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Like all successful teams, the Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team on the Sourdough Fire benefitted from strong leadership. Jack and Cedar formed a dynamic duo to support each other during this short but intense assignment. Jack stepped in to lead the team and Cedar served as the team’s deputy lead and document specialist. BAER leadership combines their shared passions for protecting natural and cultural resources with post-fire mitigation actions to protect those resources after the fire event has passed.

Jack retired after a long career with the National Park Service (NPS), most recently as the Chief of Natural and Cultural Resources at the North Cascades National Park Service Complex (the Complex). He nerds out about wilderness character and the effort to restore grizzly bear populations in the Pacific Northwest. Jack discovered BAER as he served multiple roles on fire assignments but yearned for deeper involvement. He wanted to contribute to a comprehensive wildfire management strategy that minimally impacted resource values on the land. He stumbled upon a BAER poster in an NPS office and his involvement grew from there. 

Cedar has a lot of passion for what he does and is particularly concerned with the fire-related impacts of climate change, especially those on vegetation. His master’s degree in Fire Ecology and Restoration Ecology supports his work as an Ecologist with the National Park Service’s Pacific West Region Office of Fire and Aviation Management. He has 20 years of experience working in wildland fire, with 13 of those spent leading the North Cascades National Park Fire Effects Monitoring Crew. Cedar was introduced to BAER during his time as a Lead Resource Advisor (READ). In this role, he regularly collaborated with the BAER team on NPS wildland fire incidents. He delights in the opportunity to research the effects of fire on natural and cultural resources across scale and time, especially as it applies to wilderness and large, old trees.

Cedar and Jack enjoy the challenge of coordinating a diverse team of experts. The Sourdough BAER team gathered from across the country on short notice. Jack and Cedar coordinated the spatial logistics of where team members would work, eat, and sleep. The establishment of a BAER team happens quickly. These experts understood the assignment, were available within two days’ notice, and quickly formed collaborative working relationships to get the job done. The team prepared a blueprint for the Complex to quickly address the potential threats to human life and property and the impacts of the fire on natural, cultural, and infrastructure resources after the Sourdough Fire.

Jack was able to flex his strongest BAER muscle on this assignment as the Sourdough BAER Team Lead: building a robust BAER team. Each BAER incident is highly unique and requires specialists with specific skills. The Sourdough BAER team included scientists with specialties relevant to the incident at North Cascades National Park Service Complex including archeology, hydrology, botany, forestry, wildlife, fire ecology, and geo-spatial systems. Once the team was assembled and assigned, Jack led the team on a daily basis. He patiently oversaw field work, information analysis, summary assessment writing, and funding requests. In addition to leading the team, Jack completed recreation assessments. He evaluated the damage to trails and recreational facilities that had been caused by the fire itself, then determined policy-compliant costs to repair or replace those facilities. Due to the wilderness character at the Complex, he enjoyed hiking many miles of trails to understand how the infrastructure fared during the Sourdough Fire.

Cedar supported logistics, planning, administration, coordination, and communication for the team. As the document specialist, he built and managed the BAER Plan and synthesized other information. He typed away in the team’s makeshift office; documenting work, organizing data, solving problems, managing logistics, and writing technical reports. Though most of his work was in the office, he was able to provide subject-matter expertise in the field by collecting data on some of the affected tree species. He surveyed the Sourdough Ridge for fire impacts to whitebark pine, conducted a helicopter survey on Stetattle Creek, and surveyed old-growth forests for burn impacts. 

Jack and Cedar feel grateful to have witnessed the powerful force of fire on a landscape and to rise to the challenge of mitigating negative fire effects. The Complex has a tremendous diversity of plants, ecotones, and wildlife. They encourage visitors to learn the science of how an ecosystem will respond to fire and how and why land managers must find ways to mitigate some fire effects or mitigate the negative consequences that follow a fire.