Building Fire-Resilient Landscapes: SRT's Participation in the 2024 San Luis Obispo Prescribed Fire Training Exchange
In recent years, agencies, land owners and conservationists have acknowledged the need for more frequent controlled burns in California ecosystems to decrease the accumulation of dangerous fuels, improve ecological health, and restore landscapes that were once shaped by regular fires.
The San Luis Obispo Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX) unites a variety of participants, including professional fire practitioners, tribal members, ranchers, land managers, and community members for 8 days of training in prescribed fire techniques and hands-on burning experience. This training event fosters important connections and networks, strengthening local capacity for fire management with the aim of increasing the use of prescribed fire in the Central Coast region, while keeping community values in mind.
SRT has been interested in using prescribed fire to benefit the lands we manage and so we were excited at the opportunity to participate in SLO TREX this October both as a land manager and our own Carrizo Land Steward, Ian Axsom, as a student in the training.
SRT managed lands in the Carrizo Plain served as one of two locations for the hands-on training. The SLO TREX crew burned nearly 200 acres of grassland on SRT lands, giving the students experience in a variety of skills,including firing and holding operations, burn unit preparation and mop-up, and taking on leadership assignments. The management goals of this fire were to control invasive species and promote the growth of native plants by removing dead vegetation and reducing competition and increasing the availability of soil nutrients. SRT Biologists will be collecting data on plant species occurring in the burned area next spring to compare to data collected last spring to allow us to track the progression of the plant community post-burn.
“The 2024 SLO TREX was an amazing training opportunity that gave me hands-on experience with basic prescribed fire operations and connected me with other people involved in bringing back good fire to our lands.” Ian Axsom says. “The training and the connections have given myself and SRT a foundation for incorporating prescribed fire into our land management, with the goal of improving the health of our lands.” Ian was able to qualify for Firefighter Type 2, a basic wildland firefighter certification through the SLO TREX, and he and SRT are looking forward to participating in future TREX training.
