A reflection by our Executive Director, Robin Jones
Photo taken by Robin Jones
CBI team members, Dr. Alexandra Syphard, Karl Peet and I have just returned to the U.S. from an inspiring and productive week in Bogotá, Colombia. There, we conducted the first expert group meeting of the Global Wildfire Collective, focused on identifying resources and gaps for wildfire resilience & recovery in the Latin America and Caribbean region. Individuals from nine countries attended, representing various research science fields & institutions, government agencies, firefighting brigades, indigenous communities, NGOs, funding institutions and private sector companies.
Our first day of meetings took place at the beautiful Universidad del Rosario campus, where perspectives and priorities of each of the stakeholders were shared. We discussed existing resources, gaps and roadblocks hindering progress toward addressing the increasing risks of devastating and highly destructive wildfires in the region. We worked together to formulate ways in which the Global Wildfire Collective can work to fill these gaps and address challenges in the region. This meeting re-emphasized several aspects of the Global Wildfire Collective’s mission, including further investment in scientific study and regional adaptation of existing fire models/tools/techniques.
Photos taken by Robin Jones
Our second day was a field visit to the Parque Nacional Natural Chingaza, on the outskirts of Bogotá. There, we were given permission to visit the site of a sizable January 2025 fire in the páramo. Páramo is a rare and unique high-altitude ecosystem found in the Andes, particularly in Colombia, and is known for its high biodiversity and its crucial role in water regulation and storage. Despite fire being historically documented in this ecosystem, little is known about the frequency and trends of fire in these high-elevation landscapes. Researchers from the Parque Nacional, Universidad del Rosario and Instituto Humboldt presented their latest research aimed at better understanding the nature fire regimes of the ecosystem, how those regimes may be changing due to climate change and human influence, and how resilient the ecosystem is to fire. The day reiterated a need for scientific understanding of fire regimes and fire ecology in lesser-populated, lower fire frequency ecosystems of the Global South.
Photo taken by Dr. Alexandra D. Syphard
Due to the sharp eye of Oscar Tibaquicha, captain of the Brigada Forestal Indígena Múisca, we had the thrilling chance to observe a pair of Andean bears in their natural habitat. The Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus) is the only living species of bear native to South America. The species is classified as vulnerable by the IUCN because of habitat loss. Finally, the CBI team had the incredible privilege of being invited to spend the day with local indigenous peoples at Resguardo de Múisca de Cota, learning from their spiritual & political leaders and their volunteer brigada forestale (forest guardians) about their traditional knowledge of fire, and the impacts of wildfires on their community in recent years. We hiked along the hillsides of their territory, observing the prevalence of highly flammable invasive species that have shifted the composition of their landscape due to human interventions and in the aftermath of recent fires.
Photo taken by Robin Jones
We left Bogotá feeling inspired, motivated and empowered by our new partnerships and relationships to accelerate the pace of understanding and adaptation to fire via the work of the Global Wildfire Collective. We look forward to sharing more updates as we kick off new work in the region.
Closer to Home
Tuolumne Utilities District Wildfire Defense Plan
Conservation Biology Institute and EN2 Resources, Inc. (en2resources.com/) partnered to develop the TUD Wildfire Defense Plan, which was adopted by Tuolumne Utilities District (TUD) in April.
This comprehensive strategy to protect Tuolumne County’s water resources and increase the community’s resilience to wildfire aligns with and implements the Tuolumne County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) and follows state and federal government directives relating to wildfire resilience for California’s communities and forests, including the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan and the U.S. Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy Implementation Plan.
TUD Wildfire Defense Plan contains two components:
The TUD Wildfire Risk Mitigation Plan, prepared by CBI in consultation with JUDa presents prioritized locations for mitigating wildfire risks to TUD infrastructure and supports the effective planning and implementation of the prioritized projects while providing co-benefits to the community and natural resources.
The TUD Fire Water Draft Points Plan, prepared by EN2 Resources in consultation with TUD, identifies 49 strategic raw water draft points across the district to increase water availability for fire suppression, reduce demands on potable water systems, and enhance emergency response capabilities.
The completion of the TUD Wildfire Defense Plan involved extensive collaboration with key stakeholders, including the Tuolumne County Fire Safe Council, Tuolumne County Fire Safety Advisory Committee, CAL FIRE and local fire districts, Tribal bands, and industry and private partners.
General Manager Don Perkins highlighted the importance of the plan, stating, “This initiative maximizes our ability to make gravity-fed, non-potable water available for emergency fire response while also protecting our green infrastructure through effective vegetation management. It’s a comprehensive approach that integrates the needs of the community, wildlife, and our water systems.”
With the plan now officially adopted, TUD is committed to pursuing additional grant funding opportunities to ensure the plan’s implementation. TUD Wildfire Defense Plan was developed with funding from the USDA Forest Service Community Wildfire Defense Grant.
As part of CBI’s ongoing Global Wildfire Collective efforts, CBI submitted a proposal on behalf of more than 20 UN Rio Convention members to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification to create a Joint Work Programme and Technical Expert Group on Wildfire Resilience to address the growing global threat of wildfire to climate, local people, biodiversity, and the land. The proposal was submitted for consideration by the science advisory body to CBD called the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice at their next meeting scheduled for October 2025. If accepted, it would raise the profile of wildfire in the UN Rio Conventions leading to the creation of more coordinated nature- and community-positive fire management strategies that are urgently needed around the world.
CBI Webinar
Learn about Data-Driven Decision Support for Sustainable Trail Planning
The Conservation Biology Institute has been invited to present work on sustainable trail planning and management in the Advancing Trails Webinar Series on June 26th at 10:00 am Pacific Time. The webinar will showcase an online application to support collaborative decision-making and data-driven evaluation of trail sustainability, developed by the Conservation Biology Institute in partnership with the US Forest Service and the Deschutes Trails Coalition. The prototype system facilitates tracking and visualizing important trail information and synthesizes spatial data into quantitative metrics covering physical, environmental, social, and economic dimensions of trail sustainability. Information summarized in the interface can be explored via interactive maps, augmenting critical on-the-ground knowledge of field crews and local managers. This application offers decision-makers and their partners a transparent means to evaluate the sustainability of both existing and proposed trails and is targeted for expansion to PNW National Forest lands.
