Host Dave Schlom is joined by two program managers from California State University's Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve to discuss the concept of "good fire." He-Lo Ramirez, Cultural Stewardship Manager, and Blake Ellis, Ecotherapy Program Manager, help us understand how fire can be used as a tool for healing both the landscape and people, in the aftermath of catastrophic burns like the Camp Fire that destroyed Paradise, CA in 2018 and the massive Park Fire that burned through the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve in 2024.
Ellis specializes in ecotherapy, using the natural world to enhance people's mental health. For those who have survived a major conflagration, the PTSD of fire is a real problem. But by using fire as a tool, something that indigenous people like the Mechoopda Tribe, whose ancestral land contains Big Chico Creek, have done for centuries, people can learn that fire is just part of nature rather than an evil threat.
Ramirez shares his perspectives on how to use fire on the landscape to promote ecological diversity, and together with Ellis, they share their experiences working with people at events like the Good Fire Festival that was held in Paradise in 2025.
