As conservationists, one thing we’ve seen a lot of on the news in recent years is forest fires.  

Huge blazes in Australia, California, the Amazon razing forests to the ground and decimating wildlife unlucky enough to be in its path. 

Today we’re speaking with someone who works on the front line as an expert on fires and forest ecology within California.  

Dr Hugh Safford is a Regional Ecologist for the US Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region and Research Faculty at the University of California-Davis. 

Hugh manages a staff of ecologists that provide expertise in vegetation and fire ecology across 18 National Forests in California, and is also Director of the Sierra Nevada region of the California Fire Science Consortium. 

In this episode we talk about forest fires in California, and how they used to be much more common in the past.  

We also discuss how our historical management of forests has caused many of the issues we are experiencing today. 

Hugh also shares his career insights and advice, for people like you, who might be seeking to work in the US Forest Service or following similar paths.