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.
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Upcoming trainings:
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.
January 16th, 2025: Cambria Pines Ecological Reserve Restoration and Vegetation Treatment Project
This field training is an opportunity for participants to increase their understanding of a CalVTP project in the Coastal Zone.
January 30th, 2025: CalVTP Q&A: How to make the most of the CalVTP Program EIR
This webinar includes a panel of specialists who will answer your questions about how to prepare Project-Specific Analyses to expedite implementation of treatments including maximizing the usefulness of the CalVTP Program EIR.
February 18 - 22nd, 2025: Basic Wildland Fire Fighter Type 2 Training
This in-person five-day introductory prescribed fire training course will focus on building local capacity for beneficial fire with ecological and cultural objectives. This training Meets the requirements outlined by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) and will incorporate hands-on field scenarios, fireline leadership skills,local fire ecology and fire management.
February 20th, 2025: Public Works Plan in Practice: Lessons Learned from Rancho Rico Community Fuels Treatment Project
This webinar is an opportunity for participants to increase their understanding of how to navigate the Public Works Plan (PWP) to restore forest health in mixed conifer, oak woodland, and coastal redwood forest habitats using ecologically appropriate vegetation treatments to increase wildfire resiliency and community wildfire safety.
February 27th, 2025: Swanton Pacific Ranch: Cal Poly’s School Forest
This field training is an opportunity for participants to increase their understanding of Swanton Pacific Ranch’s (SPR) past and future land management decisions applied to the school forest, their ability to be involved in opportunities at SPR, and their understanding of how to engage with collaborative natural resource management at SPR moving forward.
Past Trainings:
December 12th, 2024: Large Scale Broadcast Burning for Fuels Reduction: Lessons learned from CAL FIRE CZU Unit
December 4th, 2024: CalVTP in Practice: Lessons learned from oak forest and meadow restoration with the Butano State Park Forest Health Project Field Training
November 9th-18th, 2024: 2024 Santa Barbara Training Exchange (TREX)
November 13th, 2024: Partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the CalVTP to protect wildlife and promote wildfire resilience
October 31st, 2024: Home Protection and Forest Resiliency in Siskiyou County Field Workshop
October 30th, 2024: Lessons Learned about Forest Restoration from the West Mount Shasta Forest Resiliency Project
October 21st-28th, 2024: San Luis Obispo TREX
October 19th, 2024: Wildfire Resilience for Russian River Forested Communities in Sonoma County
October 9th, 2024: Oak Woodland Forest Health and Fire Management
October 2nd, 2024: CalVTP in Practice: Lessons learned from oak forest and meadow restoration with the Butano State Park Forest Health Project
September 30th, 2024: Good fire in Southern California: restoring landscapes and habitat, managing fuel load, and creating wildfire resilience
September 26th, 2024: CAL FIRE’s Vegetation Management Program (VMP): a case study of the UC Hopland Research & Extension Center’s VMP
September 13th, 2024: CalVTP in Practice: Learning from Pile Burning and Broadcast Burning at Berkeley Forests' Grouse Ridge VTP Project Field Workshop
August 15th, 2024: Forest Health in a Post-Fire Redwood Ecosystem: Restoration and Regeneration at Swanton Pacific Ranch
August 5th-8th, 2024: S-290 Intermediate Wildland Fire Behavior Training Course
August 8th, 2024: Forest Health Management in the WUI: Lessons Being Learned at Jackson Demonstration State Forest
July 26th, 2024: Prescribed Fire: Collaborative Experiences from the Forests of Alpine County
July 18th, 2024: Coastal Prairie Restoration to Mitigate Wildfire Risk
July 11th, 2024: Collaboration, Connection, and Commitment: Successes from a Case Study in Fuels Reduction
June 27th & June 29th, 2024: Soquel Demonstration State Forest: Timber Management, Forest Health, and Fire Safety
June 10th-14th, 2024: California State-Certified Prescribed Fire Burn Boss (CARX)
June 8th, 2024: Forest Health and Fire Resiliency on the Jenner Headlands: An overview of forest management for landowners and communities
May 20th, 2024: Planning for Fire Resilience in the Coastal Zone: A case study of Marin County
May 9th, 2024: Chaparral and sage scrub management in the California Central Coast: balancing fire protection with environmental protection
April 11th, 2024: CalVTP in Practice: Navigating the CalVTP Consultation Process with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife
April 4th, 2024: CalVTP in Practice: Learning from Pile Burning and Broadcast Burning at Berkeley Forests' Grouse Ridge VTP Project
March 14th, 2024: Collaboration in a Forest Health Grant: Insights from the Los Gatos Creek Watershed Collaborative
February 15th, 2024: Fuels Reduction Projects: Lessons Learned at Jenner Headlands Preserve
February 1st, 2024: Collaborative Fuels Reduction Projects: Lessons Learned from the Resource Conservation District of Tehama County
January 26th, 2024: CalVTP in Practice: Lessons Learned in Implementation at Purisima Ridge Shaded Fuel Break
January 25th, 2024: Using the Public Works Plan in California’s Coastal Zone
January 19th, 2024: Planning for Fire Resilience in Coastal Marin County
December 12th, 2023: Forest Health Grants and Forest Practice Documents: Can they be used together to create a more resilient landscape?
December 7th, 2023: Using the CalVTP: New Implementation Tools and Lessons Learned
November 11th - 18th, 2023: Santa Barbara Training Exchange (TREX)
November 6th - 10th, 2023: California Prescribed-Fire Burn Boss Training
November 1st, 2023: CalVTP Field Training: Sierra Foothills, Vista Del Rio Project
October 27th, 2023: Field Training: Fuels Treatments in the Urban Wildland Interface: Lessons learned from the San Mateo County Parks Project
October 17th, 2023: Project Development and Regulatory Sequencing for Wildfire Grants
October 16th, 2023: Field Training: Prescribed Burning at Soquel Demonstration State Forest
October 13th, 2023: Field Training: Fuels Treatments in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI): Lessons Learned from the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team
September 18th - 22nd: Basic Firefighter Training: Round Valley Tribal Training Course
September 14th, 2023: CalVTP in Practice: Lessons Learned From the Urban Interface in San Mateo County Parks
July 27th, 2023: Field Training: Fuels Treatments in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI): Lessons Learned Post Wildfire at Swanton Pacific Ranch
July 20th, 2023: Webinar: Post-Fire Fuels Treatments in a Coastal Demonstration Forest: the Recent Past and Future of Cal Poly's Swanton Pacific Ranch
May 20th, 2023: Fuels Treatments in the WUI: Occidental Arts and Ecology Center
May 19th, 2023: Prescribed herbivory for fuels reduction: grazing planning and permitting in the State of California
May 18th, 2023: Fuels Treatments in the WUI: Sonoma Land Trust’s Laufenburg Ranch Preserve
May 4th, 2023: Shaded Fuel Break: Lessons Learned Post Wildfire in the San Vicente Redwoods
April 13th, 2023: CalVTP Field Training: Healdsburg Open Space/Community Fuels Reduction Project
April 6th, 2023: Environmental review pathways to long-term success: prescribed fires
March 24th, 2023: Fire Friday: Discussion about burning issues
March 16th, 2023: Targeted Grazing for Fuel Reduction: Case Studies from East Bay Regional Park District
February 24th, 2023: Navigating the Proposal Process for Wildfire Fuels Treatment Using Prescribed Grazing
February 9th, 2023: CAL FIRE's CalVTPs in the Southern Sierra Foothills
February 7th, 2023: Practitioner Panel: Tips and tricks for early entry into the CalVTP
January 28 - 31, 2023: S-290 Intermediate Wildland Fire Behavior Training Course
January 19, 2023: Develop your Personal Fire Qualification Plan for Prescribed Burning: Understanding NWCG Qualifications and the California Rx Fire Burn Boss Program
January 18, 2023: Wildfire Prevention Grants for Prescribed Grazing
December 6, 2022: CalVTP & PWP in Practice: Covell Ranch Forest Health
November 28 - Dec 2: Basic Wildland Fire Fighter Type 2 Training Course
November 9, 2022: CalVTP Question and Answer Webinar
November 3, 2022: CalVTP in Practice: Lompoc Valley Fuels Reduction Project-Purisima Ridge Fuel Break
October 25, 2022: Prescribed Burning in Soquel Demonstration State Forest
July 14, 2022: Introduction to California's Utility Vegetation Wildfire Risk Mitigation Webinar
June 29, 2022: CalVTP in Practice: Sequoia Lake Case Study Webinar
June 23, 2022: Blodgett Forest Fuels Treatment Field Workshop
May 26, 2022: CalVTP Field Training: Covell Ranch Forest Health Fuels Reduction in the WUI
March 30, 2022: Understanding the CalVTP: a Virtual Training for Beginners
gfhayes@calpoly.edu or (831) 227-7163