Santa Lucia Conservancy builds local wildfire resilience workforce
Building a landscape’s resilience to wildfire takes time, training, and a reliable workforce.
“It's not what happens once a fire has started,” said Jamison Watts, executive director of the Santa Lucia Conservancy, a non-profit land trust in Carmel Valley. “It's how the land is proactively managed, so that when that fire comes, it's less intense and less damaging.”
Watts says, often, wildfire resilience programs rely on a seasonal workforce, “which shows up from out of the area, does all the work, goes through all the training and then leaves in six months.”
That means taking all their knowledge—about identifying invasive plants, operating chainsaws, and conducting prescribed burns—with them.
But recently, the conservancy partnered with an employment agency in Salinas to train and hire local full-time workers.
“So that, over time, we have more and more folks who really know what the heck to do when it comes to preparing the land for wildfire,” Watts said.
This effort is just one part of a $71 million grant managed by the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation to make the state’s coast more resilient to climate change. It was funded in 2024 by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Santa Cruz County primary election candidate forum on housing
Ahead of the June 2 primary election, Housing Santa Cruz County is hosting a local candidate forum.
Candidates for Santa Cruz Mayor and City Council, as well as Santa Cruz County District 4 Supervisor, will share their views on local housing issues.
The forum is open to the public and will be held on Zoom on May 4 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
