Message from the  El Dorado Amador PBA:

Hello All,

We are working to make the most of this burn window and good weather! If you're interested in getting out on your first burn or learning more about the Prescribed Burn Association, check out these upcoming events throughout the region!

Breakdown of upcoming opportunities, more information on all below:

• Wednesday May 31st: Meet and Greet at Amador Brewing Company Hoist House (Pine Grove)
• June 2nd and 3rd: Broadcast Burn with Mother Lode PBA/Cal Fire (Sonora)
• June 10th: FIRE/LAND Event at Wakamatsu Farm (Placerville)

Wednesday May 31st: Meet and Greet for El Dorado Amador PBA

Next Wednesday May 31st the El Dorado Amador Prescribed Burn Association will be hosting an informal community gathering at the Hoist House by Amador Brewing Company located in Pine Grove. Come out to connect with other community members and learn how we can support use of prescribed fire on your property! Please share widely within your local groups and stop by anytime you can throughout the evening! Food will be available from Mother Lode Deli.

Let us know if you plan to come out on Wednesday!

June 2nd and 3rd: Broadcast Burn with Mother Lode PBA and Cal Fire

Details from Claire Rappaport with Mother Lode PBA.

The Mother Lode PBA will be conducting a broadcast burn of roughly 10 acres of oak woodland in the Sonora area. This has been an ongoing project to restore a historic cattle ranch from overgrown shrubs to prime, fire-resistant grazing land and we at the MLPBA are delighted to be included. This is an extraordinary opportunity to see what a prepped unit should look like, experience how fire moves and behaves under reasonable broadcast burning conditions, as well as learn ignition patterns and techniques to produce the desired results. Ranchers who would like to see this kind of fire on their own land may be especially interested. All experience levels are welcome.

This will be a two day event on June 2nd and 3rd. Day one will be a field day where we will watch CALFIRE burn on the adjoining unit and observe their techniques from a safe distance. Day two will be a short classroom portion (on site in the most charming little 19th century schoolhouse) followed by hands-on field work where we will be the ones lighting the fire. Please sign up using the button if you would like to be part of this burn. We will be sending out much more information in the coming days to those who use the button to sign up. Please understand that the weather has to fit the burn prescription, and if it doesn’t we may have to reschedule last minute. We may also end up having to waitlist people depending on how much interest we get. We will reach out via email to let you know if either of these is the case. 

Sign up here if interested. Contact Claire Rappaport (claire@tcrcd.org) with any questions regarding Mother Lode PBA Events.

June 10th: FIRE/LAND Community Resiliency Event

FIRE/LAND: Knowing the Territory - Inspiring Community Resilience is an art rock opera and public forum offering an artistic encounter with wildfire, recovery, and resilience in El Dorado County, CA, and beyond. FIRE/LAND premieres as a one-night-only event on June 10, 2023, at Wakamatsu Farm in Placerville, CA. The event is produced by Myrtle Tree Arts (myrtletreearts.com), the Placerville-based arts collaborative founded by Ameera Godwin and Paul Godwin, and co-presented by the environmental non-profit, American River Conservancy (ARConservancy.org).

The performance under the stars combines “Fire/Land: Knowing the Territory,” an art rock opera for the forest, with a concert of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” on its 50th anniversary by the local popular rock group, Main Street Collective. Designed with the goal to build understanding and participation around wildfire awareness and resilience in El Dorado County (EDC), the public forum features local experts speaking on forest and land management, wildfire protection and safety, and community health and resilience. Forum participants hail from local and state agencies, institutions and organizations focused on these topics.

The public forum speakers and contributors are:  Elena DeLacy and Autumn Gronborg, American River Conservancy (ARC); Ken Pimlott, EDC Office of Wildfire Preparedness and Resilience; Susan Kocher, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources; Mark Egbert, El Dorado & Georgetown Divide Resource Conservation Districts; Malissa Tayaba, Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians; Kit Veerkamp, CA Native Plant Society, El Dorado Chapter; Becky Estes, US Forest Service; Rina Wakefield and Indigo Moor, poets; Zack Dowell, Folsom Lake College Innovation Lab, and Dustin Koupal, composers/musicians; Rev. Dr. Ryoei Tyler, Tendai USA.

The June 10th event is the first of its kind to convene El Dorado County leadership and citizens around developing community resilience and increasing communal engagement and understanding of wildfire through public art. The companion FIRE/LAND Art Exhibition at Arts & Culture El Dorado’s Switchboard Gallery, 525 Main St. Placerville, opens June 8, 2023, and runs through August 6, 2023, featuring works by FIRE/LAND artist and creator, Ameera Godwin.

“FIRE/LAND is an artistic exploration of the forest, to reflect on shared history, to grieve and consider how we might work toward a safer, healthier ecosystem with fire. Using music, theatre and visual media, we are tapping into the spirit of the land,” says video artist Ameera Godwin, co-founder of Myrtle Tree Arts and artistic director of the event. More of Ameera Godwin’s writings on the project are at Myrtle Tree Arts Journal (myrtletreearts.blogspot.com).

Artists contributing to the performance include Placerville’s popular Main Street Collective (mscband.com) led by composers and musicians, Paul Godwin and Aron Faria, along with visiting artists, Venezuelan composer Miguel Noya, and Symphony San Jose Concertmaster, Robin Mayforth. Performers in the show under the stage direction of Gavin Sellers include: Cellist, John Sellers; Saxophonist, Charlie Baldwin; Bassist, Brett Neumann; Drummers, Joseph Charles Beatty and Jonathan Punturo; singer/performers, Haley Nicole Woodward, Mae Flores, Dylan Punturo, Evan Taylor, Caitlyn Miller, and local Native American storyteller, Kimberly ShiningStar Petree.

This intellectual and creative experience strives to spark inspiration and share a call to action in support of community resilience and public awareness.

Event Details:

• Speaker FORUM begins at 4:00 PM and concludes by 7:00 PM.
• The live PERFORMANCE is from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM.
• Tickets are $10 per adult. Kids 17 and under are free. Suggested parking donation is $10.
• A no-host bar will offer local wines and beer. The food service will be onsite from 5:00 until 8:00. Picnicking is welcome.
• Buy tickets at bit.ly/FIRELAND. All proceeds will benefit Wakamatsu Farm.

FIRE/LAND is made possible through the generous support of: The Latrobe Fund, Sacramento Region Community Foundation, Pure Life/Sacred Roots, and the El Dorado Community Foundation.

Contact for FIRE/LAND event: Russ Matthews, phone: 530-240-4260, email: myrtletreearts@gmail.com

Purchase tickets for FIRE/LAND Event Here!

Thank you all for your continued involvement working to expand awareness of the value of intentional fire and to get more good fire on the land! Please reach out with any questions about upcoming events and hope to see some of you next week!

Regards,

Kestrel Grevatt

kestrelgrevatt@berkeley.edu

El Dorado Amador Prescribed Burn Association

forests.berkeley.edu/EAPBA

 University of California Cooperative Extension | 137 Mulford Hall, #3114, Berkeley, CA 94720-3114