Southern Blue Ridge
The Southern Blue Ridge Mountains have remarkable biological diversity and a long and complex history of people working with fire. The region’s fire practitioners started one of the United States’ only high school controlled-burn clubs, developed trailblazing approaches to making fire careers accessible, and built a network that makes the most of regional knowledge, expertise and resources.
Learning to Burn: Students Lead the Way to a Better Relationship with Fire in Tennessee
“What started as a club in 2018-19 is a now actually like a local prescribed burn resource. Community folks call the high school when they need consultation or capacity to do a burn on their property.” — Bryan Kerns, Founder, Pulaski Club, Dobyns-Bennett High School; Kingsport, Tennessee
Lighting a Path: The Southern Blue Ridge On-Call Burn Crew
“When the question was asked, what is your biggest limiting factor to getting more prescribed fire done in the mountain region of the Southern Appalachians, the answer, everybody said, was capacity. We just didn’t have the resources.” – Dean Simon, Prescribed Fire Specialist, Southern Blue Ridge Burn Crew, The Nature Conservancy in North Carolina
The Power of Partners: Building a Fire Family in the Southern Blue Ridge
“We had established a level of trust and respect and understanding amongst each other. Then when something like the Table Rock wildfire occurs, and we all show up to help, we all understand each other automatically.” – Tom Dooley, Director of Forest Conservation, The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina