Firelab – featuring Megan Matonis, The Ember Alliance

March 14, 2023, 3-5pm

Tap and Handle, 307 South College Avenue Fort Collins, CO 80524 INDOOR • UPPER LEVEL

Inspiring Action after the Planning is Done

Community Wildfire Protection Plans help a community assess local hazards and identify strategic actions to mitigate risk and promote preparedness. CWPPs set the stage for fire adaptation, but they only result in real change with on-the-ground action and an ongoing commitment to risk mitigation at all levels of the community, from individual homeowners to neighborhoods to fire protection districts to land managers and other partners. The Ember Alliance has worked with eight communities in Jefferson and Larimer Counties to prepare CWPPs, and we are currently working with three more communities along the Front Range. Through trial-and-error and best practices from other experts in the field, we have learned a lot about how to use the CWPP process to inspire action. We want to share these lessons with you, both the success stories and not-so-successful stories, and facilitate a conversation with FireLab participants about other ways to make CWPPs more than just planning documents.

Megan Matonis

Wildland Fire Analyst, The Ember Alliance

As a Wildfire Analyst with The Ember Alliance, Dr. Matonis conducts risk analyses, supports community engagement, and prepares holistic and actionable CWPP documents. She has a PhD in Forest Ecology from Colorado State University and formerly worked with the Colorado State Forest Service and Rocky Mountain Research Station. Meg has been an on-call wildland firefighter with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office for eight years.