Our Leadership

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

Jon Cottington is the Director of Coarsegold Resource Conservation District and board member of Eastern Madera Fire Safe Council. His interest in prescribed burning began after evacuating from the 2020 Creek Fire and realizing that his property needed to become more fire adapted. After participating in multiple burns, including his own property, he knows that the neighbor helping neighbor model of the PBC is going to be another excellent tool in the fire prevention tool cache. Jon lives on a rural homestead in North Fork, CA with his wife, two kids, dogs, cats, goats, chickens...

Alexis Bernal is a wildland fire researcher at the University of California, Berkeley Stephens Lab. As a resident of Mariposa County, she hopes to use her experiences in research and prescribed burning to support the YGPBC's efforts to build a stronger, safer, and more resilient community. 

Mark Ruggiero has over 40 years of wildland, structural, and emergency operations experience in the US working for the National Park Service (NPS), Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Air Force, and US Forest Service (USFS). Mark has been an NPS Park Superintendent and USFS District Ranger.  Mark is a Past Type 1 National Incident Commander as well as a National Area Commander. Mark has extensive experience in prescribed fire, the Incident Command System, and global emergency management dealing with oil spills and hurricanes. 

Mark is currently retired from a Federal service but still supports wildfires and other incidents based out of Yosemite when needed. Mark currently lives in Mariposa, California

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.