The heart of this conversation is really about how much we can achieve when neighbors team up to get fire-ready. We share stories from one local neighborhood that has truly transformed their fire safety by working together, showing that preparedness isn't just about what you do when the siren goes off—it's about the work you put in long before that.

We are joined by John Groom, the Director of Land Management for the Tahoe Donner Association, who does a great job of explaining how much power individual residents have when they get organized. At the end of the day, we’re convinced that the biggest wins for safety and resilience don’t come from some distant government office; they happen right outside your own front door.

Links & Organizations referenced in this episode:

• Tahoe Donner Association
• Firewise USA
• Truckee Fire

Welcome to 101.5 Community Conversations on Wildfire, where we help you stay safe, informed, and ready.

I'm your host, JD Haas, and today's episode is called Neighbor to Neighbor How Communities Organize for Wildfire Resilience.

We'll hear real stories from local efforts and talk about how you can get involved in your own neighborhood.

Wildfire isn't just a fire department problem.

It's a neighborhood solution.

Today, we're looking at how a community of thousands can move the needle on safety.

Because when it comes to wildfire resilience, some of the most powerful action doesn't happen at statewide level.

It happens right outside your front door.

Joining us is John Groom, Director of Land Management plus Open Space for Tahoe Donor Association.

John, thanks for sitting down with us.

And John, can you just tell us a little bit about your background and your role with Tahoe donor?

Yeah, thanks, J.D.

It's great to be here.

Yeah.

Most of my career has been with the U.S. forest Service, working throughout various parts of the country in the Southwest, the Northwest, and then most recently the Tahoe National Forest here.

Okay, so you've been doing it a little bit.

Okay, so let's start with the basics.

John, for those who don't know, what does it actually mean to be a Firewise USA recognized community?

Yeah, really?

That's got a couple parts to that answer.

Firewise Communities, really, the gist of it is that it's a group of folks, group of neighbors paying attention to the fire resilience of their own neighborhood.

Firewise USA is part of nifa and really it's a collaborative effort to get neighbors involved in recognizing and then taking action in their neighborhoods to build up fire resilience.

So Tahoe Donner is one of the largest hoas in the country.

What inspired Tahodonur to really take wildfire resilience seriously?

Probably originally those were intended to protect the scenic beauty of the forest, but most recently, those same covenants help us enforce the actual maintenance of the association properties.

Like we have Today, it's interesting, Angora comes up in a lot of conversations.

And that was my very first large, catastrophic wildfire that I was ever on as a broadcaster down on scene.

And it was overwhelming.

So let's talk some wins now.

Tau Donner, you guys have been a leader in fuel reduction.

And when you look across the neighborhood today versus five years ago, what are the most visible changes that make you breathe a little easier?

Yeah, I don't really breathe that easy in the middle of summer, but this time of year I do.

You know, I think that five years ago, we.

Most of our focus was on the exterior landscape of Taladan, or we were really focused on doing the same thing that a lot of agencies are, where you're trying to build a halo of thin forest around a community to kind of stop wildfire from potentially entering into the community.

And so now, within the same CYC that the homeowners do their defensible space maintenance every six years, our interior common areas or green belts are on that same cycle.

So now when the homeowners are out doing their work, they actually see our crews or our contractors in those green belts in the common areas doing the exact same sort of work to extend their defensible space.

It's interesting when you say the halo, because I have actually seen the halo in action when you built it up off of ski slope in the very beginning.

This is before your time, I would have to say.

This was about 15 years ago as a fire rushed right up the face of above Donner Lake.

And as it was going towards Tahoe Donner, it stopped right at the halo.

And you can still see the scar of that today where the Guy drove the D8 in a big, like, you know, half pipe motion around the top of it.

But you guys were just really getting into it.

And that was, you know, a key eye opener as a broadcaster to get out there and actually report on that.

So was there a moment as well when you saw the impact of neighbors working together?

Yeah.

J.D.

I think to that point that you just brought up, I want to say that our fire history shows we've had five or six recent fires come up that hillside and really try to get into the neighborhood.

So really, those neighbors that are out there taking care of their properties, they see us doing it on the exterior, they're doing it on the interior.

Even most recently, the pass fire, I think you remember that a couple of years ago, I mean, that had potential to come up the Hill.

So we see neighbors, I think every summer there is this collective effort going on.

And especially during our green waste drop off days, when you see a line of 20 vehicles, like waiting to actually drop off that green waste they're collecting out of their yards, you know that you're actually getting some real work done.

And so it's pretty impressive to see community not only pretty much every day during the summer, but come together in these sort of events or to our landscape tours, or to our efforts to actually engage them in the stewardship of the landscape.

I think a lot of people assume it's hard to get those neighbors involved.

What challenges did you guys run into?

I think initially it's probably easier now because I think more and more after Kalidor, after Dixie, after paradise, people are really recognizing that we've got to do something and we've got to do it now.

So I think if you were to ask folks 10 years ago, I don't think this would have been as pressing.

But I think now people are actually asking us, what else can they do?

What else can we do?

I think the whole community recognizes that this is something that we have to take action on, and it's not a problem that we really want to wait out and see what happens.

So for us, we're fortunate.

At Tyle O', Donner, we have about 6,500 homes, and we do have our covenants process where once every six years we inspect and then work with the homeowners in about 1,000 homes a year to bring it into compliance with state defensible space standards.

So we have our covenants going for us.

But I'd say a challenge would be probably the really short season that we have here in the summertime, you know, everybody wants to get out and enjoy summertime.

And when you look at a property that hasn't had a lot of work done, it's a huge effort.

So I think that initial entry takes a lot of effort, but we're trying to get people to actually now start to think that fire resilience isn't just an inspection every three years or every six years.

This is really something that you need to be taken care of every year.

And if you do just take care of your yard and your property every year, it becomes a little bit easier to do.

Like, we've all got to pick up those pine needles in the fall and then in the spring again.

But it doesn't feel quite as overwhelming as maybe that initial entry where you're actually looking at totally modifying the landscape around your structure.

Roaming around other neighborhoods.

There's a lot of work to be done.

And talking with folks in other neighborhoods, challenge getting them in there, you know, to do this stuff.

So on the flip side of all of what you were talking about, what actually worked and what got people to show up and actually participate?

Yeah, that's a good question.

I think right now, with the passage of measure T, Truckee Fire is a great resource.

And they're actually out helping build up other firewise communities here locally.

They have a whole team down there that if you get a hold of them, they will come out, they'll work with you and your neighbors to actually take a look at your neighborhood, start to identify areas that could use improvement, things that are going well, things that need attention, and then they'll walk you through the actual process of becoming a firewise community.

And a firewise community doesn't mean that everybody's on board in the neighborhood.

It's not like you need 100 people.

You could do this with as small of a little neighborhood as five or six neighbors that just want to get together and make sure that when that fire comes on the landscape or on the horizon, they're actually looking ahead and trying to take care of that small, you know, piece of land that they're maintaining.

That's some good stuff.

Okay, so there's people listening right now in smaller neighborhoods, like I was talking, without massive HOA structures, and they might be thinking they want this in their neighborhood or even their own street.

How do they start?

Does it take like a committee of 20 or can it start with two neighbors over a cup of coffee?

Yeah, it can really just start with you taking care of your own property.

I do think that when people start, it is infectious and people see it throughout the neighborhoods.

But again, Truckee Fire has got some great resources.

We at Tower Donner host a once a month firewise community meeting.

And so folks from our team, folks from Firewise, Truckee Fire, Cal Fire, you can join that meeting online and learn a little bit more about the firewise program.

Like I mentioned, they'll come out and they'll actually walk you through kind of the process for firewise recognition.

Folks can also go to nfpa.org and that's where you'll find all the information on becoming a firewise community.

Again, that's not necessarily the key isn't the certification.

Sometimes insurance companies will ask you for your firewise certificate.

It'll get you a little bit of a discount on your on your fire insurance.

But the key is actually that collaborative Nature of all of the neighbors kind of coming together and working together towards a common goal.

And then if you are a firewise recognized community, there's a lot of grants out there to help you get this work done.

Truckee Fire has a bunch of small grants or kind of processes to either deliver dumpsters into your neighborhood, help you with additional green waste removal items like that that they're funding through the Measure T program.

And that's a lot of great information, but a lot of people don't know how to get that information.

So what are you guys doing as a form of communication?

Keeping the people informed and engaged because you have it.

How do we get to the homeowner?

How do we get that to our neighbor?

Yeah.

Outside of Tahoe.

Donor.

Yeah.

Anyway, I mean, I know specifically your job is Tahoe Donner, and it is a role model.

What are you doing to keep people engaged and bring that information you just told us about to them on a daily basis?

Because they're coming from outside.

I don't know if it's still 80, 20, or what that percentage split is of second homeowner versus primary, but we still have to keep them informed.

And even the people who live here.

Yeah, yeah, it is.

It's really close, actually.

We're.

We're just over 20% now.

Okay.

All right.

So, yeah, what we've realized is that educating either primary homeowners or secondary homeowners on kind of to bring it back that the forest that they see today is not the forest that was here 100 years ago, 500 years ago, 10,000 years ago.

What they're seeing, sometimes they really want to hold on to that.

They're coming.

A lot of these folks are coming out of the bay, they're coming out of the city.

They're seeing what they believe to be a beautiful forest.

What we see is an oversight stocked forest.

And we see the need to thin that out and get it back to a more natural state, the way that fire may have maintained it in the past.

So what we found to be really valuable is actually either meeting with those homeowners one on one at their properties and then also taking them out on tours of the forest and helping them re engage with kind of the natural environment.

So at T.A.

Odonner, we have an events page on our website, but we do forestry tours.

We show people our large scale fuel reduction projects.

We take people out and teach them how to ID trees and wildflowers.

We do wildlife tours down in your valley.

And so if folks want to join us on that they're more than welcome.

And then outside of that, like I mentioned, Truckee Fire will actually come.

I mean, you can give them a call today.

You can go down to their office.

They're right here in town.

But they'll set up a very quick meeting with you and come right out to your neighborhood and help you just kind of get started and talk through some of these questions that folks might have in the Truckee area.

And you got so much great information on this.

You guys have worked really hard.

Okay, so, John, if people do want to follow the Tahoe Donner model or just get in touch to learn more.

More about the process, where should they go?

Yeah, all of our contact is right on our Tyle Donner webpage.

We have a forestry webpage, a defensible space website that folks can learn a lot more at.

And then like I mentioned, just go downtown and visit your local fire department.

They're going to walk folks through that process.

So.

And like I said, if folks want to come out on our forestry tours and learn more about the natural environment, we'd love to have them.

Okay, and you're listening.

This is John Groom, folks, if you're just tuning in.

He's our director of land management at Open Space for Tahoe Donner Association.

Sometimes, John, it's as simple as just starting a conversation, talking to a neighbor, making a plan and taking that first small action.

But on a personal level, what has this work meant to you?

Yeah, that's.

That's an interesting one.

I think outside of this topic, just the fire resilience.

I think that here in Truckee, you know, we.

I really appreciate living in a community where we've got so many people and organizations that are working together to steward this landscape.

Truckee historically has not.

Has had needs.

Easy go of it.

It was clear cut in the Comstock era, back at the turn of the century.

I mean, we blasted through the summit, rerouted the creeks and the streams.

And so at Ta o' Donner and then around the community, it's really nice to be engaged with folks like the Watershed Council, the Land Trust, Forest Service, all these different parties working towards trying to restore the natural landscape.

I think for me, I really take it seriously when we look at modifying the landscape.

But I think in the end, and the thing that means the most to me is that I think we're going to leave it in a better place than where we found it.

Neighbor to neighbor, that's the name of this session right now.

And has this changed the way neighbors connect with each other?

I think so.

I think people, when they see other neighbors maintaining their property and getting ready for this fire threat, that feels like it's imminent, that it's coming at some point.

We've been tested here in Truckee a number of times.

I think that people now are out there high fiving their neighbors on this stuff.

I mean, at Tahoe o', Donner, we obviously we do a thousand homes a year, and so that is a big effort.

But I actually live over near Sierra Meadows and I see people even now out raking and picking up pine cones.

And so it feels like Truckee's getting ready for the summer and not just waiting for something bad to happen.

And I do think that's a change.

Have you experienced that?

It seems like it's culture.

It's taken about a decade since those big, huge fires.

Yeah, those are eye openers.

Unfortunate.

It takes those to open folks eyes.

And, yeah, I'm starting to see it as culture.

Where, oh, here comes that time.

We've got to get this done.

And what can we do this year?

Right?

Where is the one step that we can take this above and further this year?

Because each year you want to build upon what you're doing.

And you're correct in saying that that landscape is not what it was in the beginning.

We have changed the landscape in so many ways.

And then we didn't touch the landscape for long building this huge threat of fire.

So what I see, I see it's part of culture and I see people that really enjoy where they live and they understand what a catastrophic wildfire would do to change everything about their life and where we live.

So, John, thank you so much.

It sounds like this is about more than wildfire actually coming out of my mouth.

Mouth.

It's about our community.

And a big thank you to John Groom here joining me from Tahoe Donor association for joining us today.

So, again, thank you so much, John.

Thanks, J.D.

Thanks for having me.

I appreciate it.

Yeah, we'll have you back anytime.

Stick around.

We can talk a little bit more.

In closing today's conversation, it's a great reminder that wildfire resilience isn't something we build alone, it's something we build together.

A resilience starts at your property line, but it succeeds at your neighbors.

And if you take one thing from this episode, start the conversation, because that's where resilience begins.

Thank you for listening to Community Conversations on wildfire.

Stay safe, stay prepared, and let's keep talking.

If you would like to hear this episode of Community Conversation on Wildfire neighbor to neighborhood.

You can find it and many more@truckeetaho radio.com on demand anytime.

This message provided by Truckee Fire as part of the Measure T Community Wildfire Prevention Fund.