Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Prescribed Fire topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Local Prescribed Burn Association promotes training, landowner burns and cultural shift toward frequent fire
Summary
The Cascadia Prescribed Burn Association described its role connecting private landowners, agencies and contractors to run permitted controlled burns, host training and support landowner‑led burns in the Chumstick area.
The Cascade Prescribed Burn Association (PBA) presented its approach to expanding prescribed fire by training community members, supporting private landowner burns and coordinating with agencies and contractors.
Colin Sternangle, manager of the Cascade Prescribed Burn Association, said the group provides training events (“learn and burn”), pile‑burning workshops and landowner‑implemented burns to fill a resource gap between do‑it‑yourself permits, scarce private contractors and intermittent agency capacity. “The PBA model … brings together landowners, land managers, and other stakeholders to conduct controlled burns in a coordinated manner,” Sternangle said.
Sternangle framed prescribed fire as a tool for ecosystem resilience and noted historical fire return intervals on the eastern Cascades that were much more frequent before the suppression era. He emphasized that prescribed fire is planned with a burn plan, weather monitoring and resources on site and that fire is most effective when paired with thinning or other mechanical treatments as a “cherry on top” treatment.
The PBA said it began in 2023 in the local area, has led “learn and burn” events and pile‑burn workshops, hosted five landowner burns in 2024 totaling just under 20 acres in the Chumstick area and is building a local library of approved burn plans to speed permitting. Sternangle encouraged residents to join the email list and attend training opportunities to increase local capacity for private‑land prescribed burning.
