The Humboldt County Prescribed Burn Association is guided by a board of directors. Our board is comprised of local fire practitioners, natural resources professionals, landowners and cultural fire practitioners. They’re diverse set of knowledge, skills and viewpoints gives our organization a strong footing in a wide array of communities, and keeps us true to our values.
Jeffrey Stackhouse:
Co-founding board member, current board president, and state certified burn boss. Jeff works for the University of California Cooperative Extension as the Livestock and Natural Resources Advisor for Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. As such, he is the PBA’s range scientist and helps think through ways to use fire and grazing in tandem to address the needs of the rangeland resources and fire containment in grasslands, shrublands, and oak woodland ecosystems of the region. He was born and raised in Shasta County and grew-up on a small ranch where his parents (both Registered Professional Foresters) introduced him to prescribed fire at a young age. His passion in the fire community is to provide access to prescribed fire as a management tool to anyone and everyone who needs it.
Kai Ostrow:
Kai is the Southern Humboldt Chapter President of the Humboldt County Prescribed Burn Association, and the Assistant Chief & Fire Management Specialist at the Briceland Fire Department.
Brian Kelly:
Brian is a Forester with Green Diamond Resource Company. He has lived in Humboldt since 2017 and received his B.S. in Forestry from Cal Poly Humboldt. He is passionate about restoring fire to the landscape. In his free time, he enjoys backpacking, birding, reading and hanging out with his partner and their 3 cats.
Lenya Quinn-Davidson:
Lenya Quinn-Davidson is the Fire Network Director for the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, where she leads a statewide team working on various facets of fire resiliency, from wildland fire management and the built environment to workforce development and community capacity. Over the last 15 years, Lenya’s work has focused in large part on the human connection with fire, and breaking down social, political, and cultural barriers to beneficial fire. Lenya has worked at various scales, including locally with community members and prescribed burn associations; at the state level, where she collaborates on policy, research, and training; and nationally/internationally, through her leadership on the Women-in-Fire Training Exchange (WTREX) Program.
Jeffrey Kane:
Dr. Jeff Kane has been engaged with fire-related research and management for over 25 years and continues to be a student of fire. He is currently a Professor of Fire Science and Director of the Fire Resilience Institute at Cal Poly Humboldt. He has taught many fire and forestry courses and has authored over 70 journal articles. His research broadly focuses on ecology, management, and restoration of fire-prone ecosystems in an era of rapid change. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal Fire Ecology and a Board Member of the Association for Fire Ecology. He holds a Ph.D. in Forestry from Northern Arizona University, M.S. in Forestry from Cal Poly Humboldt, and a B.S. in Environmental Science from SUNY Plattsburgh.
Chris Gilda:
Chris grew up in Petrolia, California and has worked for Petrolia Fire Department since he was 19 years old. He has served as a firefighter, lieutenant captain and Fire Chief (2005-2008 & 2023 to present). Chris is a qualified engine boss, has worked for private fire contractor Hybrid Incident Solutions for a couple of seasons, and has been employed by the Mattole Restoration Council to work on and lead fuels reduction crews. He holds a 100 ton inland masters license (captain's license) and an associate's degree from the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building in contemporary boat building.
Greg Swaffar:
Retired engineer, Southern Humboldt landowner, grandpa, enthusiastic rookie burner.
Linsdey Holm:
Lindsey is a registered professional forester with 21 years of experience working in forestry and environmental protection. She specializes in forest management planning, old-growth forest restoration, prescribed fire planning, fuels reduction, and tribal forestry. She helps implement prescribed fires with the Humboldt and Mendocino Prescribed Burn Associations as a Fire Effects Monitor.
Other Board Members:
Robert McConnell - Burn boss and fire manager for the Cultural Fire Management Council.
Hugo Klopper - Cattleman, rancher, and local land owner.
Dean Hunt - Cattleman and local land owner.
Tarah Balden - USGS Scientist.
Laura Lalemand - Senior scientist for Save the Redwoods League.