017: TALK STORY: Revolutionizing Wildland Management—Integrating Technology and Wisdom for Better Mitigation
Release Date: 10/14/2024
032: Day 3: Closing Remarks with Jennifer Gray Thompson
How to Disaster
2024 WILDFIRE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT Episode Description: “We are not hopeless against mega-fires. We are not hopeless against the era of climate change. We can do these things together because we are daring to hope and to help each other.” —Jennifer Gray Thompson As we bring this transformative event to a close, we are filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Each and every one of you has played a vital role in making this summit a resounding success. Whether you traveled from near or far, volunteered tirelessly behind the scenes, or tuned in from your homes and...
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031: Day 3: KEYNOTE: Aloha, Hello and Goodbye with Kuʻuleinani Maunupau
How to Disaster
2024 WILDFIRE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT Episode Description: “Aloha does not mean hello and goodbye. Aloha has a much deeper meaning of love and respect. Hello to the return of our Indigenous kupuna knowledge and goodbye to the profit-making capitalistic colonization types of thinking that put profit over people.” —Ku’uleinani Maunupau Colonization has disrupted the deep connection between the land and its indigenous people in Hawaii. The once-thriving Hawaiian land management practice that fostered a harmonious relationship between the people and the environment, has been...
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030: Day 3: TALK STORY: IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home Program: The Road to Implementation with Amanda West and Mark Vaughn
How to Disaster
2024 WILDFIRE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT Episode Description: “We're not powerless. We are not powerless against wildfire. We know what we need to do.” —Amanda West “I try not to use the word remove. Just move them. You can have plants. You can have a beautiful landscape. We want that five feet for the fire break.” —Mark Vaughn Wildfires pose a serious threat to homes and communities, but we don't have to be helpless in the face of these disasters. By implementing proven mitigation strategies, homeowners can take proactive steps to protect their properties and create...
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029: Day 3: KEYNOTE: Funding Disaster Recovery Through a CDFI with Emily Nilsen
How to Disaster
2024 WILDFIRE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT Episode Description: “As the recovery process continues, you have to continue to adapt.” —Emily Nilsen Disaster recovery is a complex challenge, but innovative lenders are stepping up to the plate. Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) like Impact Development Fund are providing flexible financing, coordinating resources, and creating tailored programs to support communities in rebuilding and becoming more resilient. In this talk, we hear from Emily Nilsen, the Chief Program Officer of . Listen in as Emily shares IDF’s...
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028: Day 3: KEYNOTE: Empowering Heirs: Fannie Mae's Program for Retaining Ownership and Returning Home After Disaster with Tim Carpenter
How to Disaster
2024 WILDFIRE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT Episode Description: “Home ownership is about stability. Homeownership is about building wealth. Homeownership is about families. But if you don't have a clear title, you don't know if that stability is going to be there.” —Tim Carpenter Disaster strikes, but for some, the real battle is just beginning. Millions of homes across the US are caught in a tangled web of heirs property— families without clear title to their generational land. This legal limbo leaves them vulnerable to losing everything. Thus, understanding the challenges of...
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027: Day 3: PANEL: Federal Advocacy: Championing Megafire Communities and Raising Awareness in DC
How to Disaster
2024 WILDFIRE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT Episode Description: “How you frame your argument is how you get them to listen.” —Jeff Okrepkie “We're willing to help anybody out that is going through this now or in the future.” —Steve Crowder “There's no playbook when it comes to a wildfire… Be ready, because you know this is going to impact you at some point, maybe not directly but you will be.” —Kevin Goss “There is a next step, and we just have to keep moving forward.” —Jenn Kaaoush Disaster can strike anyone, even those sworn to...
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026: Day 3: TALK STORY: State-Level Perspectives: Future-Proofing Recovery Senator Angus McKelvey and Senator Troy Hashimoto
How to Disaster
2024 WILDFIRE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT Episode Description: This recovery is slow, it's painful, and it's costly. We need patience, and aloha, and support because we're all in this together.” —Angus McKelvey “We have a lot of challenges moving forward, and it's figuring out the strategy of how we're going to approach it. And once you get that strategy, you have to figure out how do we get it to implementation.” —Troy Hashimoto Disaster recovery is not just about the visible on-the-ground efforts - it also involves complex state-level decisions and...
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025: Day 3: WORKSHOP: Paying It Forward: Creating a Community of Practice for Long-Term Fire Recovery
How to Disaster
2024 WILDFIRE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT Episode Description: “Trust is so important to building a community of practice. And part of that trust comes from understanding where people are and where they stand.” —Michael McCormick “Once the scene is stabilized and we start to clean things up, and then there comes a point where we start rebuilding things… and that's when the long-term recovery begins.” —Matt McRae “There are simultaneous disasters occurring at the same time everywhere, and you never know what's going to hit you at that time, and you have to be...
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024: DAY 3! From Flames to Futures: Navigating Wildfire Leadership with Hope and Resilience with Jennifer Gray Thompson
How to Disaster
2024 WILDFIRE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT Episode Description: “It's not enough just to give, you have to always receive as well with the same grace and gratitude and aloha.” —Jennifer Gray Thompson “Aloha is boundless, and we know that Aloha reaches all shores and all states. Even in the most trying of times together, we are one team.” —Mahina Martin Welcome to the final day of the 2024 Wildfire Leadership Summit. We're so glad you could join us for this last session— it's been an incredible few days filled with insightful discussions, powerful...
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023: Day 2: KEYNOTE: Ohana Means More Than Family: Maui's Response Through the Lens of Cultural Values with Kainoa Horcajo
How to Disaster
2024 WILDFIRE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT Episode Description: “Indigenous values can shift how we deal with disasters.” —Kainoa Horcajo Disaster recovery isn't just about rebuilding infrastructure— it's about honoring the deep connections between people and place. Principles like reciprocity, collective responsibility, and deep connection to the land can shape a more compassionate and community-centered approach to rebuilding after crises. By honoring these time-tested philosophies, we unlock powerful pathways to healing and resilience. Kainoa Horcajo is a cultural...
info_outline2024 WILDFIRE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT
Episode Description:
“We're going to have to come together in order to be climate resilient.” —Elizabeth Christy
“The earth knows how to respond.” —Caitlin Cornwall
“There's this window of opportunity after a catastrophe.” —Joe Nordlinger
Disasters are complex challenges that require integrated solutions. While technology can provide powerful tools, traditional wisdom, and community-based approaches are equally vital. Effective disaster resilience must harness both cutting-edge innovations and time-tested local knowledge.
In this episode, we hear from a diverse panel of experts working to make communities more resilient to wildfires. Elizabeth Christy from the US Green Building Council, Caitlin Cornwall from the Sonoma Ecology Center, and Joe Nordlinger of the Napa Firewise Foundation share their unique perspectives and strategies.
The discussion covers key insights on the importance of long-term landscape management, the role of indigenous practices, the need for collaboration and funding, and ways to maintain momentum between disasters. Don't miss this insightful conversation on building truly resilient communities. Tune in now!
Connect with After The Fire USA:
- Website: https://afterthefireusa.org/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AfterTheFireUSA
- X: https://twitter.com/AfterTheFireUSA
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afterthefireusa/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/atf3r
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuTefxZgWUJkDVoZGZQpxgQ
Highlights:
- 04:38 Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Practice
- 09:24 Thinking About the Land Differently
- 13:31 Pre-Wildfire Resilience
- 19:56 Keeping the Momentum
Meet the Moderator
👩🏻💼 Lisa Micheli, Executive Board Member, After the Fire USA
Dr. Micheli joined Sonoma County’s Pepperwood Foundation in October of 2009 as its inaugural Executive Director and now serves as the organization’s President and CEO. She brings more than 30 years of experience applying her technical, policy, and fundraising expertise to the design and implementation of ecological restoration, research, and education programs. She started her career at the US Environmental Protection Agency and then completed her graduate studies at UC Berkeley as a NASA Earth Systems Research Fellow in 2000. She now focuses her research on relationships between climate, watershed health, and biodiversity and has published numerous peer-reviewed studies on river restoration, climate adaptation, and community-based approaches to biodiversity conservation.
Dr. Micheli specializes in facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations focused on using relevant research to craft collective solutions to today’s most pressing landscape conservation challenges. She serves as the co-chair of Pepperwood’s Terrestrial Biodiversity Climate Change Collaborative (TBC3), a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Bay Area climate adaptation research initiative, with Dr. David Ackerly, Dean of UC Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources. She also chairs the Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve team of the international Large Landscape Conservation Peer Network facilitated by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. She has been recognized as a Phi Beta Kappa scholar, a Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation Environmental Leader, a Bay Nature Institute Local Hero for Environmental Education, and a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. She is a member of the American Geophysical Union and the Society for Conservation Biology. Dr. Micheli serves as a director on After The Fire board and as a science advisor to the Sempervirens Fund, the Chile-California Conservation Network, the Bay Area Open Space Council, and the Water Research Foundation
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamicheli/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisa.micheli1
Meet the Panel:
👩🏻💼Elizabeth Christy, Education Programs Manager, US Green Building Council California
Elizabeth graduated in Environmental Studies from Temple University. Elizabeth worked under Joanne Donahue, the Manager of Land Restoration at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education cultivating native plants and removing invasive species from the Penn’s Native Acre. Elizabeth also designed and installed an educational sensory garden for students. Elizabeth also worked in the West End of Outdoor Horticulture at Longwood Gardens, where she oversaw the orchard, Migratory Bird Sanctuary, vegetable garden, idea garden, trial garden, and children’s garden.
Since moving to California, Elizabeth has been the Program Manager for Eco Urban Gardens. She developed and implemented the Farm to Table and Farm to School programs. Elizabeth combines her passion for regenerative landscape and urban design with the impact on community health and environmental justice. She has a Docent Naturalist certification from Eaton Canyon Nature Center and has volunteered for the LA County Arboretum and California Native Plant Society.
Connect with USGBA:
- Website: https://usgbc-ca.org/
👩🏻💼Caitlin Cornwall, Senior Project Manager, Sonoma Ecology Center
Caitlin is a biologist who leads planning and partnerships and advises on technical projects. She's worked since 1998 as a leader at Sonoma Ecology Center. She has a bachelor's degree in biology, and a master's in botany, and is an expert on land use ecology, watershed health indicators, and communicating with non-technical audiences, as well as building diverse partnerships. She's a native of Sonoma, and she's been a lead author of the Biodiversity Action Plan, the roadmap for climate resilience and homes for sustainable Sonoma Valley.
Connect with Sonoma Ecology Center:
- Website: https://sonomaecologycenter.org/
👨🏻💼Joe Nordlinger, CEO, Napa Communities Firewise Foundation
Joe Nordlinger is the CEO of the Napa community's Firewise Foundation and brings a unique blend of wildfire preparedness and business expertise to this challenge. He has over two decades of experience in professional services, management, and corporate leadership, and chairs the Mount Veter Fire Safe Council and volunteers as a firefighter in Napa. He has helped the Fire Safe Council grow and secure over $100 million in grant funding, and he merges private sector strategies with fire safety.
- Webiste: https://napafirewise.org/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-nordlinger-2aa871/