Our Leadership

Laura is the PBA Coordinator for Mariposa and Madera counties. She brings a background in wildland firefighting, fire ecology, prescribed fire, hydrology and outdoor recreation to the position after having worked for the Forest Service and National Parks Service in Yosemite and Northern California forests.

Laura is passionate about bringing community members together to find practical solutions for mitigating wildfire risk, helping each other practice safe and effective prescribed fire, and having fun while doing it.

In her free time, Laura can be found out in the mountains, running, paddling and hiking with her dogs.

Alison is the Fire Advisor for Mariposa, Madera, and Fresno Counties and is based out of the University of California Cooperative Extension Office in Mariposa. Since August, Alison has coordinated YGPBC while working to secure funding to bring on a full-time coordinator. 

Prior to moving to Mariposa, Alison graduated from the University of Oregon (UO) with a Masters of Science in geography and Masters of Nonprofit Management where her research focused on modeling the effects of prescribed fire on carbon storage and future fire regimes in the Siskiyou Mountains. She also worked as a research assistant at UO's Ecosystem Workforce Program where she did natural resource-based social science research, including how organizations are working cross-boundary to mitigate wildfire risk, the impacts of wildfire smoke on communities, and socioeconomic monitoring of landscape restoration projects. Before attending graduate school, Alison worked as a wildland firefighter with the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management during the 2017-2019 wildfire seasons. 

Alison is passionate about restoring fire-adapted ecosystems, helping community members learn how to live with wildfire, and building a community around prescribed fire.

I am currently serving as the CFO and Education and Outreach Director for Eastern Madera County Fire Safe Council. When I was born, my father worked at the North Fork sawmill. Talk of forest health and responsible land stewardship was prevalent over the dinner table.  When I moved my family back into the area we were just beginning to see a  rapid increase in widespread devastating wildfires. With a background in outreach and education, I put my focus on obtaining the skills I needed to be an active participant in wildfire mitigation. Taking my stewardship skills to another level, I obtained training in Wildland Firefighting and Wildfire Risk Assessment. I am also a Firewise Community leader and am partnering with Coarsegold Resource Conservation District to bring wildfire prevention and preparation skills to our mountain community youth through a rich education program. I am excited to join my colleagues as a YGPBC Steering Committee leader, and am excited to share the opportunity to help our land-owners learn to harness the benefits and learn strategies related to prescribed fire. 

Nick is a private land owner, resident, and business owner in North Fork, California. He understands the importance of bringing the fire return interval back into the thousands-of-years-old adaptive cycle of forest ecosystems, using prescribed fires as a tool, and forging a sustainable relationship between family, community, and the forest “WUI”. Nick has degrees in enology, viticulture and organic chemistry from California State University, Fresno (CSUF), as well as a continuation with a Certificate of Study from L'École d'ingénieurs de Changins, Switzerland (EIC). He has volunteered and team-led multiple prescribed burns in Madera and Mariposa counties. “We CAN create a safe prescribed fire environment, using fire science and experience through burning and learning, where we can also bring our families and break bread together as a community.” ~ Nicholas DeHart

Anthony Misner entered the wildland fire community while in college working for the California Department of Forestry (now CalFire). Since that time he has worked for both Madera and Mariposa County Fire Departments as an engine and water tender operator. He has taught pre-hospital emergency medical care and wildland fire with Yosemite Adult School for over 30 years. He has been instrumental in bringing the Great Sierra Forestry Corps to Eastern Madera and Mariposa County. Throughout his years in emergency services, he has been a champion of prescribed fire in returning our landscape to a healthy balance.

Born and raised in Madera, CA, André Sanchez and his immediate family would eventually call the Sierra Nevada Foothills home. André would eventually also get to call nearby Yosemite National Park his home as he spent several seasons conducting aquatic restoration with the National Park Service. His professional journey has also comprised working for other government agencies at both the state and federal level on projects such as monitoring trout populations in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California and performing coastal climate change monitoring in the San Francisco Bay Area. Currently, he works with an environmental non-profit that focuses on policy issues related to federally managed lands within the state of California. André’s academic accomplishments include receiving a B.S. in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology from UC Davis and attending Humboldt State University (now Cal Poly Humboldt) for their M.S. in Natural Resources program. André is also deeply involved with Latino Outdoors, a latine/x-led non-profit organization that connects and engages leaders and community members in the outdoor, conservation, and nature movement. André is excited to see beneficial fire be put back on the landscape to benefit the natural and human communities in the area.

After spending 33 years in the computer industry in San Francisco, Ken made a significant life change by becoming the second-generation resident of his family property in Mariposa. Intrigued by the potential of prescribed burning to mitigate wildfire risks and protect their property, neighbors, and community, Ken embarked on a journey of learning and exploration in this field. Through hands-on participation in prescribed burns, he have gained invaluable experience and knowledge, yet recognize there is still much more to uncover and understand.

Burl is a local landowner in North Fork and has been living in the Mountain Communities since 1995. He is a graduate of Sierra High School, Reedley College with an A.S. in Natural Resources (Fire) and University of Idaho Moscow with a B.S. in Range Ecology and Fire Management. He has worked for the Forest Service for 20+ years. He is currently in aviation management with Sierra Helitack but will be transitioning to fuels management in 2024. 

Burl is passionate about all aspects of natural resources management and stewardship of private and public lands. He is an avid hunter and general outdoorsman. 

Tara Fouch-Moore, Founding Member

Tara is an enrolled member of the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation (SSMN), first people of the region now encompassing Yosemite National Park and Mariposa County.  She currently serves on the SSMN Tribal Council and its 501(c)3 non-profit American Indian Council of Mariposa County (AICMC) and directs the Tribe’s burgeoning Land Stewardship department. Having been raised in the small rural community of Mariposa, Tara grew up with a deeply engrained connection to this landscape and community. Today, she finds inspiration in landscape stewardship as a way to honor her people’s ancestral lifeways, heal her homelands in the Sierras, and help restore her community’s connection to fire.

Participating in the YGPBC is her way of pushing two major values. 1) Fire is a vital and sacred force in the Sierras, and 2) Fire belongs to all people who learn to wield its power safely and responsibly.