Postponed to next year: Fire Safe Solutions for Design, Building, and Upkeep

Feeling overwhelmed about wildfire in California? You are not alone, but the good news is that there is a lot you can do to reduce risk and help your family and community withstand wildfire. In her current work with the University of California Fire Network, Yana Valachovic has conducted post-fire assessments in California and Colorado, including in Altadena and Palisades. For this program, she will bring key insights into building and landscaping design and maintenance that make a difference in building survivability and property protection. Yana will give a brief overview of her research findings and share practical, low-cost, science-based actions that can help you protect your house and family. As Yana says, “wildfire adaptation will not occur overnight, but there is a pathway and clear evidence to help all of us live successfully with wildfire now and into the future”.

Yana Valachovic, a scientist with the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network, is passionate about helping communities learn to live with wildfire. She works at many scales and is a state leader in developing and delivering local and state strategies to improve wildfire resilience. Yana has over 25 years of experience in county government and community engagement. She also has a perspective on how California is attempting to pivot to address the wildfire and insurance crises and holds roles with the Governor’s Wildfire Forest Resilience Task Force and the Wildfire Mitigation Committee. In addition to her research experience, she also has practical skills gained from a ‘back to the land’ upbringing where her family believed plants were more important than people—they provided essential food, didn’t talk back, and never started wars. Living off the grid, Yana gained an early appreciation for building design, construction, and maintenance; a love of plants; and an appreciation of how a community can come together to support each other’s needs.

She was also Humboldt County’s 2024 Birder of the Year for the discovery of a purple gallinule!

Yana Valachovic
Forest Advisor and County Director (Humboldt and Del Norte)
UC ANR Fire Network- Community Resiliency and Built Environment
UC Policy Institute- Associate Director, Natural Ecosystems and Working Landscapes
RPF #2740

If you plan to attend via Zoom, please enter your info and we’ll send you a link prior to the event.
If you’ve signed up for previous events, feel free to skip this step – you’re already on our list!