Monday, December 7

Burn Smart, Breathe Easy: A Framework for Smoke-Wise Prescribed Fire

Time: 8:00am to 12:00pm

Organizers: Holly Nowell and Morgan Varner, Tall Timbers Research Station

Description: A significant barrier for expansion of prescribed fire is resulting smoke and its impact on public health, specifically the effects of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) on respiratory and cardiovascular health. Tall Timbers, working with federal, state, private, and NGO partners started a working group specifically focused on mitigating prescribed fire smoke. This regional approach enabled the fire-prone Albany, Georgia, area (population 70,000 with ca. 150,000 acres of prescribed fire annually) to record its lowest PM2.5 burden in several years while expanding prescribed burning in its airshed in 2025. This feat was the result of collaboration between state and federal regulators, prescribed burners, and partners using a tiered network strategy that focused on smoke science, strategic communications, state agency planning, burner education, and national policy outreach. In this workshop, Drs. Morgan Varner and Holly Nowell will discuss how to adapt this strategy and tools for communities in the West. Attendees will learn about the foundational framework behind the nationwide Tabletop exercises, the resulting interagency working groups, and details on establishing site-specific pilot projects. We will use a proposed Western Pilot Project in California, and work with participants on how to start or expand their prescribed fire programs with smoke management in mind. By bridging air quality with fire management, this workshop will deliver a field-tested blueprint to help Western programs burn more acres while managing smoke.

SB310 workshop with the Karuk Tribe

Time: 10:00am to 3:00 pm

Organizers: Colleen Rossier, Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources; Sara Clark, Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP

Description: In 2025, the State of California enacted a landmark law (SB 310) that recognizes and accommodates Tribal sovereignty with respect to cultural burning. To take advantage of its provisions, federally-recognized Tribes may enter into sovereign-to-sovereign agreements with the California Natural Resources Agency and air districts. In this workshop, hosted by the Karuk Tribe, participants will have the opportunity to dig into the details of SB 310 and its interaction with other state laws on cultural burning, CNRA cultural burning agreements, and internal Tribal governance, trainings, and policies on implementation. We want to support other Tribes who are seeking to develop their own SB 310 agreements, so please bring your roadblocks, draft SB 310 agreements (if you have them), and questions, and we’ll work together to make progress on this important issue.

Please note: Participation in this workshop is limited to members and representatives from federally recognized tribes interested in or working on SB 310 agreements with CNRA or their air district.

Navigating Conversations About Beneficial Fire: A Trauma-Informed Approach

Time: 1:00pm to 5:00pm

Organizers: Katie Low, UC ANR Fire Network; Yasmeen Hossain, Oregon State University; Carrie Berger, OSU Forestry and Natural Resources Extension Fire Program

Description: For many communities, experiences with wildfire shape how people understand and respond to fire on the landscape. As beneficial fire becomes an increasingly important tool for land stewardship, understanding how nervous system responses influence perceptions of fire is equally important. This workshop introduces key concepts in trauma, resilience, and nervous system balancing, and explores how they can support conversations about beneficial fire and community engagement. Through reflection, scenarios, and skill-building exercises, participants will have an opportunity to explore trauma-informed strategies for working with communities affected by fire while also learning practices that help regulate and sustain their own nervous systems in emotionally complex work. 

The PODs Experience: A Full-Cycle Planning Simulation 

Time: 1:00pm to 5:00pm

Organizers: Eric Rowell, CALFIRE; Len Nielson, CAL FIRE; Chris Dunn, Oregon State University

Description: This four-hour, immersive workshop walks attendees through a full hypothetical Potential Operational Delineations (PODs) planning cycle, set in a California landscape scenario, to show how partnerships, internal base layers, pre-planning, objective-setting, adaptive management, and post-management evaluation connect in practice. Participants work hands-on with every stage of the cycle — starting with assembling the right partners, analyzing operational base layers, and defining strategic objectives, then planning treatments and moving into the compliance, implementation, and adaptive-management steps that inform the next iteration. Each stage reinforces themes explored in more depth across the week’s special sessions, so attendees leave having experienced how a PODs cycle evolves over time and how iterative planning strengthens prescribed and cultural fire outcomes at landscape scale.

Friday, December 11

Using the Interagency Fuel Treatment Decision Support System (IFTDSS) for Prescribed Fire Plans

Time: 8:30am to 12:30pm

Organizers: Kim Ernstrom, University of Idaho

Description: This is a hands-on workshop for attendees that are familiar with IFTDSS or for those interested in being an observer to learn more. We will walk through several exercises to familarize users with the workflows and products available in IFTDSS that can be used in burn plans. Sections of prescribed fire plans like “Description of the Project Area, Prescription, Holding Plan, Contingency” lend themselves very well to the modeling and functions in IFTDSS. We will share examples where burn bosses and planners have used IFTDSS in their documents and implementation. Laptops are required, and instructions will be sent to attendees ahead of time for creating an IFTDSS account. For full participation, participants should be able to complete basic application navigation. Otherwise, participants can observe the examples and ask questions.