Learning and burning: Mt. Adams Prescribed Burn Association hosts prescribed fire workshop

She noted that the environment East of the Cascades and in the Columbia Gorge historically received low-intensity fires in the landscape every five to 20 years, creating a healthy forest ecosystem. Fire suppression led to negative ecological impacts and increased risk of catastrophic fires.

Prescribed fire, under the umbrella of beneficial fire, intentionally puts fire across a landscape to mitigate wildfire risk by burning excessive fuel. This includes overgrown vegetation, downed trees, shrubs and grasses.

“There have been efforts to work on collaborative prescribed fire and to teach community members about prescribed fire for years in the Gorge,” Allaben said, noting that there has been a huge uptick of interest on the topic in recent years from private landowners.

It wasn’t until last May that Mt. Adams PBA formally became an organization with the assistance of nonprofits MARS, Columbia Land Trust and Sustainable Northwest. Together, their mission is to provide small private landowners in Washington and Oregon with the tools and knowledge necessary to conduct prescribed fires through collaboration and education.

On the first day of the Learn & Burn Workshop, instructors included Adam Lieberg from Columbia Land Trust, Emily Richardson from the Washington Department of Natural Resources and Kara Karboski from Washington Resource Conservation & Development Council. The tools for implementing a prescribed burn, from a pulaski to hoses, were also demonstrated.

The day two instructors included Sami Schinnell from The Nature Conservancy, Lucas King from MARS, and Adam Lieberg from Columbia Land Trust.

For the in-field teaching, participants dug fire lines around a 10-by-10-foot plot to practice using hand tools to remove vegetation and build a line in the group, which ideally, fire cannot pass. Drip torches, a handheld device that drips fuel, were used to light fires on the plot’s perimeter in different firing patterns.

“It’s a tiny small-scale way to see how fire works and how you can manipulate it depending on the weather and where you choose to put it using the drip torch,” Allaben said, adding that it was exciting to see participants watch and understand how controllable the fire was.

On the last day, the prescribed burn was canceled due to conditions, as there wasn’t enough personnel to continue patrolling the unit over the following days as the forecast predicted high winds and warm temperatures.

“It was a lesson how we, as prescribed fire practitioners, take these decisions really seriously,” Allaben said, adding that there’s a lot of thought and planning that goes into a burn. “We’re looking very closely at forecasts, we’re thinking about the number of resources we have available, and thinking about the what-if scenarios.”

Along with the Learn & Burn Prescribed Fire Workshop, Mt. Adams PBA provides a coalition-style membership to share equipment, training and skills for small private landowners to implement prescribed fire on their land successfully.

While landowners are the key people the workshop PBA intends to reach, Allaben stated the organization wants the training to be open and available for as many people as possible, regardless of whether they are landowners or not.

“It’s a whole community effort to understand and use prescribed fire,” she said, pointing to neighbors helping neighbors with prescribed fires.

The best way to stay up-to-date on trainings, workshops, and burns is to sign up for the mailing list at PBA@mtadamsstreawrds.com or visit mtadamspba.org.