Pyroscapes Presentation
I collaborated with the Mount Shasta Sisson Museum and Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center (MSBEC) for a presentation on California’s Fire Ecology from an explorer, scientist, and artist’s lens. Pyroscapes is the creative exploration of the fire landscape in Californian ecosystems. The project is part science, part data visualization, part art, and part personal story.
Pyroscapes are dynamic across time, space, and governmental jurisdictions. If you are a resident in California, you live in an active pyroscape. The talk was about building a resilient pyro-culture to live alongside wildfire. In addition to the lecture, I had mini-illustrated zines discussing fire ecology principles. These mini-zines have been used in the past as portable lecture notes for field trips visiting recently burned areas. I had planned on teaching nature journaling observational skills in and around the burn area, focusing on the fire history of the area, but we got rained out!
A few slides and visuals from the presentation:
Siskiyou County 100 year fire history.
I plotted the burn scars for the last 100 years in Siskiyou County (Data Source: CalFire). Each fire scar is transparent orange, so it’s easier to see the “fire mosaic” pattern in the Klamath Range in Western Siskiyou County. The blue burns are controlled or prescribed burns.
Sub-alpine Lava Fire Scar Exploration by Bike.
I rode my bike up 3,000 feet of sketchy forest road to get to the upper reaches of the Lava Fire (2021) scar (~7,000 ft) on Mount Shasta near Diller Canyon. The forest is growing back slowly! The ride down was fast and there were many patchs of loose sand. haha.
Spring Hill Fire Regrowth Observation Exploration by Trail Run.
The fire on Spring Hill in the city limits of Mount Shasta started on May 19th, 2025. It was put out right away, but part of the main trail near the top of the hill burned. I had been monitoring the development of individual green leaf manzanita plants as part of another project. I use Spring Hill as a trail running training area, so I visit frequently. I followed the regrowth of a green leaf manzanita after the fire. Shown in the illustration is the growth from a burl emerging from the roots over the course of the summer and into the fall. Green leaf manzanita often regrows after fire using this exact strategy!
Announcement
The announcement of the event. Read the website announcement in the Sisson Museum Archive.