Nevada County Resource Conservation District (NCRCD) is pleased to announce the launch of Nevada County’s own Prescribed Burn Association (PBA). PBAs have existed for a long time across the country and locally, although they were not always known by that name in many areas. Essentially, they are community members that come together to help each other put beneficial fire, also known as prescribed burns, on the ground.  

For thousands of years, indigenous people worked together with members of their tribe to apply prescribed fire in carefully planned ways. Fire was an essential tool for many purposes including cultivating food supplies, tending medicinal plants, and improving the quality of basket making materials, amongst other purposes. For centuries, and to this day in some places, ranchers throughout the United States have helped their neighbors conduct beneficial burns to improve and maintain good forage for livestock. PBAs are all about neighbors helping neighbors. 

Today, there are Prescribed Burn Associations throughout the country, especially in the southeast, west and great plains regions. In California, many PBAs have been formed, and are hosted by, the local Resource Conservation Districts. With land stewardship by private landowners as a primary purpose for RCDs, supporting community-based PBAs is a natural fit.  

Prescribed Fire a pillar of the RCD’s mission 

In 2023, the Nevada County RCD received funding from a U.S. Forest Service Community Wildfire Defense Grant from the USDA to start a comprehensive prescribed fire education program. It’s been very successful thus far with 20 courses and workshops attended by more than 200 local community members interested in learning how to conduct safe, legal, responsible and beneficial burns on their property. There is a growing awareness that prescribed fire is an excellent tool to improve and maintain defensible space, increase forest resilience and health, and enhance native plants and habitat.  

NCRCD is establishing the Nevada County PBA to continue to build this community of prescribed fire practitioners in our area. Formalizing the PBA will also improve our competitiveness for future grant funding, allowing us to continue helping the community with the benefits of prescribed fire.  

Backed by the RCD, the PBA will support the development of neighborhood burn groups, provide education and training opportunities to increase workforce capacity in the community for prescribed burning, and support capacity building for ranchers and other community groups to burn larger areas.  

The Nevada County PBA serves to build a community of engaged, “good fire” practitioners by: 

• Providing training and technical assistance to landowners in how to burn safely, legally, responsibly, and ecologically beneficial ways.  
• Supporting private landowners interested in using beneficial prescribed fire as a tool to improve fire safety, improve forest health, and enhance native plants and habitat.  

• Connecting landowners in neighborhoods and Firewise communities to work together to put good fire on the ground.  

• Securing grant funded opportunities in the future based on community interests and needs, such as more advanced training for prospective burn bosses and others. 

There is no cost to join the Nevada County PBA and members will receive the RCD’s RX Fire News and other announcements about opportunities to learn more about and get experience with prescribed burning. To join the Nevada County PBA, please complete the brief application here. 

The RCD’s Prescribed Fire Community Outreach Coordinator, Jennifer Rain Crosby, is enthusiastically working to build our local prescribed fire community and will serve as staff lead for the Nevada County Prescribed Burn Association. Jennifer is a long-time resident of Nevada County and since 2021 has been fire manager on a hand crew specializing in understory fuels management. She is passionate about prescribed fire and creating a culture of fire resiliency in the county. 

Prescribed Burning Community  

Like Sonoma County, we are fortunate to have two organizations supporting community-based prescribed burning. Since it was established in 2019, the Yuba Bear Burn Cooperative (YBBC) has provided a valuable place for community members to network on burns they need assistance with or share useful information. NCRCD has coordinated with the YBBC on its prescribed fire education program and will continue to do so, our efforts to support community-based prescribed burning are even more powerful together. 

The RCD is offering a full program of workshops and field experiences this fall for landowners interested in learning more about prescribed burning. While CAL FIRE has not yet lifted the burn ban for the season, this is the ideal time to be educating yourself on all the steps necessary for preparation of a burn unit including writing burn plans, applying for permits and enlisting support. There is no cost to attend any of the courses but registration is required, the schedule is available here or at NCRCD.org.