Climate Science Alliance staff joined the U.S. Forest Service for a site visit at Cleveland National Forest to learn about an ignition reduction pilot project being implemented along an existing fuel break.
Climate Science Alliance staff Diane Terry and Paula Ezcurra joined the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) for a site visit at Cleveland National Forest to learn about an ignition reduction pilot project being implemented along an existing fuel break.
The objective of the pilot project is to serve as a testing ground for replacing invasive plants with restoration of native plants and the benefits they offer, like pollinator habitat. The larger goal is to apply this methodology of ecological enhancement to fuel breaks along roadside areas to reduce ignition risk—where the majority of ignitions occur in our region. The pilot project comes from a collaboration with research underway at the University of California, Santa Barbara and focuses on two “sister sites”, one in Cleveland National Forest and the other in Santa Barbara.
The Climate Science Alliance acknowledges the Kumeyaay people on whose ancestral homelands we visited and learned from. We thank the USFS team and pilot project partners for the time they took to show us around, teach us about their work, and their openness to partner with Indigenous peoples and the surrounding community on this project. We hope to continue connecting with the USFS as our Stewardship Pathways program grows.
