Fire & Forests Learning Series Part III: Resilience

Photo: Michael Remke

Fire & Forests Learning Series
Part III: Resilience Post 416 Fire

November 6th, 6-8 pm
Powerhouse Science Center
Durango, CO

To close the series, we will direct the conversation to the lessons learned by our community post-416 Wildfire and how experts and local leaders are addressing these effects in regard to ecological and community resilience.

Panel

• Kelly Barsanti: Chemical and Environmental Engineering Professor at UC Riverside

• Brad Piehl: Watershed Planner, JW Associates Inc. in Breckenridge, CO

• Brad Pietruszka: Fuels Manager, San Juan National Forest

The Series

As we reflect on the past two years here in the San Juan Mountains, we see a contrast from extreme drought and fire on our doorstep to record snowpack and swollen rivers. While we see two extremes across the years, we must ask the question: where do 2018 and 2019 fit within the context of historic fire regimes, the forest ecology of the San Juan Mountains, and the lens of climate change? Change is happening to the landscape we call home. How do we, as a community, approach those fluctuations using the best available science and knowledge of past change to promote both ecological and community resilience? Mountain Studies Institute (MSI) will be hosting a learning series to engage our community, in conversation, about the changing forests in the San Juan Mountains. The overarching theme to this series will be resilience: ecosystem resilience to fire, the impacts of post-fire conditions on ecosystems and communities, the use of forest management techniques to advance ecosystem and community resilience, and the need to build a culture within our communities of learning to understand the importance of and live with fire. This series will occur over three evenings: October 23rd, October 30th, and November 6th. The evenings will include short presentations and panel discussions with community participation in the discussion.

We invite you to join the conversation and help to inform a community approach to living with fire.