Fuels and Vegetation Education Program Homepage

Swanton Pacific Ranch's Fuels and Vegetation Education (FAVE) program educates professionals about wildfire fuel mitigation and vegetation management approaches with the goal of increasing the pace and scale of fuels and vegetation management to build a more sustainable and fire resilient landscape for every Californian.

Funded by CALFIRE's Healthy Forest Initiative and the California Climate Initiative, the FAVE program offers webinars and field-based workshops in every corner of California. Our work to date has focused on training participants to improve their understanding of using the California Vegetation Treatment Program (CalVTP) with examples of successful projects in various locations. We have also helped participants to increase their knowledge and skill in the use of prescribed fire. And, we have featured webinars and field training's focused on sharing lessons learned from fuels reductions projects in many different settings.

In the future, we will be featuring more emphasis on fuels reduction projects and prescribed burning. We are excited to offer the California State-Certified Prescribed Fire Burn Boss Training (CARX) as well as pre-requisites. And, we will expand our geographical reach across California to feature leaders in vegetation management and the innovative ways that they approach projects that make ecosystems and Californians more resilient to wildfire.

If you have a project or initiative that you would like us to feature with one of our trainings, please drop us a line with your suggestion.

Want to view recordings of our webinars? Click here for the library of our recordings.

Click here to sign up for training announcements delivered to your inbox.

Upcoming trainings:

October 9th, 2024: Oak Woodland Forest Health and Fire Management

This webinar is an opportunity for participants to increase their understanding of how forest health surveys can help improve fuels and vegetation management strategies in California’s oak woodland communities. 

October 19th, 2024: Wildfire Resilience for Russian River Forested Communities in Sonoma County

This in-person field workshop is an opportunity to learn about fuels management and wildfire resilience through the work of local communities within the lower Russian River in Sonoma County.

October 21st-28th, 2024: San Luis Obispo TREX

TREX firelighters will engage in 8 days of training on breathtaking wildlands, learning and working alongside professional fire practitioners, tribal partners, ranchers, land managers, and community members to meet diverse objectives with "Good Fire".

October 30th, 2024: Lessons Learned about Forest Restoration from the West Mount Shasta Forest Resiliency Project

This field workshop is an opportunity to learn about how forest restoration practices can increase forest ecosystem health and wildfire resiliency using lessons learned from the West Mount Shasta Forest Resiliency Project.

October 31st, 2024: Home Protection and Forest Resiliency in Siskiyou County Field Workshop

This field workshop is ideal for landowners, community members, and anyone interested in learning more about what resources and services are available for forest management and wildfire resilience in the Mount Shasta region.

November 9th-18th, 2024: 2024 Santa Barbara Training Exchange (TREX)

TREX firelighters will engage in 10 days of training on breathtaking wildlands, learning and working alongside professional fire practitioners.

November 13th, 2024: Partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the CalVTP to protect wildlife and promote wildfire resilience

Showcasing best practices on CalVTP projects from the perspective of project proponent and wildlife agency staff about their coordination process, outcomes, and lessons learned.

December 12th, 2024: Large Scale Broadcast Burning for Fuels Reduction: Lessons learned from CAL FIRE CZU Unit

This webinar is an opportunity for participants to increase their understanding of planning, permitting, and implementing large-scale fuel reduction broadcast burns in the CZU Unit.

January 13th - 17th, 2025: California State-Certified Prescribed Fire Burn Boss (CARX)

This in-person classroom-based course provides information about and develops the skills required for planning and managing prescribed fire on State or private lands.