Editor’s note: The Watershed Research and Training Center (WRTC), based in Hayfork, CA, is a non-profit organization working to create meaningful partnerships for land stewardship and empower the local community. It is also the parent organization for FAC Net. WRTC’s Fire Management Program hosts hands-on trainings and cooperative prescribed burns across the state of California to engage partners and communities in long-term strategies that use fire as a natural land management tool. The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) Fire Network is a collaborative team that works to improve fire resilience for all Californians, including through state and local leadership on prescribed fire policy and implementation. In this blog, Fire Management and UC ANR staff share a recent report and interactive dashboard highlighting community-oriented burning and training efforts in California, known as the Community-Based Beneficial Fire Data Project. Blog cover photo credit: Chad Manley.
In 2024, 25 partners and organizations across the state of California collaborated to share information about community-forward cultural and prescribed burns across California as part of the Community-Based Beneficial Fire Data Project. This project demonstrates the growing momentum of locally led efforts to restore fire to California’s landscapes. Now in its second year, the project aims to tell a more complete story of community-based beneficial fire across the state. The effort to collect this data and share it with a broader audience was undertaken by the Watershed Research and Training Center’s Fire Management Team and the UC ANR Fire Network. Recently, the team completed a report and accompanying interactive dashboard to present the data, methods, and general findings. The report and dashboard highlight the scale and diversity of beneficial fire activities occurring outside traditional agency channels. In total, 4,921 participants participated in 379 training days, while 7,927 participants supported the implementation of 622 burn days across 4,215 acres. These actions reflect a broad set of objectives—including ecological restoration, fuel reduction, workforce development, and cultural burning.
Community-Led Burning in California
In California, the resurgence of cultural and prescribed fire is not simply the renewal of a land management tool, it represents a renewal of community agency and cultural and ecological stewardship. The rise of Prescribed Burn Associations (PBAs) has played a central role in this movement, empowering landowners, cultural practitioners, and local volunteers to work together in bringing fire back to the landscape as a beneficial land management tool. The majority of the organizations that contributed data for the 2024 Community-Based Beneficial Fire Data Project are PBAs, or work closely with them.
The number of PBAs in California has grown rapidly since the inspiration was brought to California in 2017 – with over 27 now active across the state – reflecting a broad commitment to restoring fire-adapted ecosystems and mitigating wildfire risk. By pooling resources, exchanging knowledge, and fostering inclusive participation, cultural burn practitioners and PBAs are reshaping the landscape of fire management in California. Alongside PBAs, Tribes, environmental non-profit organizations, private contractors, and universities are expanding the reach of beneficial fire and training efforts throughout the state. As non-agency practitioners, these groups are uniquely positioned to take advantage of burn windows year-round, burn for a broad range of locally relevant objectives, and to engage and train members of the public who have little to no prior fire experience, spreading vital fire knowledge, inspiring new modes of action, and building local capacity for wildfire resilience.
The Where, What, and Why of Beneficial Fire
Compiling data on these prescribed fire and training activities is essential to understanding and supporting this dynamic and growing movement. The efforts of Tribally-led and community-based practitioners have historically been underreported, limiting recognition and support. The Community-Based Beneficial Fire Project addresses this gap by telling a unified story of California’s community-based firelighters and trainers. With the Community-Based Beneficial Fire Dashboard, this project moves beyond counting acres burned to reveal the where, what, and why–and a so often-forgotten who–behind beneficial fire.
We acknowledge that important voices and practices remain underrepresented in this effort. Many potential partners face barriers such as limited accessibility, lack of opportunity, or restrictions on cultural burning—particularly in regions like Southern California, where urbanization has disrupted traditional fire relationships. Although the number of partners and organizations contributing data to the project tripled this year, critical work by firelighters and trainers continues to go unrecorded.
Looking ahead to 2025, our goals are to broaden participation, strengthen collaboration in underrepresented areas, and improve data quality. While fire may not always be the first tool needed in ecosystem restoration, it is an essential component to restoring cultural and ecological resilience. Expanding this work ensures fire can once again serve as a sustaining force across California’s diverse landscapes.
Thanks to the following organizations for their contributions to this project:
Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve, Butte PBA, Central Coast PBA, Cultural Fire Management Council, El Dorado – Amador PBA, Fire Forward, First Rain Land Stewardship Services, Good Fire Alliance, Humboldt PBA, Hyampom PBA, Landpaths, Napa PBA, Nevada PBA, Placer PBA, Plumas Underburn Cooperative, San Luis Obispo PBA, Siskiyou PBA, Sonoma LT, Spye General, The Mid Klamath Watershed Council, Tribal EcoRestoration Alliance, The Nature Conservancy CA, The Watershed Research and Training Center, Yolo PBA, UC ANR Fire Network, and Yosemite Gateway Prescribed Burn Cooperative.
Special thanks and recognition to Andrea Bustos, Ethan Vayman, Joaquin Pastrana, Erin Banwell, Lenya Quinn-Davidson, José Luis Duce Aragüés, Miller Bailey, and Annie Leverich for their contributions to the creation of this project report and dashboard.
The work upon which this publication is based was funded in part through a Regional Forest and Fire Capacity grant awarded by the California Department of Conservation.
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