Monday, May 24, 2021

To kick off the Wildfire Ready series, it is important to acknowledge our local history as it pertains to wildfires. This workshop will feature Dr. Peter Nelson, a life-long Sonoma County resident, Indigenous community member, and educator whose research includes Indigenous archaeology, Indigenous environmental studies, and settler colonialism. In this session, Dr. Nelson will share the history of control burns used as an ancestral practice by our Indigenous communities as well as the use of fire as an opportunity for renewal. Santa Rosa Fire Department staff will also speak on the various types of burning that take place, as permissible, around the County (land and piles) as well as the City of Santa Rosa’s new Vegetative Debris Pile Burning Ordinance. There will be an opportunity for questions and answers at the end of the session.