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Siskiyou Prescribed Burn Association

Siskiyou Prescribed Burn Association logo of a woman outlined in green, carrying a drip torch with trees and Mount Shasta in the background
A mother and daughter smiling in front of blackberries on fire in a pasture
Alexis Robertson and her daughter Isla burning blackberries on their ranch to increase forage for their livestock
A woman with a drip torch walking through a prescribed fire in an oak woodland
Katelyn Suderman, NRCS, helping with a prescribed burn outside Etna in an oak woodland to improve wildlife habitat
May contain: person, human, and fireman
Participants at the S-130/190 Basic Fire Training in February 2022
A prescribed underburn with a person in fire gear smiling in the background
A prescribed burn in Happy Camp to reduce fire risk in a neighborhood
Firelighter with a drip torch lighting a fire in the forest
A PBA member helping with a prescribed fire outside Etna
An aerial photo of the smoke from a prescribed fire in a pine and oak woodland with the City of Yreka and Mount Shasta in the background
Smoke drifts after a burn in Yreka in March 2021 - look closely to see Greenhorn Reservoir and Mount Shasta in the background
Siskiyou Prescribed Burn Association logo of a woman outlined in green, carrying a drip torch with trees and Mount Shasta in the background
A mother and daughter smiling in front of blackberries on fire in a pasture
A woman with a drip torch walking through a prescribed fire in an oak woodland
May contain: person, human, and fireman
A prescribed underburn with a person in fire gear smiling in the background
Firelighter with a drip torch lighting a fire in the forest
An aerial photo of the smoke from a prescribed fire in a pine and oak woodland with the City of Yreka and Mount Shasta in the background

Siskiyou PBA Mission

The mission of the Siskiyou Prescribed Burn Association (SPBA) is to facilitate and support beneficial burning in and around Siskiyou County through education, training, leadership, collaboration, and coordination, and by providing equipment, expertise, and other material support to the community.

Vision and Values 

The vision of the SPBA is that people living in the fire-adapted Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion, including all of Siskiyou County, will have constructive relationships with fire.  This includes understanding the role of fire in the ecosystem, the use of fire when appropriate, preventing fire when necessary, and mitigating the negative impacts of fire when they occur.

The purpose of the SPBA is to facilitate and support the use of beneficial fire to reduce wildfire hazard to communities and watersheds, to restore ecological health and function to the landscape, and to help build fire adapted communities that are prepared to live with fire now and into the future.

The "PBA model" is a well proven method of partners working together to bring beneficial fire back to the landscape and reestablish more resilient ecosystem conditions. Successful PBA’s have been operating in the Southeastern U.S. and Great Plains States for years. In 2017, the first PBA in California was established in Humboldt County. The model quickly spread throughout the State with over a dozen similar organizations forming over the past few years.

Collaborators

The founding organizational sponsors for the SPBA include the Mid Klamath Watershed Council, the Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center, the Quartz Valley Indian Reservation, the Scott River Watershed Council and the Shasta Valley Resource Conservation District (RCD).   The SPBA also partners with the Klamath and Shasta-Trinity National Forests, CAL FIRE, and local Fire Departments and Fire Safe Councils to increase local capacity for prescribed fire.