April 2024

From Seth Schalet, Santa Clara County FireSafe Council CEO

Let’s start the April newsletter with a little poetic history, complements of Wikipedia. “The proverb "March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers", first recorded in 1886, and the shorter, trochaic version "April showers bring May flowers" (originally "Sweet April showers/Do spring May flowers"), part of a poem recorded in 1610, are common expressions in English speaking countries. The phrase is referenced in the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales: "Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote."

My personal favorite verse referencing the transition from Winter to Spring comes from the old folk ballad “I Know Your Rider” that states “The sun will shine in my back door someday/March winds will blow all my troubles away.” Whatever your preference, The National Interagency Fire Center’s Predictive Services team releases their National Significant Wildland Fire Outlook on the first day of each month, and here is their most recent Outlook, issued on April 1, for the Outlook Period – April through July 2024.

The Santa Clara FireSafe Council team has been keeping quite busy. The information that follows in this newsletter highlights the great work the SCCFSC team has been doing to help ensure the future months can be as safe as possible from the risk of wildfire. From our chipping program, funded by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, to our County Coordinator grant that funds our continuing work on the CWPP annex updates, to various fuel breaks and the current escape route projects we do in partnership with the Los Altos Hills County Fire District (LAHCFD), to our work with the City of Saratoga and the Saratoga Fire District, and our attendance at the 2024 Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Conference in Reno. The WUI conference was a fantastic opportunity to meet current and potential new partners, to attend numerous educational sessions and to spend time with my friends on the California Fire Safe Council board. The SCCFSC team’s efforts make me proud to be part of this organization. 

Please join us at our April 16th board meeting, where this month's guest speaker will be Ali Moghimi, Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of California, Davis. His presentation title is: AI-Enabled Wildfire Detection Using Satellite Imagery.

Senator Josh Becker introduced (SB 1060) requiring property insurers to start considering various fire risk reduction activities- hazardous fuel reduction in surrounding areas, home-hardening, & defensible space -- in their risk evaluation models. SB 1060 Fact Sheet

The Santa Clara County FireSafe Council supports this legislation. I've worked closely with Senator Becker and his team on several initiatives, and the work they do to make California safer from wildfire and climate risks is among the most important work a legislature can accomplish. See the text of SB 1060 here.

As always, I try to include some of the latest wildfire research and stories I read that help educate me on “all things wildfire.” From policy, to insurance, to research on wildfire trends, to technology, to the upcoming April 23rd California Department of Insurance’s catastrophe modeling workshop that you can attend for free-see more here: Register for the Web-based Virtual Format by clicking here.

Let me close by mentioning that on Friday, April 5th, I was honored to give the keynote presentation to kick-off Stanford University's Big Earth Hackathon: Wildland Fire Challenge. A great group of students ready to propose novel solutions to tackle all aspects of wildfire. May the best team win! 

Special thank you to Professor Derek Fong for the invitation to share the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council's vision on the global and local impact climate change has on our crisis with the hackathon participants. Having attended prior Big Earth Hackathon: Wildland Fire Challenges, I know the hard work, dedication, and innovation the students, teams and Professor Fong put into this project. I am honored to be part of it this year. For those interested, you can find my keynote slide presentation by clicking here.

I want to give a shout-out to professor-extraordinaire Stace Maples, for inviting me to participate in his Big Earth Hackathon 2024 Spatial Data Bootcamp: Sources and methods for Wildfire applications prior to my keynote address It was a tour de force in utilizing geospatial data such a QGIS, Planet.com and Google Earth Engine. 

Yours truly,



Seth Schalet

CEO, Santa Clara County FireSafe Council

Chipping Registration is FULL!

Our annual Spring Chipping Program is FULL! There will be a waitlist available if the program reaches capacity. Learn More

Sugar Pine Oak

(Pinus lambertiana)

Sugar pine is fairly resistant to low to moderate severity fires. It has adapted a thick, fire-resistant bark and open canopy that delays progress in aerial fire spread. Young sugar pine seedlings prefer bare mineral seedbeds, so post fire soils are prime for sugar pine seeds. After a year or two post fire the tree will be incorporated into the forest floor bed by wind and animals or water. Learn More

Stephen Harrington

I am the Senior Forest Health Project Manager and manage two Forest Health Grants for the Los Gatos Creek Watershed Collaborative (LGCWC). I oversee the administration, planning and implementation of $14 million worth of Forest Health Grants to treat nearly 1,800 acres of projects across 50,000 acres of watersheds in the eastern Santa Cruz Mountains. 

Before joining the FireSafe Council in 2021, I worked in non-profit land conservation and as an environmental consultant in Santa Cruz, the Sierra Nevada, and Southern California. I earned my BA in Environmental Studies and Economics from UC Santa Cruz and my Master of Environmental Studies degree from the Yale School of the Environment. 

I am currently working on my Basic Wildland Firefighter 2 certification, so that I can help plan and execute prescribed fires in the future. I am an accomplished photographer and cyclist, an unaccomplished surfer, a rarely successful fly fisherman and I alway enjoy traveling with my family. Born and raised in California, I have lived in Santa Cruz County for nearly 20 years and love the excellent outdoor opportunities of the Monterey Bay Area.

The LGCWC FHG was recently featured as part of the Cal Poly series, Fuels and Vegetation Education Program Webinars (FAVE). 

This webinar was an opportunity to learn about the Los Gatos Creek Watershed Collaboration from representatives at Santa Clara County FireSafe Council, Auten Resource Consulting, Santa Clara County Parks, Ascent Environmental, CAL FIRE, and Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. Participants increased their knowledge of how to create successful partnerships and collaborations on Forest Health projects with insights and experiences from the Los Gatos Creek Watershed Collaboration.

Rain has postponed work and we will continue to assess weather conditions each week and get boots on the ground when weather permits.

Black Mountain - Purissima ER Project concluded on March 21st with great success. Before and After photos below. Learn More

Elena-Fremont ER Project is set to start on April 29th. Biological survey will be conducting an inspection on April 19th to flag riparian and nesting areas. 

Learn More

La Paloma ER Project is set to start on June 3rd. Permit application process is underway, and we will have more details coming after our Elena-Fremont Project has concluded.  

Be on the lookout for ROE letters coming to your mailbox, your participation is greatly encouraged and welcomed! Learn More

Every year, wildfire practitioners from around the world gather in Reno (USA) for the Wildland Urban Interface conference. The conference hosts practitioners from wildland firefighters to wildfire prevention and everything in between.

This year the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council sent staff and hosted volunteers from Aldercroft Heights, one of our Firewise USA® sites in the County. We were also joined by our Board Chair, Dede Smullen, partners from Los Altos Hills County Fire District, Palo Alto, County Fire, and the Santa Cruz County Firesafe Council. Santa Clara County and the Bay Area had amazing representation! 

While in Reno our team spent the week gaining new perspectives, getting updates on the latest research, hearing from the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission, meeting with local partners and volunteers, and networking with FAC practitioners from California, across the country, and around the world. I know we will all take what we learned this year and continue to build on our collaborations to support an even stronger wildfire prepared Santa Clara County. 

Written by: Program Director, Amanda Brenner Cannon

Photo caption: 

Team photo above: Our team attended the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network (FAC Net) partner reception where we met with FAC practitioners from Spain and Portugal. 

From left to right: Barbara Gonzalez , Nestor Valle, Lauren Moody, Pascale Vacca (Centre d'Estudis del Risc Tecnològic (CERTEC), Zaid Ortiz, and Amanda Brenner Cannon. 

Photo credit: Seth Schalet

Dinner photo below: We kicked off the week sharing a meal with Aldercroft Heights Firewise leaders and our partners from Los Altos Hills County Fire District. 

Photo credit: Amanda Brenner Cannon

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