Livestock & Range
Article

Central Coast TREX a Big Success

  • By Devii R Rao

Briefing at Santa Lucia with TREX participants.
Briefing at Santa Lucia with TREX participants.

The Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association (CCPBA) is a project of UC Cooperative Extension San Benito County and the Resource Conservation District of Monterey County with funding from two CAL FIRE grants. We hosted our first prescribed fire training exchange (TREX) from June 3 - June 10, 2023. It was held at the Santa Lucia Conservancy headquarters in Carmel Valley, Monterey, Ca. A huge thank you to Santa Lucia Conservancy!

Even though it rained during the week, we were still able to burn around 20 acres at the Nyland property in San Benito County, plus more than 15 large machine built piles which was good preparation for a future broadcast burn at Santa Lucia Preserve in Monterey County. We even had the help of a small new start-up called Burn Bot who brought their equipment to test out creating a type of control line called a blackline at one of our burn unit boundaries. 

Blackline training at the Nyland property.
Blackline training at the Nyland property.
 

Practicing using a drip torch to light a fire and backpack sprayers to put out fire at the Nyland property.
Practicing using a drip torch to light a fire and backpack sprayers to put out fire at the Nyland property.
 

 

The burn bot unit burns and extinguishes vegetation in an enclosed, controlled environment.
The burn bot unit burns and extinguishes vegetation in an enclosed, controlled environment.

Blackline creataed by the burn bot.
Blackline creataed by the burn bot.
 

 

Pile burning at Santa Lucia in preparation for a larger-scale broadcast burn.
Pile burning at Santa Lucia in preparation for a larger-scale broadcast burn.

A big thanks to CAL FIRE for funding the CCPBA and being an incredible partner doing a ton of work in the background to make sure the TREX could happen.

Throughout the week we offered 13 trainings from burn planning to shelter deployment to how to use radios. There were also 12 presentations on topics such as burning in Ecuador, fire management in Spain, cultural fire, and prescribed fire with CAL FIRE.

75 people participated in the TREX, including:

  • 2 Fire Depts (Hollister FD, Santa Clara Co Fire)
  • 2 fire contractor (Defensible Space Services, Wildfire Specialist)
  • 3 CA tribes (Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, Esselen Tribe of Monterey County, Auburn Rancheria)
  • 3 State Park Districts (Monterey, Diablo, Santa Cruz)
  • 5 international Spanish speaking burners (Honduras, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain)
  • 2 local RCDs (Monterey, Santa Cruz)
  • 2 local foresters (ARC, Hamey Woods) 
  • 4 local Land Trusts (Big Sur Land Trust, Peninsula Open Space Trust,  San Benito Ag Land Trust, Santa Lucia Conservancy)
  • 2 Regional Park Districts (East Bay Parks, Santa Clara Parks)
  • 1 fire technology start up (BurnBot)
  • 1 Nature Conservancy N. America Fire Program employee
  • 2 reporters (SF Chronicle, California Academy of Sciences)
  • Roughly 20 observers throughout the week
  • Many local community members

We are so excited to train more people in prescribed fire so that they can help a variety of landowners and land managers conduct their burns safely and effectively in the future. For more details about the TREX, check out the Central Coast Fire Twitter page managed by Barb Satink, UCCE Fire Advisor for San Benito, Monterey, Santa Cruz, and Santa Clara counties: https://twitter.com/CACoastFire.

Tom Little Bear Nason, Tribal Chairman of the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County discussing cultural burning.
Tom Little Bear Nason, Tribal Chairman of the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County discussing cultural burning.

 
Brice Muenzer from CAL FIRE BEU discussing prescribed burning with CAL FIRE.
Brice Muenzer from CAL FIRE BEU discussing prescribed burning with CAL FIRE.