Concow – Then and Now - Lessons of Wildfire Recovery Bus Tour
03-06-2025
On Thursday, March 6th, 40 residents, natural resource management partners and local representatives from Butte County and beyond boarded a tour bus to visit the communities of Concow and Yankee Hill. This tour, hosted by the Butte County Fire Safe Council (BCFSC) was developed with the mission of learning lessons of wildfire recovery from local experts, legacy community members, and advocates for proactive wildfire mitigation projects. Participants on the tour shared their lessons learned from direct experience of wildfire loss from the Park Fire (2024), North Complex Fire (2020), and Camp Fire (2018), as well as their steadfast commitment to restoring these landscapes.
Speakers shared deep insights drawn from their three decades in the Concow and Yankee Hill communities of Butte County, including lessons learned from enduring six catastrophic wildfires in the places they cherish and call home.
Matthew Gramps-Williford, Acting Tribal Chairman and Cultural Resource Director of the Konkow Valley Band of Maidu, underscored how cultural fire—rooted in Traditional Ecological Knowledge—historically shaped the fire-adapted Concow Basin. Although cultural burning has been suppressed for over 150 years, he emphasized that reintroducing these practices can restore forest health and resilience when paired with engaged landowner stewardship. Brenda Rightmyer of the Yankee Hill Fire Safe Council highlighted the urgency of establishing community assembly zones and promptly removing fire-damaged trees to accelerate forest recovery. A visit to Crain Memorial Park showcased one such community resilience effort, where Dan Efseaff, District Manager of the Paradise Recreation and Park District, discussed PRPD’s Community Buffer Project and how partnerships between local organizations and residents propel effective land management and wildfire mitigation strategies.
Longtime Concow residents Peggy and Pete Moak, who have survived multiple major wildfires, emphasized the importance of home hardening, defensible space, and “training” oak and other hardwood trees to cultivate a climate-resilient forest. On their property, they demonstrated a suite of forest health strategies—prescribed fire, grazing, pile burning, mastication, tree removal, biochar burning, and chipping—all aimed at strengthening the landscape against future wildfire events.
Wolfy Rougle and Cait Bell of the Butte County Resource Conservation District described a successful collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service and the Konkow Valley Band of Maidu to boost oak regeneration and reforest hardwood species through their Concow Resilience Project.
The tour was hosted by the Butte County Fire Safe Council, local non-profit and land stewardship organization. The event was supported by the Neighbor-to-Neighbor grant program through the Paradise Recreation and Park Department, a program of California Volunteers, Office of the Governor.
