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Ryan Reed, FUSEE's program director for the FireGeneration Collaborative (FireGen) was appointed to the Federal Advisory Committee (FAC) that is working on a revision of the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP). Accelerating climate change and increased wildfire activity are challenging many of the plan's original goals for recovery of owls and salmon, riparian and old-growth forest habitats. Ryan was selected from a national pool of hundreds of applicants, and is likely the youngest person ever to serve on a FAC. But he is uniquely qualified to serve on this group: he is an Indigenous fire practitioner from the Karuk/Yurok/Hoopa Tribes, a USFS wildland firefighter, a forestry graduate student at UC Berkeley, and lives in one of the remotest wildfire-prone rural communities in the Pacific Northwest. The NWFP revision covers 17 national forests across three states, and aims to guide management strategies and actions over the next century to ensure the recover of endangered wildlife species, the sustainability of old-growth forests, and the safety of rural communities facing high risks from climate-driven wildfires. This is a huge opportunity for making visionary policy change. Ryan is the agency’s designated “public at large” representative on the FAC; all other members represent various interest groups or are agency or academic scientists. He will bring his valued perspective and FireGen’s energy to push for inclusion of policy concepts that were omitted from the original plan, like Indigenous fire stewardship, youth workforce engagement, and ecological fire management. FUSEE will be doing all we can to support Ryan with the information and resources he needs to do his best on the committee. We can’t think of a better torchbearer to advocate for our collective future.
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