PRESCRIBED PROGRESS Q&A with CCA Fire Subcommittee member and UCCE Livestock and Natural Resource Advisor Jeffery Stackhouse by Director of Communications Katie Roberti
Q
It’s been a long time since we’ve ran an update on the progress of prescribed burn associations in California. As a reminder, can you quickly explain what PBAs are and how they operate?
A I am not sure that this will be a “full” update
on PBAs in California, because there are too many to keep track of, but I’ll give it my best shot. Prescribed burn associations (PBAs), Range Improvement Associations (RIAs) and other burn cooperatives are really all one in the same. Collectively, across the nation, the “Prescribed Burn Association” or “PBA” term tends to be the most common, as is true in California. A PBA is really just a community or place-based group of people that work together to use fire as private practitioners. Much like a branding, it is a neighbor-helping-neighbor model where if you show up and help on my burn, I will prioritize showing up and helping on your burn. Also, like brandings, some are big social gatherings with many people, food and drink. Other burns have the bare minimum staffing and mechanical resources to get the job done. Each and every burn organization is different, and every landowner host has their own style of hosting a burn event.
Q A
How many PBAs are we up to in California?
The first PBA was started in California in 2017. Interestingly, however, the Central Coast was
58 California Cattleman August 2023
the last remaining stronghold of the Range Improvement Associations from which the concept of a PBA was adopted from California by burning groups in the Midwest and renamed “Prescribed Burn Associations” which has come full-circle back to the Western states. The Santa Barbara Range Improvement Association, led primarily by CCA members, is one of these long-lasting RIAs that is still burning today. That said, since 2017, there has been an incredible amount of interest in revitalizing RIAs and starting new community-based burning groups, most of which have adopted “Prescribed Burn Association” as part of their name.
Q
Is the number of PBA groups formed and burning continuing to grow?
A
Currently, the amount of interest and the number of leaders in this movement has grown to a capacity to which no one knows exactly how many groups there are forming or working toward forming, which is incredibly exciting! Also, there is so much interest in some areas that have PBAs, including Humboldt County, that ...CONTINUED ON PAGE 60