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Jared Dahl Aldern

@jdaldern.bsky.social

2.2K followers 940 following 850 posts

Co-lead of the Sierra-Sequoia Burn Cooperative, a partnership of four California Native American Tribes and other landowners, fire practitioners, and researchers. Co-editor of a fire anthology forthcoming from Oregon State University Press, spring 2026.

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · Mar 10

Yes, I offered this starter pack as a list of fire practitioners for y'all to follow, and I also regularly visit the Posts tab so I can keep up with what people are posting in this particular neck of the Bluesky woods.

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 1d

Excellent graphic from the Grist article

Images showing various treatments, accompanied by the following text:

How to Burn a Forest (Intentionally)
Prescribed burns are essential to protecting forests from megafires, scientists say.
But you usually have to reduce the flammable fuels first.
THINNING: Cutting down some trees and not others.
Reduces forest density so it can be better managed by prescribed (intentional) fire. Suitable for landscapes with big "saw logs" that can be sold and for dense post-fire forests.
Cost: About $4,000/acre or $15,000/day, depending on equipment.
MASTICATION: A machine chews up vegetation.
Another way of reducing fuel density before broadcast burns, especially with trees that can't be sold. Suitable for brushy landscapes. Costs cannot be recovered.
Cost: $2,000-$3,000/acre.
BROADCAST BURNS:
Intentional fire that burns along the forest floor safely.
Removes fuel to tame future wildfires.
High-risk, because it can escape, and hard to schedule. Highest impact and provides greatest ecological benefit to forests. But often first requires thinning, mastication, or logging.
Cost: $800-$4,000/acre. Also being affected by the current market.
PILE BURNS: People with chainsaws cut down vegetation, pile it, and burn it.
Low-risk and helps remove fuels, but many say it lacks the ecological benefits of broadcast burning.
Cost: $800-$8,000/acre. Demand and a glut of funding have distorted the market.

Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 1d

Detailed reporting here on the Plumas Community Protection Plan, along with complaints about Trump’s Forest Service giving “short shrift to reporters’ questions.” But no mention of area Tribes (Greenville, Berry Creek, Mechoopda, Enterprise, Mooretown, Susanville, Konkow Band, Washoe, and others).

The ambitious plan to protect Northern California's Plumas National Forest from wildfires

To shield the forest and its communities from the next megafire, the Forest Service plans to burn it — intentionally.

grist.org

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 3d

“collaborators were awarded over $5M to launch a prescribed fire across 3,300 acres…it would have been a key demonstration to show that planned fires can burn safely at a large scale…The groups were scheduled to start building fire breaks in September…But then the Garnet Fire ignited Aug. 24…”

‘All the trees are dead’: An ancient California forest has been wiped out

Old growth forests across the West are at risk of disappearing within 50 years. The Teakettle Experimental Forest is a tragic example in California.

www.sfchronicle.com

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 4d

“Hellexico,” one of my old hangouts 😂

Map of cultural regions of the United States. Source: map porn on Facebook. The area around eastern San Diego county, imperial county, and Yuma is labeled “Hellexico.”

Reposted by Jared Dahl Aldern

Robert W. Gray @firebobbc.bsky.social · 5d

What happens when a critical sector like forestry, the backbone of so many rural communities in western Canada, is no longer viable or sustainable because so much standing and future volume has been lost to wildfires? www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Wildfire management at a crossroads: Mitigation and prevention or response and recovery?

As direct and indirect costs of fires continue to grow, so too might motivation to invest more heavily in mitigation

www.science.org

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 5d

This is the logical endgame for landgrab universities.

𝕍∃, Cyber closed shell syndrome relief fund coordinator @vortexegg.com · 5d

It is confusing to me what university administrators think their job is going to be after American universities are completely hollowed out. Leveraged sellouts of land and real estate to private equity?

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 5d

How would you like your smoke? I’m wondering where the wood comes from for these restaurants and whether SF would have less wildfire smoke if everyone cooked with wood. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

SF neighborhood torn apart by ritzy restaurant's wood-fired grills

A Bay Area chef's decision to cook everything over open fire has ignited a neighborhood row, with residents reporting headaches, asthma attacks and fears for their children's health.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 6d

Three burns: Back in July, the Butler Fire incident management team supported Karuk cultural burners and a community prescribed fire crew as they successfully conducted burns and protected homes in the path of the wildfire.

Bill Tripp @culturalfire.bsky.social · 6d

Wildfire, prescribed fire, AND cultural burning at the same time, in the same place. This is what right looks like in Karuk Territory! vimeo.com/1120338306?f...

Three Burns - The 2025 Butler Wildfire

In order to protect homes during the this summer’s Butler Fire on the Salmon River in Siskiyou County, local organizations with All Hands All Lands program…

vimeo.com

Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 6d

“Staff deemed essential include employees focused on wildfire management, disaster response and infrastructure protection. But hazardous fuels treatments, including prescribed burns, will be reduced, and state grants for wildfire preparedness could be delayed.”

What the government shutdown means for public lands - High Country News

Many parks will stay open, and oil and gas permitting will continue — even as tens of thousands of staff are furloughed at NPS, BLM and USFS.

www.hcn.org

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 9d

If you really wanna see funny looks in MN, say “antie.”

Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 9d

Don Motanic: “Tribal forestry recognizes that federal agencies — health, education, transportation — all share a trust responsibility, not just the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Tribal communities live in integrated ways, so governance should too…It’s governance as a web, not a ladder.”

Tribal Forestry: Weaving a Web, Not Climbing a Ladder

By Don Motanic

medium.com

Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 11d

...*cultural* fire *heals* the land, and the health of the land is as closely tied to the health of Native people (and others) in SoCal as it is up along the Klamath River.

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 11d

This ⬆️ is a pretty thorough article. Its brief discussion of SoCal is fairly even-handed compared to those who simply say intentional fire has no place in the chaparral. The key is to understand that even though wildfire is far too frequent in SoCal and Rx fire won't "prevent" urban destruction...

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 11d

Margo Robbins: "As I learned more and more about fire, I came to learn that the health of the land is closely, closely, closely tied with the health of our people."
@kategonzales.bsky.social

Good Fire: The Case for Cultural and Prescribed Burns

With the support of science and state law, good fire can help mitigate megafires—an increasing threat for Indigenous and rural Californians

www.nwf.org

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 14d

“The environment responds, you know?” he said. “You treat a piece of land well, and boy, within a very short period of time, it’s saying, ‘Shit, yeah, well, let’s make this place go,’ you know?

What makes a community activist optimistic - High Country News

After 85 years, Luis Torres still has answers to our many challenges.

www.hcn.org

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 15d

“Though Rollins’ proposal is aimed at decentralizing the department, it would effectively re-centralize the Forest Service by eliminating its nine regional offices, six of which are located in the West.”

The dismantling of the Forest Service - High Country News

The Trump administration’s plans would remake the agency and public lands. The deadline to comment is Sept. 30.

www.hcn.org

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 19d

“Hatcheries… represent part of society’s bargain for trading salmon streams for Starbucks. And for tribes that have already been subjected to the ongoing trauma of colonization, these salmon nurseries act as a balm for these larger wounds as the slow, difficult work of healing the land unfolds.”

hakaimagazine.com

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 20d

"Burned by the cataclysmic bushfires of 2019, a national park called the Barrington Tops exploded in rare veined doubletail orchids, and now the traditional owners of the lands perform prescribed burns to aid these flowers in flourishing under duress from invasive species."

Aboriginal Elders Lead Prescribed Burn–and Rare Orchids Appear by Thousands

Burned by the cataclysmic bushfires of 2019, a national park called the Barrington Tops exploded in rare veined doubletail orchids.

www.goodnewsnetwork.org

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 21d

“See how they’re looking out to the green? Looking out for spot fires? That’s their job “ www.facebook.com/reel/1082533...

59K views · 1.2K reactions | The #GarnetFire in Fresno County largely spared the historic McKinley Grove sequoia trees. This footage from KVPR’s Kerry Klein captured on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, shows...

The #GarnetFire in Fresno County largely spared the historic McKinley Grove sequoia trees. This footage from KVPR’s Kerry Klein captured on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, shows crews actively working to...

www.facebook.com

Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · 24d

“You don’t go and burn all your berries at the same time,” @amycardinal.bsky.social explained. “Indigenous fire management is based on intervals—knowing when patches have been burned, which patches are getting overgrown. It’s not a one-time, one-off approach. It’s ongoing stewardship.”

The Role of Good Fire in Nourishing Boreal Berries — Boreal Conservation

Summer in the Boreal Forest means an abundance of berries—blueberries, strawberries, cloudberries, raspberries, bunchberries, and more. These berries help sustain bears, moose, and other animals. Peop...

www.borealconservation.org

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Reposted by Jared Dahl Aldern

Marcus Baynes-Rock @hyenachow.bsky.social · 25d

Women's cultural burning alongside 6 million city dwellers
doi.org/10.54760/001...

‘Burning Love’, Living Ngurra: Healing Country, Healing Hearts and Sharing Minds in Dharug Country | Published in Journal of Global Indigeneity

By Jo Anne Rey, Corina Wayali Norman & 3 more. “Burning Love” describes the historic return of Dharug women’s-led cultural-fire to the inner city, the scientific perspectives, and the significance of ...

doi.org

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · Sep 9

“To make shared stewardship meaningful, tribes must be allowed to lead within our own homelands. This means entering into long-term agreements that don’t just invite tribal input but are built around tribal vision, tribal priorities, and tribal knowledge…
It also means investing in our people.”

Time for Tribes to Lead on Wildfire and Other Forest Management Priorities

By Cody Desautel

medium.com

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · Sep 9

McKinley Grove

fb.watch

Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · Sep 9

A Eulogy for Teakettle, by @mhurteau.bsky.social the scientist who first reached out to Tribal crews and encouraged the Sierra-Sequoia Burn Cooperative to engage in the planning for a ~3,800-acre prescribed burn. The place will never be the same, but let’s refocus and re-enter it with cultural fire.

A Eulogy for Teakettle

Justice William O. Douglas, in his dissenting opinion of the Supreme Court’s decision in Sierra Club v. Morton, said “Contemporary public concern for protecting nature’s ecological equilibrium...

www.hurteaulab.org

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Jared Dahl Aldern @jdaldern.bsky.social · Sep 7

“We see two significant losses on the horizon: the loss of leadership and the loss of an irreplaceable historical archive. …Why should this matter to the public? Because competent resource management depends on expertise built from deep local experience and access to historical information.”

Tom Swetnam @firescar.bsky.social · Sep 7

Our op-ed in the Santa Fe New Mexican today highlights the potential losses from closure of the nine US Forest Service Regional Offices, namely local leadership knowledge and capacity, experienced people, and priceless documentary records: www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/my_v...

The legacy lost when Forest Service offices shut down

After 117 years of operation, the U.S. Forest Service’s Southwest Regional Office in Albuquerque is closing by order of the secretary of agriculture. Since 1908, this office has directed the

www.santafenewmexican.com

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