Co-hosted by our partner: Cal Poly Swanton Pacific Ranch

Saturday, March 8, 2025, 9am – 4:30pm

Register here: https://spranch.calpoly.edu/wildfire-resilience-forested-communities-east-sonoma-county

This in-person field workshop is an opportunity to learn about fuels management, wildfire resilience, and community protection through examples of work by local communities (Saddle Mountain Preserve, Monan’s Rill, and Pepperwood Preserve) within the Mayacamas Range. The program will feature prescribed fire, corridor fuels treatment, and post-fire treatments.

Kim Batchelder, Vegetation Management Coordinator at Sonoma County Ag + Open Space, will outline the workshop’s goals and key activities to begin the workshop. Monica Delmartini, Stewardship Specialist at Sonoma County Ag + Open Space, will explain property management and treatment types at Saddle Mountain. This will include information on management objectives, shaded fuel breaks and under-story thinning treatments, preparation for prescribed burns, and insights into the successes and challenges of these practices. Ben Nicholls, CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Division Fire Chief, will also explain CAL FIRE’s involvement in these treatments.

Next, Rick Kavinoky and Thea Maria Carlson, two of the co-owners and residents of Monan’s Rill, will lead the group on a walk through the 414 acres that the community stewards. They will cover multiple treatment types and discuss logging, wildfire effects, and the prescribed burning process. Genevieve Tarino, Forestry Project Manager at Sonoma RCD, will overview cost-share programs, including NBFIP, CFIP, and EQIP. Additionally, Lynn Garric, Chair of the Upper Mark West FireSafe Council & FireWise Community, will speak on community organization and inter-community relationships.

At Pepperwood Preserve, Devyn Friedfel, Assistant Preserve Manager, will discuss prescribed burn and grazing treatments on the property. He will also explain the details of pile burning and how this treatment can prepare for a broadcast burn.

The workshop will include hiking off-trail in uneven, unstable, and steep situations. We will hike for approximately 1 hour at our first site, with stops along the way. This will be followed by approximately 20 minutes of hiking at our second site.