This summer, our Fellowship cohort and Advisors joined us for a two-day, in-person workshop to learn about large and severe wildfires and their impacts on our forests and communities.
The first day focused on the current state of wildfire and featured presentations from program Advisors: Paul Hessburg (Senior Research Ecologist, US Forest Service), Vivek Shandas (Climate Change and Urban Environments Professor, Portland State University), and Savannah D’Evelyn (Bio-Social Scientist, University of Washington). The program was followed by a dinner in the Discovery Museum.
On the second day, the focus turned toward solutions and creating the public will to support them, with additional presentations by Advisors Matt Donegan (Forest, Wildfire, and Climate Executive), Elizabeth Azzuz (Director of the Family/Indigenous burning program, Cultural Fire Management Council), and Dan Porter (Forest Program Director, The Nature Conservancy). Fellows then participated in an exhibition-design activity led by experience design firm Upswell, and a social change ideation session led by Emily Brew (Co-founder & Chief Strategist, Perennial).
The two-day event concluded with Fellows sharing their reflections in small groups, setting the stage for them to apply their learnings and perspective perspective to wildfire issues impacting their own communities and business sectors.
