Biomass, Biotech & Fire Mitigation | Teal Brown Zimring on Funding the Future of Wildfire Resilience

🌿 Learn more about Teal’s work at Lab to Land: labtolandinstitute.org

Can fire prevention become profitable? In this episode of The Fire Break, host Steve Wolf talks with Teal Brown Zimring, Executive Director of Lab to Land and Managing Partner at Galvanize Partners, about the emerging intersection of wildfire economics, biomass utilization, and biotechnology.

Teal’s background in political economics gives her a unique lens on how we fund and prioritize resilience. She explains why thinning overgrown forests isn’t just about science — it’s about economic incentives, regional demonstration projects, and redefining what it means to “live with fire.”

🧠 Topics Covered:

• The untapped value of waste biomass (pine needles, scrub wood, and “ladder fuels”)

• Why private markets can’t solve wildfire risk — and where public funding fits in

• Can paper towels really save the forest?

• The dangers of phosphorus loading from fire retardants

• Using biotech and soil genomics to understand post-fire recovery

• Reimagining wildland firefighter careers as year-round resilience work

• Cultural narratives that still glorify suppression over prevention

• Why funding community-scale projects may be our best path forward

Sponsored by Team Wildfire, developing jet engine–powered fire suppression for the modern age.