‘Hell was knocking on our door’: Paradise is lost, but it’s happened before
The most destructive wildfire in California history raced through the town of Paradise this week, laying waste to the town's evacuation plan along with nearly every home and business.
California’s year-round wildfire threat: Why aren’t communities doing more?
The latest eruptions of flame that incinerated homes and killed people as they fled for their lives are horrific reminders that the Golden State has become a year-round danger zone for fire catastrophe in forests, grasslands and cities from north to south.
Can More Logging Help Prevent California Wildfires?
KQED Forum's Michael Krasny interviews Scott Stephens, Co-Director of Berkeley Forests, as part of a panel discussion about the mertis of forest thinning to lessen the threat of wildfires in Califonia.
Berkeley Forests: New Future for UC Center for Forestry & Center for Fire Research & Outreach
The Center for Forestry and Center for Fire Research and Outreach are merging to become Berkeley Forests!
As we all know, forests and fire are inextricably linked in California. Combining the Centers under one roof will facilitate the work of our co-directors, Dr. Scott Stephens and Dr. William Stewart, our Berkeley Forests staff, and management of our new research forest, Grouse Ridge.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
All through first grade, he’s maintained that he wanted to be a woodcutter, even though we’ve warned him the work was hard and dangerous. To my surprise and delight, last month Russell Research Station — a 283-acre facility of the UC Berkeley’s Center for Forestry, located near the rolling hills of Briones Regional Park — opened to the public for a day.
![[news image] Nadia speaking to tour group by Ricky Satomi](https://forests.berkeley.edu/sites/forests.berkeley.edu/files/styles/news_river/public/DSC_0108.JPG?itok=GY1OHcxB "[news image] Nadia speaking to tour group by Ricky Satomi")
Students take in close-to-home forestry careers
More than 150 students from El Dorado and Placer county high schools took to the trees Thursday to learn about a smorgasbord of forestry careers.
Held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Blodgett Forest Research Station in Georgetown, the woodED Pathways Experience sought to open doors to students who may not have been aware of jobs available in their own backyards.
Management, firefighting crucial to determine wildfire risk
A new study from researchers in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and the UC Berkeley Center for Fire Research and Outreach—published online in advance of print in Environmental Research Letters—demonstrates that vegetation management and firefighting play major roles in determining fire risk in California.