Wildfire Risk Management

The 2021 Stanford Wildfire Management Plan was produced by the university to identify areas for fuel reduction across all Stanford lands, based on wildfire risk modeling that identified hazards to safety, structures, and resources. The plan proposed a five-year strategy to reduce wildfire risk using several treatments, followed by routine fuel maintenance. JRBP ('O'O) partnered with community members to develop a new stewardship framework to tackle fuel reduction and vegetation management to enhance wildfire resilience.

Phase 1. Strategic planning and preparation (2022-2023)

In 2022, Jasper Ridge organized a Fire Fuels Ecology workshop with 25 experts in wildfire modeling, emergency response, land management, risk management, Indigenous practices, research, education, policy making, law, and ecology to review the Stanford Wildfire Management Plan. The group strategized how fuel-reduction treatments could be developed to reduce wildfire risk while also meeting the preserve’s overall stewardship goals.

The workshop produced a consensus synthesis captured in a white paper titled “Recommendations for Merging Fire Fuel Mitigation with Stewardship Practices to Maintain Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve.” Participants developed three key recommendations:

1. Communicating Risk: Clearly communicate 1) how wildfire risk is modeled, including underlying assumptions and limitations, and 2) that modeling is a first step in developing a fuel reduction strategy that also includes liability, enterprise, and reputational risks.
2. Ecological Integrity: Emphasize ecologically sensitive and sustainable fuel reduction treatment design for Jasper Ridge.
3. Adaptive Management: Approach fire-risk mitigation through adaptive management that draws on diverse areas of expertise, experience, responsibility, and engagement, and which incorporates all aspects of Jasper Ridge’s mission of research, education, and conservation in its treatment plans.

The white paper guided Jasper Ridge staff in developing subsequent treatments with colleagues from Land, Buildings & Real Estate (LBRE), Field Conservation Facility, Environmental Health and Safety, and the Stanford University Fire Marshal’s Office (SUFMO), building on the Stanford Wildfire Management Plan to develop ecologically sensitive fuel-reduction treatments for Jasper Ridge.

Phase 2. Initial fuel reduction treatments and monitoring plots (2023-2024)

In 2023, fuel-reduction prescriptions targeted critical areas of the preserve: Sand Hill Road and the Westridge boundary. Two fuel breaks were created that extended along both areas and reached 100 to 300 feet into the preserve from the fence line, covering approximately 140 acres.

The primary treatment method involved hand crews using chainsaws, followed by chipping to redistribute fuels and spread the chipped material on the ground. Where steep topography prevented chipper access, chaparral fuels cut by hand were arranged into piles for future burning. Piles were created in October 2023, covered with paper to keep them partially dry, and allowed to settle over time.

Phase 3. Collaborative prescribed pile burning (Spring 2024) 

To prepare for burning, Jasper Ridge staff connected early with CAL FIRE and Woodside Fire Protection District personnel to include them in the planning process. Both agencies have been fully supportive of efforts to reduce fuels and mitigate wildfire risk at Jasper Ridge, which benefits the larger community as well. Stanford also hired an NWCG-qualified Burn Boss to create a burn plan—detailing safety, weather conditions, logistics, protocols, and environmental and cultural sensitivities—and to complete the necessary air quality and burning permits. Piles were burned in early March 2024 by a certified Burn Boss and burn crew. Outcomes and successes from these fuel-reduction efforts are summarized in the Stanford Report article.

Phase 4. Research, education and two-eyed seeing (2025 and beyond)

Bringing controlled fire back to Jasper Ridge was a special opportunity to study fire at the preserve. Many researchers invested in this opportunity, conducting research before, during, and after the burn event. Researchers came together to share results and identify new collaborative opportunities at the Prescribed Fire Research Convening organized and hosted by Jasper Ridge in February 2025. While there are no scheduled prescribed fires at Jasper Ridge in the near future, we do hope to bring more fire as a stewardship tool in the future. Interested faculty and staff can research out to explore possible research questions  Fire related research projects at Jasper Ridge: 

• The role of pathogenic organisms in the regulation of insect species that infest acorns
• The biogeochemical response of chaparral and oak woodland ecosystems to prescribed fires
• The effects of prescribed fires, mastication on vegetation regeneration
• Investigating if radioisotopes are conserved after intense heating
• Quantifying and characterizing particulate matter from prescribed fire smoke: Towards developing a standardized monitoring protocol
• A Watershed investigation: the impacts of pile burning from terrestrial to aquatic habitats
• Impacts of prescribed fire on microbially-mediated biogeochemical cycling

Read the blog and watch the video of the 2025 Prescribed Fire Search Convening.

Annual maintenance 

Jasper Ridge staff routinely manages fuel to mitigate wildfire risk and increase safety. Annually, this management covers approximately 52 acres, and includes regular mowing along roads and trails for safe passage by Jasper Ridge staff, students, faculty, and other visitors to exit the preserve in the event of a wildfire, as well as safe and accessible entry for fire and emergency personnel. Additionally, goats and sheep are contracted annually for grassland management on the eastern edge of the preserve. 

2011 Jasper Ridge Global Change Experiment

On Monday, July 18, 2011, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) collaborated with Jasper Ridge to conduct a small, prescribed burn inside the preserve's main entrance on Sand Hill Road. The prescribed burn was confined to 1.2 acres of grassland and provided a range of benefits for management and research. The particular area that was burned had been intensively studied for 14 years as part of the Global Change Experiment, which provided background information so that the burn could be used to:

• Assess the impact of fire retardants on soils and grassland communities for possible deployment for added safety along preserve perimeters
• Test the performance of a remote, stand-alone fire detection system for deployment at the preserve
• Better understand fire dynamics as the environment of California continues to change in the future

The Global Change Experiment was started in 1997, and the prescribed burns contributed to help extend the insights of the project to consider impacts from increased fire frequency and intensity we have observed in California in recent years. The burn and the associated research was featured as the cover story of the Journal of Ecology Volume 108 Issue 2. 

1999 and 2001 controlled burns

In 1999 and 2001, Jasper Ridge conducted two controlled burns, approximately 1 acre each, on grassland through cooperation from CAL FIRE, Palo Alto Fire Department, and Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. These burns were conducted near the SLAC corridor road, and by the northeast corner of the preserve, respectively.