat that go to to kind of
connect folks to facilitate ideacreation, problem solving, and
the generation of new science,information, ideas, and so I was
(05:42):
always attracted to an extensionposition, specifically one in
fire, because my my expertiseand training is in fire, but
also it's kind of theoverarching ecological issue
that is eclipsing all others inthe West, where I was born and
raised and have worked and so,you know, specifically working
(06:06):
in fire kind of helps. It's thediscipline that that kind of
grounds us in a lot of the otherecological issues of concern in
this region. I grew up in theSierra Nevada mountains of
California. So certainly, aposition at UNR was also an
(06:28):
appealing one, because, youknow, you're kind of at that
confluence of the Great Basinand the Sierra where there's a
lot of really interestingecological questions that can be
answered and and big problemsand issues that need addressed
in an area that I love, and so,you know, I was attracted to UNR
(06:50):
and extension for those reasons.
Living with Fire in inparticular, you know, is just a
really well established, wellregarded program, and having the
opportunity to be at the helm ofof that and steer that ship was
very, very appealing to me, justin terms of what we can keep
(07:12):
doing that's already been done,and the opportunity that we have
to expand the program and growthe program with such a good
foundation in place, is a reallyunique opportunity.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (07:27):
My name is Jamie Royce Gomes. I'm the
manager at the Living with FireProgram, as a background to
where I got to this space, beingthe manager at Living with Fire
Program. You know, in my in myundergrad, I had the choice
between doing nursing school orwildlife ecology, and I chose
(07:51):
wildlife ecology, and then I hadthat as an undergrad and and
then I got experience under aplant ecologist, and then ended
up out of out of the program atUNR I get, got a position as a
biological science technicianunder a research ecologist. So I
(08:11):
would go out to the middle of ofrural Nevada and do plan
experiments and I loved it. Butit was, it was really academic
based, and I really wanted tohelp people and and I wanted to,
you know, help promote researchthat that would that people
(08:32):
could benefit from. I wanted tolearn how to communicate these
things to people. So then I gotmy master's in environmental
journalism and and then I foundextension after that program,
the master's program at UNR and,and I loved it. I mean, I could
(08:52):
communicate, you know, research,to people, and I could help
people at the same time. And soI position at the Living Fire
Program opened up in 2016 and Iwas the Outreach Coordinator.
And so then I learned a lot fromfrom those managers that I had,
(09:13):
and then they retired, and thenI, all of a sudden, was the the
Manager, the Director andOutreach Coordinator, for a
little while, until, until we wefound Christina Restaino, which
was amazing. And so now I'm theoutreach or sorry I'm not the
(09:33):
outreach. Sorry, we have anoutreach coordinator. I am the
Manager, and I love it. I have,I find a lot of joy in in
helping people to reduce thethreat of wildfire. I I really
enjoy what I do. So here I am.
Megan Kay (09:50):
I'm Megan Kay. I'm the Outreach Coordinator for the
Living with Fire Program. You'regoing to be hearing a lot of my
voice on the podcast, sohopefully you. Don't hate it. I
don't have a science background,like everyone at this table. I
was an art major. Studied printmaking and book arts and
(10:13):
photography. But before I wentto before I got serious about
college, I do have a firebackground. My dad was a
firefighter for Reno Fire formany years. He spent his entire
career there. And when I wasabout 19, I was, you know, had
no direction, and he basicallyfilled out an application for me
to be a seasonal firefighter forme. And he's just like, sign
this, turn it in, this is whatyou're doing. And I did it, and
(10:36):
it was wonderful, and it wassuch a formative part of my
life. I spent two seasons on anengine, three seasons on a hand
crew, and I just really, youknow, fell in love with the
lifestyle and but also realizedthat it wasn't, I'm not I'm not
a lifer. It wasn't necessarilylike the right fit for me, but I
(10:58):
really enjoyed it so much. Andhave, you know, knowledge of the
vocabulary about wildfires is ina very basic, you know, just
because I was a was doing, I wason the ground, doing, like,
field projects, you know, I kindof understood a little bit of I
understood what we were doing,not the higher science, but I
(11:18):
understood, like, Why were wedoing, like restoration and
rehabilitation? But So I workedin the arts for a long time,
worked for the Nevada ArtsCouncil for a little bit, and
then found my way back to foundmy way back to UNR working at
Extension, as AdministrativeAssistant and doing desktop
(11:40):
publishing work. And that's whenI found out about the Living
with Fire Program. And I justwas like, had to be a part of
it. The outreach, the outreachcoordinator position was
actually open while I was here,but I was, I felt like I it was
too soon for me in my old job toapply for it. So I could have, I
could have applied for a longtime ago, but I didn't. So I'm
(12:00):
really so grateful that I get tobe part of this team, and it's a
great way for me to put my, youknow, my skills as an artist,
because I do have to create lotsof graphics for the for the
program. But also, in general,I, like Jamie, have always
really been drawn to jobs whereI'm working with the community.
(12:23):
I'd done a lot of volunteer workfor like community arts
organizations, and nowcontinuing volume volunteering
for different organizations. Soit's kind of part of my DNA to
want to work with the community,and I'm really glad that I get
an opportunity to do that, andreally grateful to Christina and
Jamie and everyone who's helpingto make this podcast, and
(12:45):
Jordan, who's helping to makethis podcast a reality. Speaking
of that, I want to make sure weintroduce Jordan, who is the man
behind the microphones.
Jordan Buxton (12:56):
Hello. My name is Jordan Buxton. I am a Content
Creator, I think is my officialtitle right at the Living with
Fire at UNRextension. I amcurrently enrolled in a
bachelor's program at theUniversity of Nevada, Reno with
a well a Bachelor's of the Artsin Journalism with a primary
(13:16):
focus on digital contentcreation. So I have experience
in graphic design, audioediting, video editing,
photography, motion graphics,etc, etc. And I am here to edit
the podcast, which is prettyrad.
Megan Kay (13:33):
And I also want to make sure we recognize another
member of our team who's nothere, Christine Nazerchuk, and
she's our desktop publisher. Shesupports us with pretty much
everything we need, anything weneed at any time. She's great.
She is a great editor. She helpsus with graphics, and she's just
a really good person to offerfeedback, and we value her a
(13:56):
lot.
Christina Restaino (13:58):
Yeah, she's a key part of our program always
available to help with, from thebig stuff to the small stuff.
You know, there's a lot of thatbehind the scenes, editing,
graphic design, layout. We haveso many publications that we
continue to reprint, and everytime we reprint them, we have to
(14:20):
reformat them to meet. You know,there's just a lot of things
that have to happen. And she isavailable to help us with a lot
of stuff, and it's reallyvaluable.
Megan Kay (14:33):
During a wildfire, firefighters have a lot to do.
Make it easier for firefightersto defend your home. Create
defensible space now. Defensiblespace is an area between a house
and an oncoming wildfire wherethe vegetation has been managed
to reduce the wildfire threat.
Proper defensible space doesn'tmean removing all vegetation,
though, by following the lean,clean and green rule, you can
(14:54):
keep your property safe whilepreserving its natural beauty.
Learn. More about defensiblespace in our guide "Fire adapted
communities, the next step inwildfire preparedness" you can
find the guide in the resourcessection of our website at livingwithfire.com.
Yes and that brings us to thenewest members of the team. Part
of the reason I'm excited tohave you guys on is to get to
(15:19):
know you a little bit. A littlebit little bit better. So let's
start, if you let's start withTessa, if you don't mind, um, so
once you go introduce yourself.
Tessa Putz (15:30):
Yeah, so my name is Tessa Putz I am a Natural
Resources Associate with theLiving with Fire Program, and I
ended up here, well, I did myundergrad at University of
Washington in environmentalscience, and after that, I was
fortunate to work for differentuniversities and agencies across
(15:56):
the West, in Washington, Oregon,Nevada and California, and those
were all they're eitherrestoration or ecology based.
And those were a lot of fun, butI decided I wanted to buckle
down, and I ended up at UNR formy master's in natural resources
(16:19):
and environmental science, whereI studied forest ecology, and I
ran around Nevada, measuringtrees, trying to find ponderosa
pine, which is actually harderthan it is in California. And
yeah, graduated in 2020, with mymasters, and ended up here,
(16:41):
which I'm so excited to be ableto I'm really interested in
research, but I really lovebridging the gap between our
findings and and the community.
I really enjoyed positions whereI had an outreach element, like
volunteer events, and so it's,it's really important to me to
get to work with people and boildown what we're what we're
(17:06):
finding out for the public.
Megan Kay (17:10):
And then so do you, Christina and Tessa, you guys
want to talk about what the typeof work here you're doing?
Christina Restaino (17:18):
Sure, I'll let you talk about it, Tessa,
but, but I'll just say I, Iinterviewed Tessa for a position
on a field crew at UC Davisbefore she went to grad school.
So she worked for me before inthe past. And then it came full
full circle that she, she, shecame back to me somehow, so that
that worked out great. But I'lllet you talk about the projects
(17:42):
that you and I are working on,Tessa.
Tessa Putz (17:44):
Yeah, yeah. So we have some really awesome things
going on. One of them, somepeople may be seeing hopefully
in the next coupleneeds assessment and an
evaluation survey. So watch youremail for that one day. And so
that'll be really great to getan idea of
(18:18):
encroachment education website.
Something that's reallyimportant is educating the
public about the benefits ofmanaging Pinyon-Juniper for our
sagebrush ecosystems. So keepyour eyes open for the on the
internet for that too.
Megan Kay (18:34):
And that will be on our we'll be linking because
that'll have its own websiteseparate from ours, but we'll
definitely link to that from ourwebsite, I assume, yay. Well,
thanks for welcome. Excited toget to talk to you, and we,
because we're operating in covidrestrictions and everything, and
(18:55):
we're all working remotely, thisis the first time we've all been
in, you know, we've been in aroom together, so it's, pretty
exciting. You know, Christinaand Jamie are working remotely,
but we're in the digital room.
Not the first time we've been ona zoom together, but it's pretty
exciting. So yeah, that. Andthen Spencer, another new
addition to our team. Do youwant to introduce, introduce
yourself, and let's know whatyou're working on, and then
(19:19):
maybe start with your job title,too.
Spencer Houston (19:20):
Yeah. So Hi everyone. I am Spencer Houston
in and I'm a special projectmanager at Living with Fire. And
the special project that I workon is taking really cool science
from scientists like Tessa andChristina about wildfire and
turning it into wildfire sciencecurriculum for our Nevada high
schools. And that's the mainproject that I am working on. So
(19:43):
I have a background in doingthis. Over the last seven years,
I started a nonprofit thatfocused on connecting scientists
to high school students andfinding ways to make really
awesome and interesting researchrelevant to the ecosystems that
students lived in, and finding away to give teachers tools to
allow students to play with thatresearch, to go out, collect
(20:06):
measurements like that, askquestions and really understand
it, so that their scienceclasses were a lot more applied
and they could understandquestions that people are
actively trying to study andlearn.
Megan Kay (20:15):
Christina, do you want to talk about that project
at all or?
Christina Restaino (20:18):
I mean, I think Spencer covered it pretty
well. It's a grant that we gotthrough FEMA to support that so
important to acknowledge them.
And you know, we're reallyworking with a lot of different
stakeholders in the region toreally try to have this be a
curriculum where we get a lot ofparticipation from our partners
(20:45):
at the BLM and NDF and at theForest Service, to really make
sure that we're we arecontributing to the broader, you
know, prevention and mitigationeducation that's occurring
across the state, and so, youknow, we've been getting a lot
(21:08):
of great participation from ourpartners and and a bunch of
teachers throughout the region.
So really excited about it. Weas a program haven't developed a
curriculum like this before, andso folks are really, really
excited about it, and Spencerand I are hoping that this is
(21:32):
the beginning of more formalizedK-12 education that we're doing
in this program.
Spencer Houston (21:40):
And one of the really cool things about that
that's kind of come up from allthe scientists, fire
professionals, teachers thatwe've talked to, is because fire
is such a big part of the Nevadaecosystems that there's so many
different places that you canconnect fire to in your biology
class talking about successionsin different ecosystems in
there. And so there are a lot ofdifferent places where we might
(22:02):
not be saying, this is a unit onfire. So this is a study system
about wildfire, where you'regoing to learn about how to
effectively apply grazing tocreate beneficial plant
outcomes.
Christina Restaino (22:13):
Yeah, so we're trying to integrate it
into environmental scienceclasses, biology classes, and
some of the agriculture classesthat are at at at high schools.
So So really trying to have itbe that there's kind of units
that we can kind of plug intothese broader classes that are
(22:33):
are happening. And so it's areally exciting, engaging
project that will that is reallya lot of fun to work on,
honestly, because it's, it'skind of a different skill set
that we haven't been employingso far. So it's fun.
Megan Kay (22:51):
So let's, let's go around one more time, and let's
just, you can however longanswer is, let's just talk about
what living with fire means toyou. Start with Christina, yeah.
What does living with fire meanto you?
Christina Restaino (23:05):
So to me, the concept of living with fire
really is a concept that in thatencompasses that we have a
general understanding of therole that fire has played
historically in our communitiesand ecosystems, and the role it
(23:29):
plays now, and how we can beprepared and live I don't know
if harmoniously is the rightword, but live with an
understanding and respect forfire, and so to me that that
includes an ecologicalunderstanding of fire, a
(23:50):
cultural understanding of fire,an economic under understanding
of fire, a technicalunderstanding of fire. So how do
we suppress fires? How do we howdo we manage them? How do we
prepare our homes for fire? Howdo we prepare our communities
for fire? And it's not justflames and fire, it's smoke.
(24:13):
It's having your power shut off,because that's part of living
with fire, right? So, so justbeing aware of of you know that
that that there is a longstanding historical role of
fire, and presence of fire inour ecosystems, in the Great
Basin and the Sierra Nevada andin the West in general, and that
(24:36):
there are different waysculturally and economically,
that we prepare for fire andthat we cohabitate with it, and
that, you know, there are a lotof different communities that
have to be preparing for fire indifferent ways. The wildland
(24:57):
urban interface has to thinkabout a certain set of issues.
Ranchers have to think about acertain set of of of issues. The
farmers have to think about acertain set the folks that live
in the urban center have tothink about a different set of
of issues. So so really tryingto keep in mind that when we
(25:18):
live with fire, that we'retrying to think about a current
and a future time in which wedon't lose our communities to
fire, that we don't compromiseour health due to fire, because
we are prepared and resilient,both ecologically, socially,
economically, to absorb awildland fire when it comes to
(25:43):
where we are. And I mean, Ithink that that does a pretty
good job of explaining thevision I have for the program as
a whole is really providing avariety of different educational
resources and opportunities forfolks to learn about these
different components of what itmeans to live with the constant
(26:06):
presence of fire in the regionwhere you live. And so maybe
that is a workshop on climateand fire, or maybe it's a
workshop on how to pack anevacuation bag. Or maybe it's a
it's a training for landscapersthat work in fire, or it's an
educational program for K-12schools, or, you know, so
(26:29):
really, not limiting ourselvesto one kind of pathway or silo
of that entire kind of spectrumor universe of different fire
realities that we all face, butallowing the program to be
adaptive and flexible over time,to continue to provide new
(26:54):
educational materials andopportunities for folks to
understand a different part ofthe puzzle than they did before.
Megan Kay (27:07):
Communities located in wildfire prone areas need to
take extra measures to livesafely. There are many ways to
prepare communities andproperties for wildfire,
including creating andmaintaining adequate defensible
space and hardening homes towithstand wildfire. This could
mean altering or replacingcertain components of the home.
Our wildfire home retrofit guidewill help you better prepare
your home and communities forwildfire. You can find the guide
(27:30):
in the resources section of ourwebsite at livingwithfire.com.
Just coming off of this podcastwe just recorded. And to let you
guys know, we just interviewedHelen Fillmore and Rhiana Jones
(27:50):
from the Washoe Tribe. And Iwill say that that experience
kind of has changed my answer alittle bit in that you know when
I came in, my understanding ofwhat living with fire means to
me was about, kind of like our,what you were talking about,
like, having, being able to havefire as a natural ecological
disturbance and process withoutthe loss of communities and life
(28:15):
and all the other devastationthat comes with fire. I mean,
there's gonna be a bit of adisturbance, but, like, how do
we build or harden or retrofit?
There's a lot of terms out therecommunities to withstand
wildfire, but while also kind ofletting it play its role in the
ecosystem. But then I would takethat a step further after this,
(28:38):
and just kind of understand thatthere's been a like culturally,
I will say, and this is just anobservation. I'm not a social
scientist, but I think there isa lack of stewardship, just this
idea of stewardship in ourculture and of a connection to
the land. And I think everyonecan that can exist in people's
(28:59):
lives in various degrees. Andthere needs to be a little bit
of care taken before you just goout into the land, a little bit
of education that needs tohappen. But I'll extend that,
yeah, a step further beyond whatChristina was saying. And just
saying that, like for me now Ithink I'm thinking about way,
the way that we interact withthe land, and not just
(29:21):
preventing fires, but maybe likeactively understanding processes
and like becoming like, justmore connected to the land and
that, and maybe that's byeducating yourself about the
historical role of fire andcurrent land management, but
just feeling a connection to theland. And therefore, I think
(29:44):
that that will sort of rippleout into people's like feeling
responsibility, and then alsowhen people with land use being
what it is, and wild and urbaninterface expanding, I think a
lot of people are moving intothe these eight these areas, and
they don't have that connectionto the land, and they don't
(30:05):
necessarily understand theirroles and responsibilities. So I
would also say that to me,living with fire means doing
your due diligence, and likewhen you choose to live
somewhere, taking taking it allin. And instead of trying to
just completely separateyourself from the land and
harden yourself off and say,like, Okay, I need to protect
(30:26):
myself from this ecosystem andfrom this from nature, try to
maybe integrate the way that youlive into nature a little bit
more. But I don't know that'sjust me personally, the way I
think about it. But as far asimplementing that into the
program, I think those, thosethat does exist in in our
literature, when, when we talkabout, like, home hardening and
defensible space, we try to letpeople know that you don't have
(30:46):
to clear cut around your houselike you can. You can have
natural vegetation. You can, youknow, sort of exist with nature,
but do it strategically. Andsame thing with home hardening,
like you don't, we dont have toall live in metal boxes. It's
more about like making strategicchanges. So anyway, I feel like
I'm very inspired by thatepisode. Sorry to eat up so much
(31:11):
time. But Jamie, did you want toadd anything else?
Jamie Roice-Gomes (31:17):
Okay, so what does living with fire mean to
me? It basically that, you know,wildfire isn't inevitable. It's
it's coming. And so we, we helpresidents to anticipate and
prepare for for wildfire, sothey're better able to, you
(31:39):
know, adapt to it. Gone are thedays where, where folks just
say, you know, and I'm justgoing to rely on the the fire
department to save me. I pay mytaxes. You know, residents are
the first line of defense withtheir pre-fire activities to
help them reduce the threat ofwildfire. So that's in a
(32:00):
nutshell, what I would say to methat living with fire is.
Megan Kay (32:04):
Yeah, I like it. I already went, so I'm gonna
abstain. You wanna go Spencer?
Spencer Houston (32:09):
Yeah, for for me, and kind of thinking that
the context of my project inLiving with Fire, living with
fire, to me means that you couldgo, walk outside into a semi
vegetated area and look at itand understand the health and
how fire would interact withthat area, like, is it going to
be something that could reallycatastrophically burn, or is it
(32:31):
something that is veryresilient? And so being able to
look and understand is kind ofgoing to be really helpful to
that. And I think kind of, I'mexcited to listen to the podcast
session that connects to theWashoe Tribal organizations that
you've interviewed so far,because some of my talks from
the education piece, from thatwas like one idea that really
(32:52):
resonated with me was you'renever not managing an ecosystem,
and so kind of whether it'sdriving down the highway, maybe
not the best management orsomething like that, but there,
there can be good and badmanagement, and so understanding
what it looks like around you isa good first step for that.
Tessa Putz (33:09):
Growing up in a mountain town in Southern
California, I was aware of theimpact wildfire can have on
communities from a really earlyage being evacuated, and then
coming back to a national forestthat looks completely different,
and then seeing how it changesthroughout the years. And it was
(33:31):
really interesting to me tolearn later, and it's
interesting that this wasn'testablished for me as a child,
that there is good fire, andthat fire is necessary for so
many ecosystems, but that as theclimate becomes more extreme and
unpredictable, we're going toneed to learn how to live with
(33:54):
it, how to steel ourselves forit, manage properly and be
prepared for it.
Megan Kay (34:01):
You guys have great answers. I feel like even though
I made the questions I had themost rambly answer. Thank you
grhruys.
Christina Restaino (34:09):
Want to answer again Megan?
Megan Kay (34:11):
No, I think it's okay. I wanted, I wanted to pose
it to Jordan. So Jordan, whatdoes living with fire mean to
Jordan Buxton (34:16):
Well, I will admit that of everyone in the
you?
podcast and everyone we've evertalked to, I definitely have the
least knowledge and the leastamount of experience as it
relates to wildfire science andwildfire education. But I will
say that growing up, and I knowthat that's kind of arrogant for
(34:36):
me to say, because I mean,everyone's still growing up, and
I'm still, I'm still 22 so youknow. But growing up, I was
inundated with, like, thestandard wildfire warnings, with
like, you know, Smokey the Bearonly you can prevent forest
fires, and mostly preventativeeducation that I would receive
(34:57):
with my extensive, you know,public land use. I mean, I've
spent most of my life in themountains. I mean, I was a boy
scout, and I'm a back countrysnowboarder and a bike tourer
and a backpacker, and so, likeI've seen, I've had a litany of
education towards preventativemeasures. But it's, it's
(35:18):
interesting to think about howlittle I was exposed to proper
defensible space, education andan actual usable material. Not
that other other education isn'tusable, but it's not as
applicable to your daily life onhow to live with and live in an
area that's prone to wildfire.
And I don't, I don't live on thewildland urban interface. I live
(35:40):
about 12 miles from it, atleast. That's what we used to
think. I live on the on thedeserts edge in Spanish Springs.
And it hasn't been untilrecently that we've actually had
wildfires approaching ourproperty. And it's, it's kind of
really shifted my perspective,and I've enjoyed, all right,
(36:00):
I've appreciated the lastbecause I've only been here for
a couple months, but I'veappreciated the Litany and
wealth of knowledge that I'velearned in regards to, you know,
actually residing in areas proneto wildfire.
Megan Kay (36:18):
So the I think that that really, that ties in really
well with our mission, which istrying to kind of do that flesh
out the piece of the puzzle,which would be like the the why
and the how. So, you know, it'snot just about preventing fires,
which is very important, becausemost, most wildfires are human
(36:41):
caused. So it's important thatwe're not just going out and
starting fires and that, butthat also they are their reality
and when they happen, beingprepared is really important. So
the I wanted to transition,transition into just kind of and
talk to talk about for listenersthe types of things that we
(37:04):
create and what we do and how wefulfill our mission of helping
people live more safely withwildfire. This podcast, if
they're listening, would be onething, one medium of using
narrative to get to to try toeducate people and reach people
and but we also are working on alot of great things like that we
(37:27):
just mentioned the curriculum,but I, I wanted to highlight,
and I'll go to Jamie for this. Iwanted to highlight. We're also
doing, we also do webinars andonline workshops. And this
summer, we have a whole, a wholeseries, but we'll do, I think
that this around the table thingis working, so I think we'll
just go around and kind ofhighlight some of just what we
(37:49):
produce. We are a resource forfor people to live more safely
with fire. But how do theyutilize this and and what kind
of things do we provide? So I'mgonna put you on the spot and go
to Jamie first.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (38:00):
It's fine. So I think that we need to mention
that, you know, we work withlocal, state and federal
firefighting agencies. We workin collaboration with them, and
we also work in collaborationwith land management agencies
too. In Nevada, Living with FireProgram is a grant funded
(38:22):
program, and we really relyheavily on on the these agencies
and work in collaboration withthem. And so that's big with us.
And so what do we create? We wecreate peer reviewed
publications. We lead an annualWildfire Awareness Campaign.
(38:46):
It's a campaign that we do. Itused to be every May, but we've
changed it to May to October, soa longer campaign awareness
period where we just want togain awareness of wildfire and
preparedness for it. We we dopublic presentations,
(39:11):
particularly for this year'sNevada Wildfire Awareness
Campaign, we are doingworkshops, online workshops.
We're gonna have one to twoworkshops a month from from now
until October, and they they arethere on a variety of topics,
from wildfire preparedness to awildfire investigation to
(39:36):
wildfire and smoke and a lotmore. Those are this, the things
that I can think of off the topof my head. What else do we do?
We not only are a resource forNevadans, but we also provide
(39:57):
publications and informationnationally. And internationally,
some folks don't realize that Ioff the top of my head, I
believe that we do help at least25 other countries with this
information. Pretty cool.
Megan Kay (40:14):
Yeah, we've had some really good participation and
outreach with the workshops. Imean, the pandemic has been
like, it's had some weird sideeffects, one being that, like
all of this zoom programming,we're able to reach people we
never used to be able to reach,so.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (40:31):
Yeah, you know, usually we do these in
person presentations, and wewould either target, like a
smaller community in Nevada orthe whole state. And with these
zoom presentations, we've hadfolks from, I mean, Brazil,
Canada, you know, across thenation, New York. So it's
really, really cool to see thatfolks from other places are
(40:55):
utilizing our information.
Megan Kay (40:56):
I'm pretty excited about the ones we have coming
up. The wildfire and smoke oneis going to be really
interesting, because that's athing that I don't think. I
think people were just sort ofbecause it was so temporary
before wildfires. You know, thewildfires were not as prolonged
and not as huge. There wasn't asmuch output, but now we're
(41:16):
living with, I mean, last year,I mean, do you guys know, I
can't remember, but it was ascary thing where we only had,
like, for like, an entire month.
We had like two days that weregreen, like, which, like healthy
air, and that was that waspretty intense. So that's gonna
be a much needed, much neededworkshop..
Jamie Roice-Gomes (41:36):
And I really hope that we, and I know this is
on our radar to, you know,create publications from the
information so that we can helpresidents prepare for smoke.
That is, it's so interesting andis is really needed. We have,
you know, youth games to teachchildren about the emperor
(41:58):
threat or about junipers. Folkscan always borrow those if they
live locally and they're willingto drive out here to pick them
up to borrow it from us. We havepublications that folks are able
to design, or they coulddesignable publications, rather.
Megan Kay (42:21):
So they can, like, adapt them to their communities.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (42:24):
Yes, they can adapt it to their their region.
And then there's, you know, newpublications that that if folks
want to order large quantitiesof and they're from different
states, they they're,able to, yeah, so we we do this
education
Christina Restaino (42:44):
I just want to add that this program isn't
possible without the amazingteam that we have to get
everything done. There's just alot of bits and pieces that need
to be done to make this programso successful. And so I just
want to make sure to acknowledgethis whole team that we have,
because, you know, it wouldn'tbe a possible program without
everybody here on this podcast.
Megan Kay (43:13):
Thank you for listening to the Living with
Fire Podcast. You can find morestories about wildfire and other
resources at livingwithfire.com.
The Living with Fire Program isfunded by the University of
Nevada, Reno Extension, NevadaDivision of Forestry, Bureau of
Land Management and the UnitedStates Forest Service.
Welcome to the Living with Fire Podcast, where we
share stories and resources tohelp you live more safely with
wildfire.
Christina Restaino (00:28):
My name is Christina Restaino.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (00:31):
My name is Jamie Royce-Gomes.
Jordan Buxton (00:32):
My name is Jordan Buxton.
Tessa Putz (00:33):
So my name is Tessa Putz.
Spencer Houston (00:35):
I am Spencer Houston.
Megan Kay (00:36):
And I'm your host.
Megan Kay on this episode of theLiving with Fire Podcast, we're
going to be introducing you tothe Living with Fire team and
talking about what Living withFire means to us. We're also
going to be talking about theprojects that we're working on
right now to help communitieslive more safely with wildfire.
Christina Restaino (00:56):
So my name is Christina Restaino. I am an
assistant professor at UNR andState Extension Specialist I
focus on wildland fire andforest resource issues, and
(01:16):
yeah, a little bit about mybackground. Have kind of a
classic academic training inecology. Studied forestry at UC
Berkeley, and then went tograduate school at UW in
Seattle, where I studied for mymasters. I did a project focused
(01:39):
on how forest managementtreatments influence resilience
to wildland fire. And then formy subsequent work, I focused on
how forest ecosystems respond todrought throughout the whole the
whole western United States. Andthen went to do a postdoc at UC
(02:03):
Davis, where I started to reallywork more on the science
communication side. I workedthere with the joint Fire
Sciences program that focused oncommunicating wildland fire
science issues to land managers.
And then worked in a little bitof forest and fire policy in
Tahoe for two years after that,and then came here. So I kind of
(02:30):
have a background in AppliedEcology, trying to understand
how land management can be usedto increase ecosystem
resilience, but then have reallywanted to focus on that kind of
tech transfer, sciencecommunication side, and not so
(02:50):
much focus on the research end.
But how can we get people tounderstand what they can do to
live in ecosystems that facefire, drought, climate change,
and have folks better understandkind of the tools in the toolkit
(03:13):
that that land managers use tomanage ecosystems. I also have
just worked a lot, um, trying tokind of bring science outside of
the university into schools, andworking with land managers and
working with nonprofits, andjust working with folks kind of
(03:37):
outside of that traditionalacademic sphere, and kind of
trying to push information out,and then also trying to better
understand what information andwhat what, what information that
folks want to make decisionsabout what they're trying to do,
whether that be a community, ahomeowner, a land management
(03:58):
agency. So what is it that thatfolks need more information
about, and then we at theuniversity can try to to create
that information for folks soreally trying to serve that
conduit between research andscience, land management and the
public.
Megan Kay (04:15):
And that ties into the like the mission of Living
with Fire, which which simplyput, on our website and our
materials is just to help peoplelive more safely with fire. Is
that why you were so attractedto the Living with Fire Program?
Just kind of your interest inscience communication?
Christina Restaino (04:32):
Yeah, so I've always been attracted to a
position in extension going to,to undergraduate at a forestry
school that is a land grantexposed me to extension early
on, and so that their uniquepositions in that they are
(04:58):
positioned. Kind of in thecenter of things, if you will,
where you can be that hub toconnect all the other pieces out
there trying to do the samething. For example, you can
connect private industry andnonprofits and NGOs and state
(05:19):
government, local government andthe federal government, tribes,
universities, you can really bethat that go to to kind of
connect folks to facilitate ideacreation, problem solving, and
the generation of new science,information, ideas, and so I was
(05:42):
always attracted to an extensionposition, specifically one in
fire, because my my expertiseand training is in fire, but
also it's kind of theoverarching ecological issue
that is eclipsing all others inthe West, where I was born and
raised and have worked and so,you know, specifically working
(06:06):
in fire kind of helps. It's thediscipline that that kind of
grounds us in a lot of the otherecological issues of concern in
this region. I grew up in theSierra Nevada mountains of
California. So certainly, aposition at UNR was also an
(06:28):
appealing one, because, youknow, you're kind of at that
confluence of the Great Basinand the Sierra where there's a
lot of really interestingecological questions that can be
answered and and big problemsand issues that need addressed
in an area that I love, and so,you know, I was attracted to UNR
(06:50):
and extension for those reasons.
Living with Fire in inparticular, you know, is just a
really well established, wellregarded program, and having the
opportunity to be at the helm ofof that and steer that ship was
very, very appealing to me, justin terms of what we can keep
(07:12):
doing that's already been done,and the opportunity that we have
to expand the program and growthe program with such a good
foundation in place, is a reallyunique opportunity.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (07:27):
My name is Jamie Royce Gomes. I'm the
manager at the Living with FireProgram, as a background to
where I got to this space, beingthe manager at Living with Fire
Program. You know, in my in myundergrad, I had the choice
between doing nursing school orwildlife ecology, and I chose
(07:51):
wildlife ecology, and then I hadthat as an undergrad and and
then I got experience under aplant ecologist, and then ended
up out of out of the program atUNR I get, got a position as a
biological science technicianunder a research ecologist. So I
(08:11):
would go out to the middle of ofrural Nevada and do plan
experiments and I loved it. Butit was, it was really academic
based, and I really wanted tohelp people and and I wanted to,
you know, help promote researchthat that would that people
(08:32):
could benefit from. I wanted tolearn how to communicate these
things to people. So then I gotmy master's in environmental
journalism and and then I foundextension after that program,
the master's program at UNR and,and I loved it. I mean, I could
(08:52):
communicate, you know, research,to people, and I could help
people at the same time. And soI position at the Living Fire
Program opened up in 2016 and Iwas the Outreach Coordinator.
And so then I learned a lot fromfrom those managers that I had,
(09:13):
and then they retired, and thenI, all of a sudden, was the the
Manager, the Director andOutreach Coordinator, for a
little while, until, until we wefound Christina Restaino, which
was amazing. And so now I'm theoutreach or sorry I'm not the
(09:33):
outreach. Sorry, we have anoutreach coordinator. I am the
Manager, and I love it. I have,I find a lot of joy in in
helping people to reduce thethreat of wildfire. I I really
enjoy what I do. So here I am.
Megan Kay (09:50):
I'm Megan Kay. I'm the Outreach Coordinator for the
Living with Fire Program. You'regoing to be hearing a lot of my
voice on the podcast, sohopefully you. Don't hate it. I
don't have a science background,like everyone at this table. I
was an art major. Studied printmaking and book arts and
(10:13):
photography. But before I wentto before I got serious about
college, I do have a firebackground. My dad was a
firefighter for Reno Fire formany years. He spent his entire
career there. And when I wasabout 19, I was, you know, had
no direction, and he basicallyfilled out an application for me
to be a seasonal firefighter forme. And he's just like, sign
this, turn it in, this is whatyou're doing. And I did it, and
(10:36):
it was wonderful, and it wassuch a formative part of my
life. I spent two seasons on anengine, three seasons on a hand
crew, and I just really, youknow, fell in love with the
lifestyle and but also realizedthat it wasn't, I'm not I'm not
a lifer. It wasn't necessarilylike the right fit for me, but I
(10:58):
really enjoyed it so much. Andhave, you know, knowledge of the
vocabulary about wildfires is ina very basic, you know, just
because I was a was doing, I wason the ground, doing, like,
field projects, you know, I kindof understood a little bit of I
understood what we were doing,not the higher science, but I
(11:18):
understood, like, Why were wedoing, like restoration and
rehabilitation? But So I workedin the arts for a long time,
worked for the Nevada ArtsCouncil for a little bit, and
then found my way back to foundmy way back to UNR working at
Extension, as AdministrativeAssistant and doing desktop
(11:40):
publishing work. And that's whenI found out about the Living
with Fire Program. And I justwas like, had to be a part of
it. The outreach, the outreachcoordinator position was
actually open while I was here,but I was, I felt like I it was
too soon for me in my old job toapply for it. So I could have, I
could have applied for a longtime ago, but I didn't. So I'm
(12:00):
really so grateful that I get tobe part of this team, and it's a
great way for me to put my, youknow, my skills as an artist,
because I do have to create lotsof graphics for the for the
program. But also, in general,I, like Jamie, have always
really been drawn to jobs whereI'm working with the community.
(12:23):
I'd done a lot of volunteer workfor like community arts
organizations, and nowcontinuing volume volunteering
for different organizations. Soit's kind of part of my DNA to
want to work with the community,and I'm really glad that I get
an opportunity to do that, andreally grateful to Christina and
Jamie and everyone who's helpingto make this podcast, and
(12:45):
Jordan, who's helping to makethis podcast a reality. Speaking
of that, I want to make sure weintroduce Jordan, who is the man
behind the microphones.
Jordan Buxton (12:56):
Hello. My name is Jordan Buxton. I am a Content
Creator, I think is my officialtitle right at the Living with
Fire at UNRextension. I amcurrently enrolled in a
bachelor's program at theUniversity of Nevada, Reno with
a well a Bachelor's of the Artsin Journalism with a primary
(13:16):
focus on digital contentcreation. So I have experience
in graphic design, audioediting, video editing,
photography, motion graphics,etc, etc. And I am here to edit
the podcast, which is prettyrad.
Megan Kay (13:33):
And I also want to make sure we recognize another
member of our team who's nothere, Christine Nazerchuk, and
she's our desktop publisher. Shesupports us with pretty much
everything we need, anything weneed at any time. She's great.
She is a great editor. She helpsus with graphics, and she's just
a really good person to offerfeedback, and we value her a
(13:56):
lot.
Christina Restaino (13:58):
Yeah, she's a key part of our program always
available to help with, from thebig stuff to the small stuff.
You know, there's a lot of thatbehind the scenes, editing,
graphic design, layout. We haveso many publications that we
continue to reprint, and everytime we reprint them, we have to
(14:20):
reformat them to meet. You know,there's just a lot of things
that have to happen. And she isavailable to help us with a lot
of stuff, and it's reallyvaluable.
Megan Kay (14:33):
During a wildfire, firefighters have a lot to do.
Make it easier for firefightersto defend your home. Create
defensible space now. Defensiblespace is an area between a house
and an oncoming wildfire wherethe vegetation has been managed
to reduce the wildfire threat.
Proper defensible space doesn'tmean removing all vegetation,
though, by following the lean,clean and green rule, you can
(14:54):
keep your property safe whilepreserving its natural beauty.
Learn. More about defensiblespace in our guide "Fire adapted
communities, the next step inwildfire preparedness" you can
find the guide in the resourcessection of our website at livingwithfire.com.
Yes and that brings us to thenewest members of the team. Part
of the reason I'm excited tohave you guys on is to get to
(15:19):
know you a little bit. A littlebit little bit better. So let's
start, if you let's start withTessa, if you don't mind, um, so
once you go introduce yourself.
Tessa Putz (15:30):
Yeah, so my name is Tessa Putz I am a Natural
Resources Associate with theLiving with Fire Program, and I
ended up here, well, I did myundergrad at University of
Washington in environmentalscience, and after that, I was
fortunate to work for differentuniversities and agencies across
(15:56):
the West, in Washington, Oregon,Nevada and California, and those
were all they're eitherrestoration or ecology based.
And those were a lot of fun, butI decided I wanted to buckle
down, and I ended up at UNR formy master's in natural resources
(16:19):
and environmental science, whereI studied forest ecology, and I
ran around Nevada, measuringtrees, trying to find ponderosa
pine, which is actually harderthan it is in California. And
yeah, graduated in 2020, with mymasters, and ended up here,
(16:41):
which I'm so excited to be ableto I'm really interested in
research, but I really lovebridging the gap between our
findings and and the community.
I really enjoyed positions whereI had an outreach element, like
volunteer events, and so it's,it's really important to me to
get to work with people and boildown what we're what we're
(17:06):
finding out for the public.
Megan Kay (17:10):
And then so do you, Christina and Tessa, you guys
want to talk about what the typeof work here you're doing?
Christina Restaino (17:18):
Sure, I'll let you talk about it, Tessa,
but, but I'll just say I, Iinterviewed Tessa for a position
on a field crew at UC Davisbefore she went to grad school.
So she worked for me before inthe past. And then it came full
full circle that she, she, shecame back to me somehow, so that
that worked out great. But I'lllet you talk about the projects
(17:42):
that you and I are working on,Tessa.
Tessa Putz (17:44):
Yeah, yeah. So we have some really awesome things
going on. One of them, somepeople may be seeing hopefully
in the next coupleneeds assessment and an
evaluation survey. So watch youremail for that one day. And so
that'll be really great to getan idea of
(18:18):
encroachment education website.
Something that's reallyimportant is educating the
public about the benefits ofmanaging Pinyon-Juniper for our
sagebrush ecosystems. So keepyour eyes open for the on the
internet for that too.
Megan Kay (18:34):
And that will be on our we'll be linking because
that'll have its own websiteseparate from ours, but we'll
definitely link to that from ourwebsite, I assume, yay. Well,
thanks for welcome. Excited toget to talk to you, and we,
because we're operating in covidrestrictions and everything, and
(18:55):
we're all working remotely, thisis the first time we've all been
in, you know, we've been in aroom together, so it's, pretty
exciting. You know, Christinaand Jamie are working remotely,
but we're in the digital room.
Not the first time we've been ona zoom together, but it's pretty
exciting. So yeah, that. Andthen Spencer, another new
addition to our team. Do youwant to introduce, introduce
yourself, and let's know whatyou're working on, and then
(19:19):
maybe start with your job title,too.
Spencer Houston (19:20):
Yeah. So Hi everyone. I am Spencer Houston
in and I'm a special projectmanager at Living with Fire. And
the special project that I workon is taking really cool science
from scientists like Tessa andChristina about wildfire and
turning it into wildfire sciencecurriculum for our Nevada high
schools. And that's the mainproject that I am working on. So
(19:43):
I have a background in doingthis. Over the last seven years,
I started a nonprofit thatfocused on connecting scientists
to high school students andfinding ways to make really
awesome and interesting researchrelevant to the ecosystems that
students lived in, and finding away to give teachers tools to
allow students to play with thatresearch, to go out, collect
(20:06):
measurements like that, askquestions and really understand
it, so that their scienceclasses were a lot more applied
and they could understandquestions that people are
actively trying to study andlearn.
Megan Kay (20:15):
Christina, do you want to talk about that project
at all or?
Christina Restaino (20:18):
I mean, I think Spencer covered it pretty
well. It's a grant that we gotthrough FEMA to support that so
important to acknowledge them.
And you know, we're reallyworking with a lot of different
stakeholders in the region toreally try to have this be a
curriculum where we get a lot ofparticipation from our partners
(20:45):
at the BLM and NDF and at theForest Service, to really make
sure that we're we arecontributing to the broader, you
know, prevention and mitigationeducation that's occurring
across the state, and so, youknow, we've been getting a lot
(21:08):
of great participation from ourpartners and and a bunch of
teachers throughout the region.
So really excited about it. Weas a program haven't developed a
curriculum like this before, andso folks are really, really
excited about it, and Spencerand I are hoping that this is
(21:32):
the beginning of more formalizedK-12 education that we're doing
in this program.
Spencer Houston (21:40):
And one of the really cool things about that
that's kind of come up from allthe scientists, fire
professionals, teachers thatwe've talked to, is because fire
is such a big part of the Nevadaecosystems that there's so many
different places that you canconnect fire to in your biology
class talking about successionsin different ecosystems in
there. And so there are a lot ofdifferent places where we might
(22:02):
not be saying, this is a unit onfire. So this is a study system
about wildfire, where you'regoing to learn about how to
effectively apply grazing tocreate beneficial plant
outcomes.
Christina Restaino (22:13):
Yeah, so we're trying to integrate it
into environmental scienceclasses, biology classes, and
some of the agriculture classesthat are at at at high schools.
So So really trying to have itbe that there's kind of units
that we can kind of plug intothese broader classes that are
(22:33):
are happening. And so it's areally exciting, engaging
project that will that is reallya lot of fun to work on,
honestly, because it's, it'skind of a different skill set
that we haven't been employingso far. So it's fun.
Megan Kay (22:51):
So let's, let's go around one more time, and let's
just, you can however longanswer is, let's just talk about
what living with fire means toyou. Start with Christina, yeah.
What does living with fire meanto you?
Christina Restaino (23:05):
So to me, the concept of living with fire
really is a concept that in thatencompasses that we have a
general understanding of therole that fire has played
historically in our communitiesand ecosystems, and the role it
(23:29):
plays now, and how we can beprepared and live I don't know
if harmoniously is the rightword, but live with an
understanding and respect forfire, and so to me that that
includes an ecologicalunderstanding of fire, a
(23:50):
cultural understanding of fire,an economic under understanding
of fire, a technicalunderstanding of fire. So how do
we suppress fires? How do we howdo we manage them? How do we
prepare our homes for fire? Howdo we prepare our communities
for fire? And it's not justflames and fire, it's smoke.
(24:13):
It's having your power shut off,because that's part of living
with fire, right? So, so justbeing aware of of you know that
that that there is a longstanding historical role of
fire, and presence of fire inour ecosystems, in the Great
Basin and the Sierra Nevada andin the West in general, and that
(24:36):
there are different waysculturally and economically,
that we prepare for fire andthat we cohabitate with it, and
that, you know, there are a lotof different communities that
have to be preparing for fire indifferent ways. The wildland
(24:57):
urban interface has to thinkabout a certain set of issues.
Ranchers have to think about acertain set of of of issues. The
farmers have to think about acertain set the folks that live
in the urban center have tothink about a different set of
of issues. So so really tryingto keep in mind that when we
(25:18):
live with fire, that we'retrying to think about a current
and a future time in which wedon't lose our communities to
fire, that we don't compromiseour health due to fire, because
we are prepared and resilient,both ecologically, socially,
economically, to absorb awildland fire when it comes to
(25:43):
where we are. And I mean, Ithink that that does a pretty
good job of explaining thevision I have for the program as
a whole is really providing avariety of different educational
resources and opportunities forfolks to learn about these
different components of what itmeans to live with the constant
(26:06):
presence of fire in the regionwhere you live. And so maybe
that is a workshop on climateand fire, or maybe it's a
workshop on how to pack anevacuation bag. Or maybe it's a
it's a training for landscapersthat work in fire, or it's an
educational program for K-12schools, or, you know, so
(26:29):
really, not limiting ourselvesto one kind of pathway or silo
of that entire kind of spectrumor universe of different fire
realities that we all face, butallowing the program to be
adaptive and flexible over time,to continue to provide new
(26:54):
educational materials andopportunities for folks to
understand a different part ofthe puzzle than they did before.
Megan Kay (27:07):
Communities located in wildfire prone areas need to
take extra measures to livesafely. There are many ways to
prepare communities andproperties for wildfire,
including creating andmaintaining adequate defensible
space and hardening homes towithstand wildfire. This could
mean altering or replacingcertain components of the home.
Our wildfire home retrofit guidewill help you better prepare
your home and communities forwildfire. You can find the guide
(27:30):
in the resources section of ourwebsite at livingwithfire.com.
Just coming off of this podcastwe just recorded. And to let you
guys know, we just interviewedHelen Fillmore and Rhiana Jones
(27:50):
from the Washoe Tribe. And Iwill say that that experience
kind of has changed my answer alittle bit in that you know when
I came in, my understanding ofwhat living with fire means to
me was about, kind of like our,what you were talking about,
like, having, being able to havefire as a natural ecological
disturbance and process withoutthe loss of communities and life
(28:15):
and all the other devastationthat comes with fire. I mean,
there's gonna be a bit of adisturbance, but, like, how do
we build or harden or retrofit?
There's a lot of terms out therecommunities to withstand
wildfire, but while also kind ofletting it play its role in the
ecosystem. But then I would takethat a step further after this,
(28:38):
and just kind of understand thatthere's been a like culturally,
I will say, and this is just anobservation. I'm not a social
scientist, but I think there isa lack of stewardship, just this
idea of stewardship in ourculture and of a connection to
the land. And I think everyonecan that can exist in people's
(28:59):
lives in various degrees. Andthere needs to be a little bit
of care taken before you just goout into the land, a little bit
of education that needs tohappen. But I'll extend that,
yeah, a step further beyond whatChristina was saying. And just
saying that, like for me now Ithink I'm thinking about way,
the way that we interact withthe land, and not just
(29:21):
preventing fires, but maybe likeactively understanding processes
and like becoming like, justmore connected to the land and
that, and maybe that's byeducating yourself about the
historical role of fire andcurrent land management, but
just feeling a connection to theland. And therefore, I think
(29:44):
that that will sort of rippleout into people's like feeling
responsibility, and then alsowhen people with land use being
what it is, and wild and urbaninterface expanding, I think a
lot of people are moving intothe these eight these areas, and
they don't have that connectionto the land, and they don't
(30:05):
necessarily understand theirroles and responsibilities. So I
would also say that to me,living with fire means doing
your due diligence, and likewhen you choose to live
somewhere, taking taking it allin. And instead of trying to
just completely separateyourself from the land and
harden yourself off and say,like, Okay, I need to protect
(30:26):
myself from this ecosystem andfrom this from nature, try to
maybe integrate the way that youlive into nature a little bit
more. But I don't know that'sjust me personally, the way I
think about it. But as far asimplementing that into the
program, I think those, thosethat does exist in in our
literature, when, when we talkabout, like, home hardening and
defensible space, we try to letpeople know that you don't have
(30:46):
to clear cut around your houselike you can. You can have
natural vegetation. You can, youknow, sort of exist with nature,
but do it strategically. Andsame thing with home hardening,
like you don't, we dont have toall live in metal boxes. It's
more about like making strategicchanges. So anyway, I feel like
I'm very inspired by thatepisode. Sorry to eat up so much
(31:11):
time. But Jamie, did you want toadd anything else?
Jamie Roice-Gomes (31:17):
Okay, so what does living with fire mean to
me? It basically that, you know,wildfire isn't inevitable. It's
it's coming. And so we, we helpresidents to anticipate and
prepare for for wildfire, sothey're better able to, you
(31:39):
know, adapt to it. Gone are thedays where, where folks just
say, you know, and I'm justgoing to rely on the the fire
department to save me. I pay mytaxes. You know, residents are
the first line of defense withtheir pre-fire activities to
help them reduce the threat ofwildfire. So that's in a
(32:00):
nutshell, what I would say to methat living with fire is.
Megan Kay (32:04):
Yeah, I like it. I already went, so I'm gonna
abstain. You wanna go Spencer?
Spencer Houston (32:09):
Yeah, for for me, and kind of thinking that
the context of my project inLiving with Fire, living with
fire, to me means that you couldgo, walk outside into a semi
vegetated area and look at itand understand the health and
how fire would interact withthat area, like, is it going to
be something that could reallycatastrophically burn, or is it
(32:31):
something that is veryresilient? And so being able to
look and understand is kind ofgoing to be really helpful to
that. And I think kind of, I'mexcited to listen to the podcast
session that connects to theWashoe Tribal organizations that
you've interviewed so far,because some of my talks from
the education piece, from thatwas like one idea that really
(32:52):
resonated with me was you'renever not managing an ecosystem,
and so kind of whether it'sdriving down the highway, maybe
not the best management orsomething like that, but there,
there can be good and badmanagement, and so understanding
what it looks like around you isa good first step for that.
Tessa Putz (33:09):
Growing up in a mountain town in Southern
California, I was aware of theimpact wildfire can have on
communities from a really earlyage being evacuated, and then
coming back to a national forestthat looks completely different,
and then seeing how it changesthroughout the years. And it was
(33:31):
really interesting to me tolearn later, and it's
interesting that this wasn'testablished for me as a child,
that there is good fire, andthat fire is necessary for so
many ecosystems, but that as theclimate becomes more extreme and
unpredictable, we're going toneed to learn how to live with
(33:54):
it, how to steel ourselves forit, manage properly and be
prepared for it.
Megan Kay (34:01):
You guys have great answers. I feel like even though
I made the questions I had themost rambly answer. Thank you
grhruys.
Christina Restaino (34:09):
Want to answer again Megan?
Megan Kay (34:11):
No, I think it's okay. I wanted, I wanted to pose
it to Jordan. So Jordan, whatdoes living with fire mean to
Jordan Buxton (34:16):
Well, I will admit that of everyone in the
you?
podcast and everyone we've evertalked to, I definitely have the
least knowledge and the leastamount of experience as it
relates to wildfire science andwildfire education. But I will
say that growing up, and I knowthat that's kind of arrogant for
(34:36):
me to say, because I mean,everyone's still growing up, and
I'm still, I'm still 22 so youknow. But growing up, I was
inundated with, like, thestandard wildfire warnings, with
like, you know, Smokey the Bearonly you can prevent forest
fires, and mostly preventativeeducation that I would receive
(34:57):
with my extensive, you know,public land use. I mean, I've
spent most of my life in themountains. I mean, I was a boy
scout, and I'm a back countrysnowboarder and a bike tourer
and a backpacker, and so, likeI've seen, I've had a litany of
education towards preventativemeasures. But it's, it's
(35:18):
interesting to think about howlittle I was exposed to proper
defensible space, education andan actual usable material. Not
that other other education isn'tusable, but it's not as
applicable to your daily life onhow to live with and live in an
area that's prone to wildfire.
And I don't, I don't live on thewildland urban interface. I live
(35:40):
about 12 miles from it, atleast. That's what we used to
think. I live on the on thedeserts edge in Spanish Springs.
And it hasn't been untilrecently that we've actually had
wildfires approaching ourproperty. And it's, it's kind of
really shifted my perspective,and I've enjoyed, all right,
(36:00):
I've appreciated the lastbecause I've only been here for
a couple months, but I'veappreciated the Litany and
wealth of knowledge that I'velearned in regards to, you know,
actually residing in areas proneto wildfire.
Megan Kay (36:18):
So the I think that that really, that ties in really
well with our mission, which istrying to kind of do that flesh
out the piece of the puzzle,which would be like the the why
and the how. So, you know, it'snot just about preventing fires,
which is very important, becausemost, most wildfires are human
(36:41):
caused. So it's important thatwe're not just going out and
starting fires and that, butthat also they are their reality
and when they happen, beingprepared is really important. So
the I wanted to transition,transition into just kind of and
talk to talk about for listenersthe types of things that we
(37:04):
create and what we do and how wefulfill our mission of helping
people live more safely withwildfire. This podcast, if
they're listening, would be onething, one medium of using
narrative to get to to try toeducate people and reach people
and but we also are working on alot of great things like that we
(37:27):
just mentioned the curriculum,but I, I wanted to highlight,
and I'll go to Jamie for this. Iwanted to highlight. We're also
doing, we also do webinars andonline workshops. And this
summer, we have a whole, a wholeseries, but we'll do, I think
that this around the table thingis working, so I think we'll
just go around and kind ofhighlight some of just what we
(37:49):
produce. We are a resource forfor people to live more safely
with fire. But how do theyutilize this and and what kind
of things do we provide? So I'mgonna put you on the spot and go
to Jamie first.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (38:00):
It's fine. So I think that we need to mention
that, you know, we work withlocal, state and federal
firefighting agencies. We workin collaboration with them, and
we also work in collaborationwith land management agencies
too. In Nevada, Living with FireProgram is a grant funded
(38:22):
program, and we really relyheavily on on the these agencies
and work in collaboration withthem. And so that's big with us.
And so what do we create? We wecreate peer reviewed
publications. We lead an annualWildfire Awareness Campaign.
(38:46):
It's a campaign that we do. Itused to be every May, but we've
changed it to May to October, soa longer campaign awareness
period where we just want togain awareness of wildfire and
preparedness for it. We we dopublic presentations,
(39:11):
particularly for this year'sNevada Wildfire Awareness
Campaign, we are doingworkshops, online workshops.
We're gonna have one to twoworkshops a month from from now
until October, and they they arethere on a variety of topics,
from wildfire preparedness to awildfire investigation to
(39:36):
wildfire and smoke and a lotmore. Those are this, the things
that I can think of off the topof my head. What else do we do?
We not only are a resource forNevadans, but we also provide
(39:57):
publications and informationnationally. And internationally,
some folks don't realize that Ioff the top of my head, I
believe that we do help at least25 other countries with this
information. Pretty cool.
Megan Kay (40:14):
Yeah, we've had some really good participation and
outreach with the workshops. Imean, the pandemic has been
like, it's had some weird sideeffects, one being that, like
all of this zoom programming,we're able to reach people we
never used to be able to reach,so.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (40:31):
Yeah, you know, usually we do these in
person presentations, and wewould either target, like a
smaller community in Nevada orthe whole state. And with these
zoom presentations, we've hadfolks from, I mean, Brazil,
Canada, you know, across thenation, New York. So it's
really, really cool to see thatfolks from other places are
(40:55):
utilizing our information.
Megan Kay (40:56):
I'm pretty excited about the ones we have coming
up. The wildfire and smoke oneis going to be really
interesting, because that's athing that I don't think. I
think people were just sort ofbecause it was so temporary
before wildfires. You know, thewildfires were not as prolonged
and not as huge. There wasn't asmuch output, but now we're
(41:16):
living with, I mean, last year,I mean, do you guys know, I
can't remember, but it was ascary thing where we only had,
like, for like, an entire month.
We had like two days that weregreen, like, which, like healthy
air, and that was that waspretty intense. So that's gonna
be a much needed, much neededworkshop..
Jamie Roice-Gomes (41:36):
And I really hope that we, and I know this is
on our radar to, you know,create publications from the
information so that we can helpresidents prepare for smoke.
That is, it's so interesting andis is really needed. We have,
you know, youth games to teachchildren about the emperor
(41:58):
threat or about junipers. Folkscan always borrow those if they
live locally and they're willingto drive out here to pick them
up to borrow it from us. We havepublications that folks are able
to design, or they coulddesignable publications, rather.
Megan Kay (42:21):
So they can, like, adapt them to their communities.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (42:24):
Yes, they can adapt it to their their region.
And then there's, you know, newpublications that that if folks
want to order large quantitiesof and they're from different
states, they they're,able to, yeah, so we we do this
education
Christina Restaino (42:44):
I just want to add that this program isn't
possible without the amazingteam that we have to get
everything done. There's just alot of bits and pieces that need
to be done to make this programso successful. And so I just
want to make sure to acknowledgethis whole team that we have,
because, you know, it wouldn'tbe a possible program without
everybody here on this podcast.
Megan Kay (43:13):
Thank you for listening to the Living with
Fire Podcast. You can find morestories about wildfire and other
resources at livingwithfire.com.
The Living with Fire Program isfunded by the University of
Nevada, Reno Extension, NevadaDivision of Forestry, Bureau of
Land Management and the UnitedStates Forest Service.
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